98 Taurus flush and fill

[Agnem]

Ok, so I had a lower radiator hose failure in a 98 Taurus. Dumped all its water, but fortunately didn't overheat. I replaced the part, and now I'm confounded by how your supposed to fill the cooling system. My trusty Ford mechanic friends say they use some kind of shop air vacuum apparatus to draw the system down and then have it suck the coolant in. You've GOT to be kidding! What kind of whacko designed this system. How the hell are you supposed to do this along the side of a road if you had to?

 

[towcat]

welcome to american engineering mel.
problem is the radiator sits lower than the highest point of the cooling system on the motor.
i solve the problem by backing up a wheel lift truck the the car and lifting the front end to the point the rear bumper is touching the ground.fill and bleed that way.
here's the cool part of your problem though....you pay an ungodly amount o money for the vacuum purge doohickey and you will never have a air bleed problem with your IDI's ever again
clicky......
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=12500&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[Agnem]

No kidding! That's the tool eh? That is a lot of coin for what it is. Makes me want to drill and tap the head so I can let the air out. Damn thing overheats fast with all that air trapped in it.

 

[sle2115]

No kidding! That's the tool eh? That is a lot of coin for what it is. Makes me want to drill and tap the head so I can let the air out. Damn thing overheats fast with all that air trapped in it.

Volkswagon does the same...I've gotta a post floating around on here about it...I bought the mityvac kit MV4525. Works like a charm, you pull a vacuum on the cooling system (also tells you if there is a leak pretty quickly) then open the valve and let the coolant flow into the system. Wahlah, no air in the system! Mine also has a pressure testing pump, etc. but was around $350 for the setup. Then you have to buy cap sets to make it work with "other" things. It has 5 caps with it, but there are about 10 more pressure and 10 more suction caps that I still need to buy, they aren't cheap either!

 

[towcat]

Volkswagon does the same...I've gotta a post floating around on here about it...I bought the mityvac kit MV4525. Works like a charm, you pull a vacuum on the cooling system (also tells you if there is a leak pretty quickly) then open the valve and let the coolant flow into the system. Wahlah, no air in the system! Mine also has a pressure testing pump, etc. but was around $350 for the setup. Then you have to buy cap sets to make it work with "other" things. It has 5 caps with it, but there are about 10 more pressure and 10 more suction caps that I still need to buy, they aren't cheap either!

the snap-on kit doesn't need adapters. it fits into the fill neck hole. much more convient.

 

[sle2115]

the snap-on kit doesn't need adapters. it fits into the fill neck hole. much more convient.

Mityvac has a universal adapter (M4506) that works well with this kit as well. The snap on kit was more than this kit. I've also had very good luck with a mityvac pressure bleeder, etc. You can use the universal (stepped expanding rubber plug) on about anything from 3/4 inch to 2 inch opening. I got the universal adapter as well in the $350 price tag (as well as tax) and have a cap and system pressure tester too!