I'm replacing my thermostat and lower radiator hose this week end. After I drain all of the coolant from the truck any one have any tips for flushing the system myself. Is it possible to just run the garden hose thru the rad. and the block. Will that help flush out the system? Any other tips / tricks that I might be able to use?
Thanks

I believe there's an additional drain plug for the block itself, but don't know how easy that one is to get to.

There's engine flush stuff from Prestone you can buy as well. I haven't tried it though. When I did mine, I just drained and refilled with water a few times to flush it.

Just like mertztr said, go to the autoparts store and look for the radiator flush stuff, you pour it in with water and after several attemps of pouring water in and the water comes out clear yours good, the directions are on the bottle

If you pull the thermostat before you flush it with the garden hose it will work great. Like people were saying, keep the water hose flowing until it comes out clear. I would disconnect both radiator hoses and put the garden hose into the coolant neck on the top of the engine. The water will exit down by the thermostat and it has worked well for me in the past that way.

I wouldn't use a garden hose. Go to a bulk filtered water vending machine and get 5-10 gallons of the stuff ($.25/gallon). No need to add unknown chemisrty to the engine environment.
Nathan

garden hose water is not distilled

Garden hose water is only used for flushing and not for filling.
When you add coolant then use the distilled water to fill.

I did the prestone flush once. It was a messy job. There was quite a bit of coolant that ended up on the ground. I have Firestone do it now with their Wynns powerflush machine.

Buy one of the Prestone flush kits from just about anywhere for about $6. It has 3 size tee's that are spliced into the heater hose. The kit also has a garden hose adapter that hooks to the tee. It will flush the whole system including the heater core.