" One way of dealing with the thermostat is the old trick of using some hard candy to hold it open during fill".[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that might have been Okay on some older cars that had problems heating up.
(Me, I wouldn't try it)
Thing is. The HHR and it's 3 different 4 cylinder engine don't have any problem getting up to operating temps. And, wedging open the T-stat is gonna delay the heating up process. THEN the good ole computer is gonna say, " Hey, somethings wrong, send out a CEL!!!
So what I'm saying is, best to just do it the normal way. It seems to work.

 

But it's temporary....the candy melts......

 

Thank you.

 

I had not here of the hard candy trick. Sounds like a good trick to me.

 

What method does the dealer use when flushing the cooling system?

 

It depends on the dealer. A few of the dealers that I worked for did not have a flushing unit so all we did is drain the rad. And refill the cooling system. Others did have the flushing unit and they worked well however it was up to the techs if they use the flusher or not. In most cases the tech makes all the difference on the quality of work that is done to you car.

 

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