Prestone Radiator Flush and Cleaner Review

It's close to the time of year to put summer fun toys away and in preparation for that I realized also I am due to change the coolant in my Galaxie.  Not just because it's creeping up on two years since I have, but also because when I opened the radiator cap I wasn't happy with how dirty it looked.

A mechanic buddy of mine suggested instead of just changing it I should add a cleaner and run that first.  There were only two brand options on the shelf at Advance Auto at 8:30 on a Monday night so I went with Prestone Radiator Flush and Cleaner.

I was going to do the quick flush option where you just drain the radiator, add water and the cleaner, run the car for 10 minutes at operating temp with the heat on, drain again, add water, drain again and add coolant and be done.  Once I saw how nasty the coolant really was I decided for the heavy duty clean where you drain, add water and cleaner, drive for a few hours over a few days and then drain, add water, run for 10 minutes, drain and add coolant.

After following the directions closely I will say it cleaned a lot of gunk out of my radiator but not as much as I had hoped.  I'm thinking I might have to go more extreme with the flushing to get it as clean as I want.  In defense of the product, after the run with it I could tell the radiator was dirtier than I thought it was.  It probably would work good on one not so dirty.