Step by step

ok im getting ready to start working on a 1997 ford thunderbird with 126000 miles on it and i know how to do everything except an coolant flush how do i go about doing that?

Did you get the repair manual or not? It will tell you.

Short of that, just pick up a coolant flushing kit when you go to buy the coolant. They’re inexpensive and come with directions.

Don’t let that stuff hang around anywhere on the ground or elsewhere. It regularly kills pets (and other animals I’m sure).

Myself, I say skip the kit and just pull the bottom hose off the radiator and what ever comes out, well that’s your flush. Replace with a self pre-mixed 50/50 coolant water solution

Today, you are expected to collect the old coolant and take it to a recycling center…The days of letting it run down the gutter are over…At least we like to THINK they are over…

A “flushing kit” consists of a “T” fitting that allows you to connect a garden hose to one of your heater hoses…

That is certainly an option - depending on what you want to accomplish.

I remember being a teenager and knowing everything.

Coolant flushes are firmly in the “take it to the shop” category for me. Not that it’s hard to do, but dealing with the gallons of anti-freeze and the water you flush through is such a hassle.

My other word of advice is that it’s a very good idea to change the thermostat and radiator cap at the same time.

You can still pour it down the drain (after heavily diluting it) in most places. Where you can’t, it’s not just creeping eco-correctness-- there are some sewage treatment facilities that use microbes which are killed by anti-freeze. You also don’t want to pour it into a septic system for much the same reason.

So this is one situation where you defintely have to check with the local authorities.