Easy Coolant Flush

freeman

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2007
Location
OK
TDI
2003 JSW, 2009 Jetta sedan, to 2013 Passat SEL
Thanks for the pics. Did you use brushes to clean the reservoir?
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
how do you keep your engine so clean? Mine is a dirty mess- must be all the sand and gravel they throw on the ice in the winter
 

nord

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Location
Southern Tier NY
TDI
All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
You don't "get around" the thermostat. You purge the coolant while the car is up to operating temp. You then fill with distilled water and again bring the car up to temp, then purge. Repeat until you purge clean water. In other words you "use" the thermostat instead of bypassing it allowing the entire system to be flushed and cleaned.

As I've shared before... It's almost too simple.

The "clean" question? Photos are of our '13 SEL. She's not exactly a garage queen but only has 21k miles on the clock. My '14 SE has 50k on her and is almost as clean.

Perhaps I'm a bit anal about car care. When either car goes on the lift for any reason it gets a nose to tail inspection. No leaks or dribbles allowed. No oily film and no corrosion. Our cars seem to return the favor with great economy and reliability.

And thanks for noticing. Clean makes a difference.
 

nord

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Location
Southern Tier NY
TDI
All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
Most of the orange contaminates will be removed by the purges. If the reservoir remains dirty it's easily removed. You can then use detergent and a brush (or whatever works best for you) to clean the plastic. Just remember that the reservoir will probably be somewhat stained and will probably not appear perfectly clean. As long as the contaminates are removed it doesn't matter, except for aesthetics.
 

wilder11354

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Location
Montrose, Pa
TDI
2014 SE passat 6dsg
Hmmm.. how does one keep the exterior of the car solean? ya wash it, go to self wash car wash, lift hood, remove engine cover, and wash the engine and compartment. No problems with electrical connectors, because modern cars have weather pack connectors, slicone rubber seals to avoid water migration. DOH!!!
 

nord

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Location
Southern Tier NY
TDI
All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
And you don't just clean it once a year. You maintain cleanliness.
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
I used to keep my stuff ultra nice until the crash of 2008 requiring 6am to 6pm shifts 6 days a week living 54 miles out of town happened :( Now just keeping up with oil changes is a PITA- I think my civic is at 12k on the oil right now and I just got home..... really sucks
 
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Brad95

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Location
Arizona
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE Manual since 09/28/12-04/05/18, 2015 Passat TDI SE Manual Since 03/29/2018
I used to keep my stuff ultra nice until the crash of 2008 requiring 6am to 6pm shifts 6 days
what about 6am to 10pm shifts 7 days a week? post recession?
 

kyledooley

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Location
Ottawa, IL
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE
Just a quick comment...

Two thumbs way up for posting this. Just did it this weekend.

Took me 3 flushes to get it nice and clear, but being super easy, it was not a problem.

Including flush and filling 3 times, 3 drives around the neighborhood to get it up to temp and circulated and a final fill, I was at an hour and 10 mins. i.e. You could flush yours in a regular maintenance situation in about 30 mins, all in.

Definitely no excuses for not doing it.

Thank you for posting.

Kyle

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 

nord

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Location
Southern Tier NY
TDI
All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
Kyle,

Thank you for the thank you. And it really is almost too easy!
 

Rico567

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Location
Central IL
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL Premium (Turned in 7/7/18)
Almost set to order the G13 coolant and do this, then along came the buyback....
 

bustNfuel

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Location
Raleigh, NC
TDI
Sold: 13 Passat SEL TDI
Bringing this back up to the top. Good information that I needed because I'm not trusting the dealership did sufficient flushes when my heater core was changed recently.

I'll be doing the 'shopVac' flush soon!
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
maybe the non organic G12++ would be better- seems the 2012 passats that came with it don't clog
 

quarterpanel

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2018
Location
TX
TDI
2013 JSW
Tried this with my '13 JSW and recovered a little over 1/2 gallon each time. I used over 8 gallons of distilled water to clear it up. Ended up siphoning new DW through the outlet hose and was able to get more contaminants out per flush cycle. For only 35K miles it was super nasty coolant. I think the PO had a Jiffy Lube flush or something and screwed this mix up. I will probably do this again with some chemical clean next winter. I am not sure why I was unable to get more coolant out each time I vacuumed. Thanks for the post.
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
I ended up taking a larger top coolant house off to let more air get into the system. my OEM coolant was a burnt orange color
 

MostroDiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Location
North Haven, CT and Brooklyn, NY
TDI
2012 Passat Gasser VR6; (Sold and missed) 09 JSW DSG Pano Blue Graphite Build Date 05/09
Here's a question on flushes I've been pondering. Years ago I did a flush on a Saab, which later developed even MORE oil leaks than normal for Saabs. :)

I wondered since then whether, by getting the car to operating temp, draining, then filling with COOL water, this may have caused any issues with sudden cooling of hot metal surfaces, and their differing properties of heat dissipation relative to one another? Like the iron block versus aluminum head?

