1989 Corvette Coolant Flush?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 769
Likes: 22
From: California
FL Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor'13
1989 Corvette Coolant Flush?
I am wondering how I flush the coolant in a 1989 corvette.
I know I have to unplug the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator and then I am lost from there. Do I have the turn on my hose and then keep sending water through the overflow or do I open up the radiator cap and then put the hose there and run it. Also do I have to have the engine turned on while doing it and if so are there any specific things I have to do.
All help is appreciated. If someone can try to help explain this to me it would be great as It has never been flushed before and I am not paying $100 for a local place to flush it when I can learn how and then do it my self and do a better job then what they will do.
Thanks, Stephen.
I know I have to unplug the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator and then I am lost from there. Do I have the turn on my hose and then keep sending water through the overflow or do I open up the radiator cap and then put the hose there and run it. Also do I have to have the engine turned on while doing it and if so are there any specific things I have to do.
All help is appreciated. If someone can try to help explain this to me it would be great as It has never been flushed before and I am not paying $100 for a local place to flush it when I can learn how and then do it my self and do a better job then what they will do.
Thanks, Stephen.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 769
Likes: 22
From: California
FL Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor'13
I have figured out most of what I need to do.
I just need help with ho2w to add the coolant back in like add a gallon of the coolant and then a gallon of water or what do you suggest?
I just need help with ho2w to add the coolant back in like add a gallon of the coolant and then a gallon of water or what do you suggest?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
Likes: 22
From: San Diego, Ca
If you didn't remove the oil cooler hose at the oil filter or the knock sensor all you've done is run water through the radiator. There's plenty of junk in most '89 L98 blocks and heads and you want to get that out too - in fact, you can drain the heads by removing the aux fan switch in the left head; temp gage sender in the right head. You also want to flush the heater core which is a simple matter of disconnecting the hoses. For a fill, get a gallon of distilled water and mix it with a gallon of coolant. Fill up the radiator and start it with the cap off. Wait until the thermostat opens and sucks most of what is in the radiator into the block. Then add the remaining coolant you've mixed up. It helps to crank up the rpms a bit so take a quarter and place it between the throttle stop and cable. While the rpms are still up there, reinstall the radiator cap and fill the overflow to it's hot mark.
