Thread sealant is not required, nor is it specified in RAVE, but when I pulled my bolts off I swear there was a PTFE type sealant on them... so thats why I plan on using it. I bought mine off amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-8063...thread+sealant

Note if you're flushing with distilled, 10 gallons (3-4 flushes) should get you close to 100% distilled, but when you fill it back up, you technically need to do the same amount of flushes with coolant to get to 50/50 antifreeze/water.... if you're using a 50/50 mixture.

If you're doing all this work on the coolant system, I highly recommend to replace the radiator at the same time rather than later. You can get a brand new radiator from Lucky8 for just under $200

 

ya, deff looked like the three long bolts had something going on on the threads. they were also very oily.

when i did the coolant back in March, i was able to drain almost all 2 gallons out of the system with removing the lower rad hose. I believe the system hold 2 gallons total. so i plan to yes, run the 100% distilled for a few flushes, and ya there will be some water still trapt in system. id guess about a quarter gallon. so ill still just do the 50/50 mix ones. then maybe again in 6 months. i do see your point in doing a 50/50 flush a few times.

so a lucky8 for $200 huh. ill have to look that up. i was looking on ebay and found some with free shipping around $240ish.

 

Closer to the LR spec volume if block drain plugs removed also. Besides removing removing block drains I ran a gallon of vinegar with tap water during my flushes. Pulled drain plug a second time. Ran a couple more tap water flushes to ensure vinegar gone. IMO tap is fine for short term use, mineral deposits take a long time to form. Said before here that temp drop from pulling plugs and a vinegar douche exceeded drop of install of 180 stat.

 

Once you have it flushed so that it's almost entirely distilled water in the system, just pull the lower radiator hose and drain all you can, then close it up and add concentrate, not 50/50. That will get you close to 50/50.

 

The system doesn't hold 2gallons=(7.5 liter),,,
It holds 13 liters from dry,,,
So when you flush with distilled water & drain as much as you can, in order to have a 50/50 solution either you have to use straight coolant 6.5 liter's and top off rest with distilled water, or keep on filling & draining with 50/50 solution for so many, many times,, to come close to a 50/50 in the system, that will require lots of flushing & refilling, & lots of coolant wasted.

 

Yes! That's exactly my point! Thank you!

 

I asked you about this before in DM, but what socket did you use to remove the drain plugs? I put several different sizes on there (12pt, 6pt) and couldn't get close as they were so tight I need a direct fit. does RAVE specify what is needed to remove those, or do you know?

 

looks like the manual states 22 ft pounds to torque to and use lock tight. but does not state what size socket to use on it.

looking up torque specs for the water pump bolts right now.

looks like the water pump bolts are 18 ft pounds and the 3 pulley bolts are 16 ft pounds.

 

It seems overkill to remove the coolant drain plugs on engine block BUT I have flushed the coolant on my rig 3 times now and it always runs just a lil bit cooler and consistently more stable for the first couple of weeks and then the operating temp baseline will go up about 5-deg. I'm pretty sure that is a symptom of leftover contaminants and minerals down in the block that is not removed from a standard flush. Last time I just couldn't get the DS loose and wasn't moving on to the hidden PS side that requires more work. I also found that spraying the radiator out from the inside with fan removed and a high pressure nozzle helps quite a bit.

 

i did end up spraying the radiator from the inside out with the garden hose with the fan removed. looked like a good amount of dirt came out.

right now iv got almost 2 gallons of distilled water in the system plus what ever water stayed in the block while doing the water pump swap.

ran the motor a few times this evening watching the temps and wouldn't let it get past like 210. able to get some air out between start ups to get air out. i have hard line with a small soft line section returning to the reservoir so im not able to lift the reservoir up high to bleed the cooling like iv read many do. i will venture into doing the block drain plugs with the distilled water flushes.

those brass pladed water pumps any good?