DIY: Coolant Flush ---> Quick Method via Upper Hose...

[cn90]

Erik,

You said: "It must be emphasized that this point is wrong."
What kind of garbage is this?
It is not wrong as you said.

When Volvo or any car mfg publishes "cooling system capacity", do they even tell you the formula how they came up with ____ quarts?
- Engine block + hoses + HC + rad only...or
- Engine block + hoses + HC + rad + Reservoir. If so, then fill Reservoir to Min, Middle (btw Min and Max) or to Max level?
We simply don't know bc it is not exact as test tubes in the lab. This is why after-sale service is an approximation.

Look, I have a tendency to simplify stuff to make life easy for ppl.

You have a tendency to overcomplicate things, almost like college kids in a chemistry lab measuring everything down to the mL, arguing over small irrelevant details. This is cars, not chemistry lab. Approximation is good enough for cars.

Look, the only time you are sure that it is 50% is the factory for sure bc the system is dry, the Volvo factory adds the premix 50-50...so it is 50%. Any other time is an approximation, even with your method, which takes a few cycles of fill, drain etc., waiting for engine to cool down between cycles, which could take a few hours. I don't have time for that. If you have time, feel free to get down to 100% water, so your calculation is perfect lol.

I had my coolant flush done in 15 min.

Above, you said "When there is nothing but water in there, drain a bunch from the radiator, add 1/2 capacity concentrated coolant, top up with water."...
I know what you meant but it is confusing for newbies.

"1/2 capacity conc coolant" may mean:
a) Add let's say 4.5L of full conc coolant
b) Add the 4.5L of premix 50-50 bc it is is "1/2 capacity = 1/2 strength kind of thing"...

Anyway, I will try to avoid further comments with you.

[cn90]

Also Erik,

Ppl are wrong and you are never wrong?

I have done enough engine block drains in Honda, BMW, Volvos with eye shield, taking a bath with coolant on my face years ago.
So no thanks, I don't want a coolant shower any longer bc there is a better way to flush coolant. The engine drain plug is just a stupid way to do routine service, especially when there is alternative.

Well, this is why White Page and Yellow Page are gone and there is sth called Google search bc it is better than WP and YP.

You can stick to your drain plug thingy and enjoy it.

And I will stick to my upper rad hose thingy.

Good luck with your endeavors.

[erikv11]

Cam, I think you're not reading my posts very carefully, but it's good to know your opinion regardless. Our having different opinions on using the drain plug, doesn't make one of us wrong. It may be useful for other people to know our experiences, though.

More to the point yes I'm wrong all the time; a great thing about posting on here is learning (from) our mistakes.

[MoVolvos]

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The longest car ever owned is our 03 Odyssey. Just passed 250K miles and it was purchased with 154K. The reason for a coolant change was because I replaced the radiator and did a transmission fluid bypass into a large transmission cooler. Bypass going on 5 years. I think I may have owned the van for 10 years now? Can't remember the last time I serviced the coolant in any cars owned .

I've topped off during Expansion Tank changes or due to overflow from bad Caps but that's it. Most of the time just looked at the color and tried to be mindful of compatibility . Distill water has been the go to however.

Won't be able to comment on methods but here is excellent video info on coolants. Will watch the video again when I decide to do a drain and fill. Have 2 bottles of the Volvo stuff meaning to use on the 08 C30 for Stage 0, purchased years ago from FCP but still on the shelf.
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Transmission cooler for radiator bypass. The one with the fan in the kit is new and at such a great price, like that!
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/175200706964?_ ... UJTf-bDFZA

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254256217396?_ ... UOi11rDFZA
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Hayden Cooler.png (147.92 KiB) Viewed 392 times

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[firstv70volvo]

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Agreed, never use 50-50 mix when you're trying to hit a known concentration. 50-50 is a gimmick product only useful for top-up between coolant changes. My recommendation is to never buy it.

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50-50 pre-mix coolant is not a total gimmick, it's more costly than concentrate so it does improve profits for the companies but the value of it is that it does uses the correct type of water in the mix, deionized water. For years I used distilled water and this may be better than using tap water but it's still not the best water to use in a car's cooling system. Distilled water can do some harm to metal in the cooling system so deionized water is recommended as the best choice and it's what is used in the 50-50 premix coolants, Valvoline labels using deionized water on their universal premix coolant.
Buying the concentrated coolant saves money and gives you the ability to better adjust the mix percentage in the car but buying deionized water for mixing offsets the savings of buying the concentrate. I did read about one way to make deionized water is using the Zerowater filter system so I purchased a pitcher with one filter for less than $15(on sale) at Walmart. It makes about 40 gallons of deionized water where I live and this depends on the amount of solids in the local water, may make more or less in other areas, The filters are not cheap at about $15 a piece but it is a much cheaper way than buying pre-made deionized water if you maintain a lot of cars like I do and it has other uses. Just something to consider when maintaining the cooling system.

Rislone is selling their product here but still some good information here why not to use distilled water
https://rislone.com/blog/cooling/why-yo ... ng-system/