I have crud in my radiator and engine.

How do you do a reverse flush to clean the cooling system?

Traditionally a reverse flush is done with the thermostat out and a special adapter to blow air into the system to better agitate and dislodge particles. The flush kits that are sold at parts store are good for regular maintenance flushes, but are of limited use if the radiator is actually clogged. If you have rust flakes in the radiator tubes you need to take the radiator to a shop to have it cleaned. Then to keep the junk in the block from your newly cleaned radiator use a filter in the upper hose.

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Joshua

Josh-I’m not familiar with the upper hose filter. Sounds like a great
idea. Any pictures of one, or maybe a reference part number from a
supplier ?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sdk- ... /overview/

There are also spin-on coolant filters which are plumbed into the heater circuit. These will pick up finer particles than a screen in the upper hose, but as they are not a full-flow filter so big stuff that may be present can still clog tubes in the radiator.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wix-24019/overview/
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wix-24070/overview/

I once used an oil filter remote mount and a regular oil filter in a neglected Dodge van I owned. Probably not the best filter element to use, but I had the parts on hand so it was cheap and easy to try. The worst I thought could happen is the filter would collapse and block the coolant flow leaving me without heat. I figure that nothing larger than the holes in the filter center tube would go through the system unless the filter bypass opened. I ran it for a while and cut open the filter to see that I had captured a lot of junk.

_________________
Joshua

Thanks !

Following further thinking based on above posts I bought a stainless steel tea strainer, cut off the handle, and fitted to the radiator top opening. It works well and collects the crud; I just need to clean it every few weeks (if I remember).