Seems everyone here is okay with removing hot coolant and immediately filling with cool liquid, and no one's reported any issues. Has anyone ever discussed the potential for problems? (I don't know that there IS any potential for them...just wondering.)
 

madmedix

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Location
Terra
TDI
Passat
You're not the only one... Many moons ago my father taught me to just do it "cold" (his change schedule was every other June) so it wasn't too "cold" :p.
Drain the system, pull the thermostat and then the part I hated > pull the rad hoses (both) and inspect the inside of them for deterioration. Now granted, this was on cars nowhere near as complicated or shoe-horned into engine bays as the current ones. While this was going on mix the replacement coolant in a collapsing picnic water jug and let it sit to warm up. By the time all the fiddling was done getting the car ready - the new coolant was as warm as the outside temp.

I still do this to my mk2 IDI TD; haven't done the '15 TDI yet so not sure if I can follow dear old dad's process.
 

Lloydw

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Location
Iowa
TDI
2005 Passat TDI
Thanks for the info. I needed to search and read more before taking the RH lower radiator hose off. What a PITA. With a bad shoulder I am very thankful for your help. Thanks.
 

d2freeman

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Location
NC
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE
maybe the non organic G12++ would be better- seems the 2012 passats that came with it don't clog
I switched mine to G12+ right after my heater core clogged, not a single issue since, I use Pentofrost SF.
 

forrest resto`s

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Location
athens ga.
TDI
2000 jetta tdi auto rc2 2013 passat tdi 2015 passat tdi auto 2011 jetta tdi nav. s'roof..man. dpf delete 1970 GTO JUDGE 520 HP
Great write up! Thought I would try this to be sure?.. Oil in the coolant ( another thread on this, oil cooler issue)..flushed out another way..Have a small amount of oil residue still left.. I have a question .. I have a commercial vac.. and after sucking for 5 min. or so.. there is still a pool at the bottom of the res..which drains back into the engine when done.. is this normal?.. also how far down is your "pipe" going into the res. ? It does not seem to suck ALL the coolant out.. am I doing something wrong? Vacuum pipe is sealed well at res. opening ( or should it?).or do I have another problem? . Or am I just a dumb A''..I'm really having a bad day!.. Can't seem to get anything right/resolved ( other issues with shop work!)... Thanx! I really appreciate this! I think I got it figured out?... don't seal the vacuum pipe to the neck of the res...seems to get more out this way.. what a day!
 
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atsc

New member
Joined
May 26, 2023
Location
Ames, Iowa
TDI
VW Passat
I am assuming everyone is using 1.5 inch Shopvac (not 2.5 inches)? The diameter of the reservoir opening seems to be approx 1.5 inches.
 

forrest resto`s

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Location
athens ga.
TDI
2000 jetta tdi auto rc2 2013 passat tdi 2015 passat tdi auto 2011 jetta tdi nav. s'roof..man. dpf delete 1970 GTO JUDGE 520 HP
Use a reducer fitting..Can go from 2-3 inch down to whatever you need!
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2024
Location
Chicago
TDI
2012 Passat
Possible to repost pics? Also, I plan on grabbing a cheap 3 gallon 3.5hp vac from walmart. Will that work or should I get a more powerful one?
 

danmin

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2023
Location
DFW
TDI
2014 Passat 2.0 TDI @ 180k
Amazon has brass adapters that turns a standard water hose into a barb fitting that you can put into your reservoir outlet. remove your reservoir and clean that out too. Run your engine and turn your hose on halfway.

$10 for the hose fitting kit. Ran it for 3 hours and installed a coolant filter. New heater core hasn’t clogged. Coolant filter still catching microscopic contaminates
 

Shiboxtdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2023
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 VW JETTA ALH TDI
This might be a dumb question but couldnt you just hook up some type of clean water supply to the fill cap and have the car running and let it drain and run threw the system till it’s just straight water or is this a big no no
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
I always assumed that since no one (I assume) has distilled water running out of a faucet, you'd be running regular tap water through the engine. And then you'd want to get all of that out because of the dissolved minerals and whatnot, so you'd end up doing a flush with distilled water anyway, only this time you wouldn't have the pink color of the coolant to let you know when most of it was out.
 
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