Coolant Flush

Ask technical questions or post on problems/issues related to the Kizashi under this topic. Symptoms and pictures of your problem are a good idea.
NOTE: Any car related technical question can be posted here.
Post Reply
dslatsh
Posts: 127
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:22 am

I tried searching for this and saw a lot of comments such as "doing oil change, transmission flush and coolant flush today" My question was has anyone made a write up or can explain how to go about doing a coolant flush? Is there one hose to detach, multiple etc.. I know my old civic had a transmission cooler and had to unhook the radiator hose and tranny cool hose but does the kizashi have coolant going through their lines for the tranny cool of a cvt etc.?
User avatar
KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

The Kizashi's radiator features a drain cock at the bottom of it. I haven't drained the fluid, but I recall seeing it during oil changes on the bottom right-hand side of the radiator. I also don't see why you'd need to touch the CVT's separate cooler unless you were planning to remove the radiator from the car.
Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most transmission coolers for cars don't have coolant. They are essentially radiators for the actual transmission fluid to cool it down, working similarly to oil coolers. The Kizashi features a CVT cooler which is separate from the engine's radiator.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
User avatar
delusional29
Posts: 98
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:22 am

Chis Fix on Youtube has awesome tutorials for general repairs/maintenance.

Here's a video on a coolant flush. Just make sure you use the super long life coolant that is blue for Kizashis instead:
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewto ... =12&t=3760

User avatar
n8dogg
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:20 am

I performed my 90k coolant change today as well as replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. Here are some of my observations for anyone considering doing it themselves.
I got few pointers from watching the Chris Fix videos previously mentioned in this thread. I only flushed once using distilled water. No “Radiator Flush” products as my cooling system wasn’t particularly old, neglected or having any other symptoms.
First of all, all work can be performed from above, no need to go under the car. Just slide a catch pan underneath. The drain is located in the center of the radiator, not at the ends as is usually my experience. The drain cock is accessible from above. It is white and located on the back side on the bottom middle of the radiator. Unscrew until the coolant drains freely without completely removing it. The forward most splash shield, right behind the front bumper, shouldn’t need to be removed. There is a hole in it directly below the drain. It even has an arrow molded in it pointing to this hole. The hole is somewhat small however and if the coolant sputters at all while draining it could splash all over the top side of the splash shield and end up running all over the place. I had my shield off as I was still looking for the drain at the time and just left it off for the duration of the job.
The thermostat housing is located on the front of the engine, (front as in facing the front of the car, not front as in where all the pulleys are) on the passenger side. I moved one wiring harness out of the way to help access it. I didn’t remove the hose from the thermostat housing as it didn’t seem necessary and getting to the hose clamp is awkwardly difficult. When I purchased the thermostat from my local parts store, they listed a separate rubber housing gasket. This gasket they showed is actually for the coolant flange on the other side of the engine. The thermostat has the only necessary rubber gasket already on it. Make sure the old one comes off as mine didn’t when I pulled the thermostat out.
Also changed the radiator cap. Put the old cap on a pressure test kit I have just out of curiosity. There’s about 4 PSI difference between the new and old caps, 12-14 old, 16-18 new. Specified to be 16.

A side story as to why I changed the thermostat. No one ever suggested to me to change a thermostat except for obvious failures; stuck open or closed. However, on a previous vehicle, as the thermostat got older and slowly weakened, it allowed the engine to run just a little too cool. Not enough to notice it on the temp gauge or trigger any check lights. My only noticeable symptom was the unusually poor MPGs. I chalked it up to a change in driving habits and the age of the vehicle. A couple of mechanics I spoke with said there was nothing to diagnose if there’s no engine light and proper maintenance was being performed; oil, filters, spark plugs, inflating and alignment of tires and so on. So, I found a new mechanic. He discovered the low engine temp. Also discovered that the “computer” was basically constantly in startup condition as the engine never made it to normal operating temperatures. So this whole time the sensors were just idle and not monitoring anything (hence no check lights), fuel was being dumped in an effort to warm up the engine, MPGs thus suffered and all that fuel going out the exhaust fouled my catalytic converter. So now I’ll change my thermostat with fluid changes!
'12 Kizashi SLS AWD w/RF sound
easy to chip Vivid Red and 25% window tint
Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus II
Power Stop Rotors and Pads
183,xxx miles and still lovin it!
User avatar
Woodie
Posts: 1167
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:09 am
Location: Laurel, MD

n8dogg wrote:A couple of mechanics I spoke with said there was nothing to diagnose if there’s no engine light and proper maintenance was being performed; oil, filters, spark plugs, inflating and alignment of tires and so on. So, I found a new mechanic. He discovered the low engine temp.
There are mechanics, and then there are mechanics. Finding one who understands what is going on and how to properly troubleshoot is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I was just disappointed by the shop down the bottom of my street who I thought was pretty good.

Good writeup, thanks.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Should be a convenience store, not a government agency
User avatar
KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

In my first cross-country trip last summer, I drove my girlfriend's 2007 Mazda3 S. I had prepped the car for the cross-country trip as it already had over 120,000 miles on it. One of the things I did was a coolant flush to make sure the car ran optimally across the South in the summer heat.
It ran great until coming down the mountain from Flagstaff, Arizona where the check engine light came on. I got it read at an Autozone shortly after and it indicated a malfunction with the thermostat. Given the car wasn't overheating, I concluded the thermostat must have been stuck open instead of closed. We drove it to California and I later replaced the thermostat with an OE part. My point in this story is that perhaps newer cars have sensors that will now indicate thermostat issues. A 2007 Mazda3 S with the 2.3 liter engine certainly did.
Regardless, I think replacing things like the radiator cap, thermostat, and even the gas cap at certain high mileage marks is a smart preventative measure.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
DiggerDerrik
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat May 14, 2016 6:52 pm

KuroNekko wrote: Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most transmission coolers for cars don't have coolant. They are essentially radiators for the actual transmission fluid to cool it down, working similarly to oil coolers. The Kizashi features a CVT cooler which is separate from the engine's radiator.
You’re correct. Most vehicles use a fluid to air cooler which is separate from the radiator to cool transmission fluid. So the fluid in that cooler is transmission fluid and it uses air to cool. Heavier duty vehicles will use a fluid to coolant style heat exchanger. The half ton trucks I’ve owned in the past have used fluid to air systems. The one ton pickup I have now uses a fluid to coolant system for the transmission. It also has 2 separate cooling systems, (two radiators). One for the engine and one for secondary systems like oil coolers and the turbo.
2016 Ford Explorer XLT Ecoboost
2010 Kizashi GTS FWD
2011 F-350 Lariat Crew Cab 4x4 6.7
Post Reply