So, I did some research on a coolant flush and decided to do one on my car yesterday. I'm in the process of doing a 60,000 mile maintenance.

I have a '03 Cavalier LS Sport with an Ecotec motor.

Here is what I did in order. What I need to know is if I did it properly and if I did something wrong should I redo it.

1. First I made sure car was cooled down and unplugged the hoses, inspected them for cracks and leaks which I found none and then took out the reservoir overflow and cleaned it out real good with simple green. Replaced it, and hooked back up the hoses.

2. Removed pressurized reservoir cap.

3. unplugged drain plug on bottom right side of radiator (standing infront of car)

4. Let old coolant drain into catch pan.

5. Put drain plug back in, then filled reservoir container with distilled water (since I didn't see where there was a cap for the radiator like on most vehicles), replaced cap. Ran car for 10 mins to circulate water through engine and dilute coolant in block.

6. Let car cool, pulled plug and drained water out.

7. Replace plug, pour in Zerex Super Flush 32oz and top off with distilled water. Then took car out for a drive of a few miles and came back to flush Zerex.

8. After flushing the Zerex Super Flush I then filled the car up again with distilled water and ran for 10mins to dilute excess flush that still lingered in engine and flushed it.

9. Replace plug and filled radiator back up with 50/50 Dex-cool, went back out drove a couple miles and came back to make sure coolant levels we're where they should be and everything was alright.

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I noticed in my haynes manual it said to drain the block by pulling out a plug underneath in the block which I believe is some sort of freeze plug from what I"ve been reading on other vehicles though I was unable to find it on the my Cavalier.

Is this ABSOLUTELY necessary? I also watched a bunch of Youtube videos of coolant flushes and didn't see any of them mention draining of the block.

Let me know what you think and what you would've done differently. I might've left out a couple things.

Thanks guys!

Chad

I really can not see the relevance of removing a freeze plug from the block for any reason to do a coolant change.While u did some things I would not have wasted time doing like 1 filling with water then running for 10 min then let cool then add the flush? The whole point of the flush is to add it after you drain the system and add water then get car to norm temp,(use cardboard to block the rad) while sitting speeds the process and then let cool and drain,refill with just water run let cool and drain.Then fill with what u are going to use dex,regular green etc run car to norm temp and recheck.The only thing I DO is leave the rad cap on some off or like urs prolly the resevoir cap being u do not have a rad cap which in turns lets air escape to prevent air pockets.Other than that yeah u did fine!! If u find the temp rise alot remove the resev cap let run for like 10-15 min to let the air escape.Just for your info if ur hoses are over 4 yrs old I would replace them regardless of appearance bc they can fail being caving in,blowing out,cracking under loads,temps etc.The 4yr rule is what most manuf of hoses recomm and I go by this myself regardless of how good the hoses look.Other than that good job and hope my info helps and may others correct me or add something I might have left off.

My hoses we're brand new when I bought the car from the dealer used. I was just checking them again anyways since it'd been over a 1 1/2 since I've bought the car.

Yeah, I did do way too much now that I look back. I know I wouldn't of had to flush it that many times with water, but I'll know for next time and it won't take near as long.

I think when I drove it around it helped get most of the air bubbles out because my coolant is still fine after today even and temps are right around 190* where they have been.