Hey guys ChrisFix here today
We're going to flush the coolant on this 2000 BmW
540I go through all the steps to get all the old
Coolant out then flush the whole cooling system, and then put brand new antifreeze in so let's begin
We're going [to] start by removing all the coolant from the system, but before you remove the coolant from this system
What you want to do is you want to make [sure] that it is cold
You don't want to touch a hot cooling system the cooling system is
Pressurized [if] you undo any caps or you loosen any hoses [you] could have hot coolant shooting out at you, and that's never good
So you want to make sure the coolant temperature is in the blue area or below?
So now we'll go under the car and look for the radiator. Petcock. Which is a drain plug for the radiator
So here's one corner of the radiator. There's the other corner in this case
It's on the driver side
Corner the [petcocks] are almost always located in the corner of the radiator and this blue thing right here is what needs to get unscrewed
And the coolant will drain out of that next step. We're using one of these baking pans aluminum. It's disposable
Slides underneath the Bmw BmW is pretty low. We didn't want to jack it up now. We can go underneath and drain the coolant
As we wait for that to drain let's check out what we're going to need to do a coolant flush
So here are all the tools you're [going] to need you might need some basic hand tools, so get your toolbox
We're going to be filling up with 50 50 antifreeze make sure you check your owners manual for the correct type of antifreeze that you
Need to use get your paper towels [final]. We're using distilled water to flush out the cooling system
Make sure [you] use distilled and not filtered
We're going to be using a anti rust sealer and protector
And when we're doing the flush
We're going to be using a chemical flush that will help flush out the radiator even better
After the coolant drains out make sure you collect all the coolant and dispose of it properly, so animals don't drink it
You don't [flute] the area then we can put the drain plug back and tighten it up all the way
So we could fill the cooling system with water
So on this Bmw we're going to fill up this reservoir here with water you can see it's emptied. Just get your funnel
this system takes three gallons
After you fill it up all the way like that go start your engine
With the engine running [add] the rest of your water the water pump will suck the water into the engine and radiator
Allowing you to fill it [completely], so there's no air in the system
Now we're going to add our chemical flush
and the whole thing
Okay, let's go for a ride
On our ride the car is running great and maintaining operating temperature
We're going to drive around for at least 10 minutes
So the water and chemical flush clean out the cooling system as we drive pay attention to the temperature
Make sure that you don't have a problem with air in the system that could cause your engine to overheat
You want to make sure that you're blasting your heat all the way
You want to feel the heat if you don't feel the heat then you have air in your heater core?
And you might not have edit enough water
We've been driving around for about 15 minutes the temperature has [been] stable
So we're going to head back and flush out all the water and then add our antifreeze and go for another ride
Now that we're back from our ride
let's go drain the water out of the cooling system get all the crud from the cooling system flushed out as
We wait for the engine to cool down
We're going to fill up the old containers with the old antifreeze so we could recycle it. So you want to take your old coolant
Fill up your containers that you've been using so you can recycle it
Your local auto parts store your town recycle center and many other places take this stuff
So you'll have no problem recycling it once your cooling system is cool to the touch and the temperature gauge is on low
Now we go underneath and drain the water
So to have the coolant come out faster. Take off the radiator cap or in this case the reservoir cap and
That'll just allow air to come through here
So there won't be any suction if the water stops draining
And you don't think you got it all out?
Start up the engine this will cause the water pump the poorest out any of the remaining water into the radiator. So it could drink
You give it some guests as you can see we got most of the water out. Which is good
Make sure you get all that water out of there. You can see
It's pretty clear we went from this coming out of the radiator to
That which means our cooling system is pretty clean and now we're going to add the brand new 50/50 antifreeze mix
Before we do that. Let's install the drain plug
Make sure you lock it into place. So you don't have any leaks
Now we're going to fill up the cooling system with a 50/50 antifreeze mix the stuff
We're using is compatible with all cooling systems, but make sure you check your owner's manual
[so] you know the correct type of antifreeze you should use we know that we need 3 of these [1] gallon?
Containers to fill the cooling system, so if we don't use all the containers
We know some water is still stuck in the cooling system [a] little water is okay
But you don't want too much because then your water [to] antifreeze ratio won't be close enough to
50/50 we have our last bottle of antifreeze and when you can't add any more antifreeze start the end
And it'll suck it right down, and you just keep adding it make sure your heat is on
A
Little trick is if you turn this sideways and then you pour it out
It'll pour out smoothly so it won't splash all over the place
now we're adding our anti rust and sealer additive this engines old and the additive will prevent any leaks due to the flushing of the
cooling system, [and] then we'll finish our third bottle of antifreeze and we're almost done, so
[we] know that it's filled up all [the] way because
We added the correct amount of coolant so we could take this out
And you can actually see it's filled up right to the top where it needs to get filled
So now we'll put the cap back on and we'll go for a ride
[on] our ride the car is running great and maintaining operating temperature
We also have the heat on and I could feel the heat coming up right now
Which is good that means the heater core doesn't have air in it, okay?
We got back from a ride and if you look the coolant temperature is exactly where it's supposed to be
106 Celsius and we look here the coolant temperature gauge is right in the middle where it's supposed to be and
That's a job well done
That's how you flush a cooling system in a car. Hopefully this video is helpful
If it was remember to give it a thumbs up also consider subscribing
I'm going to let my bud do the top tip what's the top tip for this video top tip for this video is make [sure]
You check the weather [before] you go outside and start a project because you don't want to end up outside and rained all wet
especially when it's 40 degrees