Flushing radiator?

I personally use Prestone coolant with distilled water. I don´t use the orange dex cool because in my opinion it sucks. drain it out cold then fill up with water and a bottle of Prestone Super flush. start the car with the radiator cap off and let it warm up unitl the thermostat opens. add water as needed to fill it up. put the cap on (quickly!) and drive around for a while. No you will not hurt anything. Water actually transfers heat faster than antifreeze and no corrosion is going to happen. shut it off and let it cool down. drain everything and then fill ´er up with distilled water and Prestone Antifreeze. repeat yearly.

sweet.

How will I know when the thermostat opens? It just seems like I will have water and crap spilling out of the rad if I leave the cap off and run the car.

And yes, I know that the coolant doesn´t flow through the rad when the thermostat is closed.

I like the Prestone Low-Tox because I have several animals and a tendancy to spill some anti-freeze on the driveway every now and then... sometimes it takes me a little while to get around to washing it up (like 30 minutes while I´m working under the car).

You´ll know the thermostat opened when the top raditor hose gets hot and is under pressure, and the coolant level will drop in the radiator untill you get the air purged out. No, stuff will not go flying unless you take the cap off AFTER it has warmed up. by taking the cap off when the car was cool, pressure wasn´t built up. the low tox is a good idea if you think kids or animals might get into it.

I use BG radiator flush...it overworks Prestone...in my opinion....usually I add it and run the car at idle for about 30 minutes that allow for the thermostats to open and to get a good workover throughout...I then drain the system(it will be hot) then refill it and run it again for awhile and usually a third time with fresh water to finish then drain and add cooland and water to the proper amounts.