Project RS

[ScottyB]

I Did A Coolant Flush, or

Oh Damn I Don't Think My Car Is Hydrating Enough This Doesn't Look Healthy


old to flushed out, L/R

so i've been putting this job off for...forever, most because maintenance is boring and i only want to be under the car if it means i get to play with go-fast bits. but in our 2 month annual triple-digit heat wave here, called "July and August", i figured it might be a good time to get proper coolant in the car and keep everything happy and reliable. its been a while since the last change and didn't want to just do a quick coolant dump and refill, it was time to get all the old stuff out and start fresh. i also grabbed some new OEM bits and a neat tool to complete it all:
• thermostat
• thermostat housing
• thermostat gasket
• Lisle Spill-Free Funnel, this thing is great
• 2 gallons of Peak Global Lifetime coolant - totally compatible and NO subaru head gasket sealer goop added.
amazingly the stock rubber coolant hoses are still super pliable and crack-less, so i passed on getting new ones.

thankfully subaru puts the thermostat right on the bottom of the block, so instead of draining everything out the radiator petcock at a trickle, i just pulled the thermostat housing and thermostat and let it all dump out in a big waterfall. as it turns out, there is no such thing as a bucket or drip pan large enough to keep you from ending up laying in a small pond of fetid coolant. sort of like being in the Splash Zone at Sea World, but with poisons. but it was hot out, so at least it felt nice.



i refilled the system with about 1-1/2 gals of distilled, burped the hoses, and ran the car with the climate control set to max heat (want to get everything out of the heater core) until the rad fans turned on. then change wet shirt, do an odd job, let the car cool, pull housing and soak myself again. rinse/repeat 3 times, and would have liked to do a few more but when its this freakin hot it takes like 2 hours for the car to cool down enough to drain again, and i just don't have that kinda time. the top pic is the result. the original coolant came out a brownish green mixture and by the end, it was just tinged a little orange.

new stuff went in and burped super easy with no spills thanks to that cool funnel. the Peak product says its "lifetime" so i guess i can forget about it forever, although maybe in a few more years it'll be cheap insurance to do it again.

as with any time i get under the car, something else probably needs some love. found out my passenger valve cover gasket is all goopy, and they seem to go about every 70k so we're about on schedule for a new one. so it goes.