Debris in coolant passages

Whilst cleaning the old gasket material off of my block, I undoubtedly scraped some gasket material and small pieces of scouring pad into the coolant passages. If I lived in a warmer climate, I'd flush the engine block through the radiator hoses, but here in the Rockies, it doesn't get above freezing during the day and so the garden hose is out of commission until May.

Would it be OK to just try to flush the coolant system for a few minutes with distilled water before refilling with 50/50? I was concerned that the small debris might damage the radiator. Thanks for your input.

 

You should ALWAYS flush with distilled water and NOT the garden water hose.

 

True. I guess I can't flush the engine block without also pumping the water through the radiator then...

 

Nope, not really. Get everything put back together and do a couple system flushes with distilled water before putting the coolant in. Don't forget to turn the heater all the way hot in the cab.

Did you open the drain plug for the block yet?

 

Yep, opened the block drain plug. Thanks for the advice

 

Can’t you just pull the bottom rad hose?

 

To drain the radiator, sure. But he is concerned about debris in the coolant passages of the block after doing work on the head. Easiest thing to do is to do a couple system flushes, which will address all the crap in the whole system, to make sure it's good to go.

 

Oh ok. I read it like the head was still off. So he could just flush out the block.

 

I suppose you could try doing that. I'd be concerned with getting water into passages that it shouldn't be in tho.

 

@4banga is the head back on yet?

 

I suppose. I don’t think that would be a big problem though. Just flush it all out thoroughly, avoiding oil passages as much as possible. Drop the pan first. Then blow it out with air and follow up with a WD40 flush (the WD stands for “water displacing”) to prevent oxidation, then blow out again and bolt it together. Put in the oil. Then flush and change oil again...

 

Dropping the oil pan would be a pain in the ass. I'd rather bolt the head back on and just do a normal cooling system flush personally.

 

Really? Is it a pain on these?

 

Well, I honestly don't know on the 2.7 like the OP has. I know on my 3.4 I really wouldn't want to drop it unless there was a really good reason to.