How hard is it to flush an engine / spark plugs

[ja3142]

As some of you may have read, I had HGF before christmas. Had it fixed where I bought the car, but after a few days the coolant became emulsified with left over gunk (helpfully diagnosed by the people in this fine club). Took it back for another flush out.
Now its emulsified again. Not as bad as previously, but its not right.

Bit fed up and depressed. Don't want to take it back again, as I have lost a bit of faith in the garage. How hard is it to get all the gunk out of the system after HGF??

While it was in, I asked them to put the computer on the car to check for any faults. I felt that it was not idling totally smoothly and had lost a bit of pull about 2500 revs. They said there were no faults reported, but suspected the plugs. I had not long fitted NGK platinums, but they said that bosch were better and changed them to those: "the k series does not like NGK...". I have to admit, it does pull better, but I am still not sure about the idle.

In every other way I love the car, but I'm loosing a bit of confidence.

cheer me up folks!

Jonathan

[courier118]

Forte Bio Degreaser is designed to remove emulsified oil,but you may need 2-3 bottles which can cost approx £30.

Another way is to use biological washing powder......mix it in hot water in a bucket then add it to your engine.....run it up to temperature then flush with clean water.....repeat 2-3 times......also Oxyclean will work

All the above may help as long as your sure that there is no other problem with your engine ie HGF,Cracked head/block etc

[ja3142]

That sounds interesting. Can you explain in a bit more detail what I should do. Do I have to drain down the coolant and vacuum refil after doing this? When you say add it to the engine do you mean after removing the current coolant?

Sorry for all the questions but I have never done this before.

Jonathan

[topman]

While it was in, I asked them to put the computer on the car to check for any faults. I felt that it was not idling totally smoothly and had lost a bit of pull about 2500 revs. They said there were no faults reported, but suspected the plugs. I had not long fitted NGK platinums, but they said that bosch were better and changed them to those: "the k series does not like NGK...". I have to admit, it does pull better, but I am still not sure about the idle.



i think you may have been sent down a dead with changing spark plugs, ngk are pretty much at the top end of the market in terms of quality. Have you tried cx the idle control valve? About £15 second hand.

[ja3142]

I thought about cleaning the idle control valve, which I have tried without much succes. Did not think about 2nd hand one - ebay???

[andy willi]

4 washing powder tablets in the cooling system run it for around 100 miles and drain do it 3 times it works for me

andy

ngk plugs are one of the best

[dissy1810]

[QUOTE=andy willi;647748]4 washing powder tablets in the cooling system run it for around 100 miles and drain do it 3 times it works for me

i did similar to this but i then disconnected the hose from the t piece and put my hose pipe in the pipe and flushed everything through for about 20 min

[ja3142]

Sorry to be dim, but which of the 3 hoses to the T piece are you talking about?

I am not really sure of the path of the coolant system.

[courier118]

That sounds interesting. Can you explain in a bit more detail what I should do. Do I have to drain down the coolant and vacuum refil after doing this? When you say add it to the engine do you mean after removing the current coolant?

Sorry for all the questions but I have never done this before.

Jonathan

Yes drain your current coolant then refill with your mixture as i said.Refill as you had been told in earlier posts.......just repeat the process until your engines coolant is clear

[chrissyboy]

when i had my head gasket replaced ,i flushed out the system by removing the hoses to the rad and placing a hose in so the engine was just getting flushed through tons of gunk came out .. i then stuck the hose in the rad and again alot of gunk came out of the rad ... my system is now gunk free from the stuff left behind .... when checking the coolant level now i just see the coolant and no gunk..

[Number 6]

when i had my head gasket replaced ,i flushed out the system by removing the hoses to the rad and placing a hose in so the engine was just getting flushed through tons of gunk came out .. i then stuck the hose in the rad and again alot of gunk came out of the rad ... my system is now gunk free from the stuff left behind .... when checking the coolant level now i just see the coolant and no gunk..



SURELY YOU MUST BECAREFULL OF IS FLUSHING WITH COLD WATER INTO A HOT ENGINE IT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS:shrug:

[chrissyboy]

SURELY YOU MUST BECAREFULL OF IS FLUSHING WITH COLD WATER INTO A HOT ENGINE IT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS:shrug:

ermmmmm who said anything about doing it whilst the engie is hot ,i certainly never ...by putting cold coolant mix in a ho engine you risk thermal shock to the head and may cause it to crack ..