hathetran

yo guys,

gonna flush my radiator soon so I need some coolant. is the coolant they sell at honda dealerships the same as the one they sell at acura dealserships? thanks

 

dgandul

yes you are correct

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Smalltalk

The new Honda antifreeze comes only in premixed form - so it's impossible to exchange the fluid completely by draining and refilling. But, with the engine running, you can drain the old fluid via the top radiator hose (into a large bucket) while refilling with new coolant (thru the radiator cap). By warming the engine first (and introducing HOT flush water), the thermostat stays open and expels the old fluid at a moderate pace - slow enough to refill without panicking, yet fast enough to minimize mixing the new fluid with the old. It works great - without removing the thermostat or opening the radiator drain petcock.

Here are the details:

Originally, I had replaced the coolant with "off-the-shelf" antifreeze. Then, I read that the anti-rust ingredients in off-the-shelf antifreeze are abrasive to the Water Pump (this debate can be found elsewhere). So, I wanted to start clean, by flushing-out the abrasive stuff and replacing it with Honda fluid. But draining the coolant via the petcock removes only half the coolant capacity. And, the cylinder block drain plugs are difficult to reach. And a "Coolant Flushing Kit" (using a "T" fitting and a garden hose) seemed difficult to install because the heater hoses are buried between the engine and the firewall. All these problems were solved by "flushing while running".

Here are some tips:

Use a clear hose so you can see the color of the fluid leaving the engine. I couldn't find a hose that would fit the nipple on the thermostat housing, so I used an adapter to connect the clear hose to the top radiator hose (which I disconnected from the radiator side).

Use multiple buckets so you can dump one into the other before it overflows. This will also help you monitor the color of the fluid leaving the engine.

Turn the cabin heat to HOT during the flush / refill.

Introduce a few gallons of HOT clean water before introducing the Honda antifreeze. HOT water helps keep the thermostat open. I considered heating the new antifreeze in a tub of hot water, but it wasn't necessary.

After flushing with clear hot water, but before introducing the new antifreeze, let the engine deplete most of the water from the radiator. This should help mimimize any mixing of fresh pre-mixed antifreeze with any flush water still in the radiator.

Don't forget to bleed any residual air from the system using the bleeder vent.

If you do this in your garage, don't forget to vent the exhaust pipe to the outside.