

| Subject: | Your Van might just need a flush....was Van runs hot in traffic jams |
| From: | Steve Cotsford |
| Date: | Tue, 1 Apr 2003 22:17:33 EST |
The new to me '91 Carat I recently bought had a reputed overheating problem. In trying to suss the cause out, I noticed that it runs steady with the coolant temp needle over the LED or a tiny bit above, even though I had bled it properly a couple of times. This bothered me as my '84 always runs with the needle below the LED. It had the wrong antifreeze in it so I decided to flush it and change to phosphate free. I disconnected the radiator hoses from the engine end of the long plastic tubes, jammed a hose it there and back-flushed the radiator as hard as my leaky connection would allow, until the green was out and did the same the other way around. I then took the thermostat out and flushed everything else out with the garden hose everyway that I could. The thermostat is marked 80. I put in the new antifreeze, filled it up, bled it a couple of times and now it runs steady with the needle below the LED, no matter how hard I drive it. I swear just back-flushing the radiator as hard as my hose would let me, made all the difference. If your cooling system seems a bit marginal and overheats in traffic etc, just try flushing the radiator out. Its perhaps an old fashioned idea but it might just be your problem ! cheers, Steve Cotsford
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