It depends on the car, you can usually pull the thermostat off and shove a garden hose in the upper radiator hose. Start the engine and flush it as you rev the engine to get the crap out. reconnect the the thermostat housing without the T-stat, shove the garden hose to the bottom of the radiator (with cap) and flush the radiator out. It's a bit harder with a European style expansion tank and you have to pull the lower hose to flush out the radiator. Put the thermostat back in, drain and fill with the appropriate coolant mixture for your winter weather conditions.
(Don't mess with caustic or acid cleaners unless you know how to get that crap out of the engine!)
You need to drain, flush and CLEAN your cooling system with one part powered acid cooling system cleaner to get the corrosion, rust and slime out.
This is an easy to do job at home. First. You HAVE to make sure the battery it unhooked. Or you might lose a valuable part of like. Second. Put the valuable thing(penis)down the gas holly thing. Third......Jack jack jack jack jack jack jack jack jack jack jack..... KA_BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you're handy it's actually pretty simple to do yourself. Just make sure you do it safely and you dispose of the coolant properly. Otherwise the mechanic should be able to do it no problem. It should cost between $50 and $100, coolant included. Last I checked, Canadian Tire will do it for $80 with coolant included.
or would the mechanic expect me to want to do more servicing?
