[sean archer]

I mean if I have no heat and my heater is likely plugged, can't I just clamp down on that stupid bypass hose and FORCE the coolant to go through the heater? I realize it would circulate the crap around the system but then right away I could get a coolant flush and as long the crud was dislodged it should get flushed out right? Has anyone tried this?

 

[major]

I don't have a bypass hose,....anymore. All is well.

 

[machineop]

Yes I did try that about a year ago, and you know what my heat did increase a little bit seem the faster I drove the better the heat. IT was not soon after this tha i FLUSHed my core with liquid plumber gel. A process that is working till this day. Who knows if I just left the bypass hose clamped that the core would eventually become unclogged it self. I guess it depends on how badly clogged the HC is. Mine was clogged with 2 large bottles of bar leak. OUCH!

 

[toronut]

The whole purpose of the bypass is to prevent you from starving the motor from coolant if the heater core plugs up. Bye Bye motor!

 

[Jeff K]

^^^^^ +1

 

[sean archer]

I don't have a bypass hose,....anymore. All is well.

Oooo. Interesting.

 

[sean archer]

Yes I did try that about a year ago, and you know what my heat did increase a little bit seem the faster I drove the better the heat. IT was not soon after this tha i FLUSHed my core with liquid plumber gel. A process that is working till this day. Who knows if I just left the bypass hose clamped that the core would eventually become unclogged it self. I guess it depends on how badly clogged the HC is. Mine was clogged with 2 large bottles of bar leak. OUCH!

Yes I put in Barr's too. Stuff was useless and killed my heat.

 

[sean archer]

What if I just pour in some chemical flush into my coolant, drive around for a few days then have the coolant flushed?

 

[sheila]

If its not freezing up there yet, it would be better to drain old coolant and refill with water and flush (cleaner) and drive for a few days but read the bottle label to see if the flush is ok to use with the old coolant.

 

[major]

The whole purpose of the bypass is to prevent you from starving the motor from coolant if the heater core plugs up. Bye Bye motor!

The heater hose is a accessory. You can cap off the outlet and intake inlet ports to run without a heater hose at all. The waterpump simply shares a small amount of the force that circulates for the motor.
So why is there a bypass on a heaterhose? So the cold motor will heat up 10% faster to activate the catalytic converters sooner, for emissions.

 

[machineop]

The heater hose is a accessory. You can cap off the outlet and intake inlet ports to run without a heater hose at all. The waterpump simply shares a small amount of the force that circulates for the motor.
So why is there a bypass on a heaterhose? So the cold motor will heat up 10% faster to activate the catalytic converters sooner, for emissions.

Ther you see it would'nt hurt to clamp off your bypass hose to see if the pressure would free up your heater core!

 

[901-Memphis]

What if I just pour in some chemical flush into my coolant, drive around for a few days then have the coolant flushed?

I use the Prestone Super Radiator Flush and use 2 jugs of it, cost a few bucks at Walmart and works okay. It says to leave it in your system and run it for about 10 hours(?) i think of total time and can be between different days/weeks of driving.

Needless to say when i used the stuff and kept it in for a couple weeks and drained my system i got a bunch of calcium and rust out. I used about 9 gallons of distilled water to refill and drain the system and the rust just kept coming.

The one guy says use liquid plumber and it probably works and i might try it if my system gets much worse but i would be more worried about what its going to harm in the system than how well it works; i am sure it works good.

Can't wait to flush my cooling system again next winter and see how much gunk i can take out.



I need to bypass my heathose though, are you guys clamping it for the winter and taking it off in spring?

Also is it the same location of the hose i do when i do my heatcore flush?

 

[toronut]

There are some super hi-powered plumbing products out there to eliminate calcium buildup. Way stronger than normal automotive flush products. However, you check online about using it for car rad systems and they say NO! It supposedly attacks aluminum parts. If I was just driving a vehicle of low dollar value I would use those products anyway. Saves all this reverse flushing business that's not too effective anyway. Just well flush afterwards.

 

[JW657]

I'm sorry, but how the hell would this solve anything? The heater cores failed even without a bypass, ford knew that. What makes you think that taking your bypass out is gonna magically unplug it, that obviously didn't work for everyone who didn't have the bypass but had heater core failure anyway. Flush it or replace it. The 3rd option is to go without heat.

I flushed mine with water and compressed air, it worked kind of crappy for the first week, then all of a sudden I started getting pretty good heat, I guess it eventually unclogged itself after blowing compressed air and over like 6 gallons of water through it, but can't remember exactly how much I used. The water JUST from the heater core was all BROWN like the consistency of chocolate milk, only orangeish. There was a crap ton of metal flakes and rust too. If you did get it unplugged, you might have to change the coolant like 3 times to get all the crap out, I sure as hell wouldn't want any of what came out of my heater core running in my engine or rad, if it plugged the core it could plug a coolant passage or the rad, screw that.

Sorry to sound rude, had a long day.

 

[sean archer]

I'm sorry, but how the hell would this solve anything? The heater cores failed even without a bypass, ford knew that. What makes you think that taking your bypass out is gonna magically unplug it, that obviously didn't work for everyone who didn't have the bypass but had heater core failure anyway. Flush it or replace it. The 3rd option is to go without heat.

I flushed mine with water and compressed air, it worked kind of crappy for the first week, then all of a sudden I started getting pretty good heat, I guess it eventually unclogged itself after blowing compressed air and over like 6 gallons of water through it, but can't remember exactly how much I used. The water JUST from the heater core was all BROWN like the consistency of chocolate milk, only orangeish. There was a crap ton of metal flakes and rust too. If you did get it unplugged, you might have to change the coolant like 3 times to get all the crap out, I sure as hell wouldn't want any of what came out of my heater core running in my engine or rad, if it plugged the core it could plug a coolant passage or the rad, screw that.

Sorry to sound rude, had a long day.

Wisdom. So, since I was in Canadian Tire anyway for an oil change and tires I just had them do it. $80 for the heater backflush, $80 for the coolant flush.

 

[sean archer]

So where is all this metal coming from? Isn't it bad that the insides of our cars are basically rusting away?

 

[toronut]

Does anybody know if those 'Shop' coolant 'flushes' do the job properly. They sure charge the earth for it! ??

 

[sean archer]

Does anybody know if those 'Shop' coolant 'flushes' do the job properly. They sure charge the earth for it! ??

Canadian Tire charged me about $80 - 1 hours labour for the backflush. I have killer heat now. 0 to heat.

 

[toronut]

Hmm! Would be interesting to know what flushing product they use?

 

[sean archer]

Hmm! Would be interesting to know what flushing product they use?

I'm guessing a coolant flush machine and coolant/water.