Engine Coolant Replacement

briencrean · Post by **briencrean** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:53 am

Hi all,

I'm just about to change my coolant. I have done this on a Renault Megane once before but that was a completely different setup!

I've been reading the workshop manual on how to change the coolant as I could not find any other clear guides on the net but I'm not sure of a few of things.

Firstly here is the page from the workshop manual:

I presume when they are talking about the radiator cap they mean the cap on the coolant tower?

Can anyone tell me where to find the drain plug on the cylinder block in step 2, and is there only one of these?

When refitting this plug what sealant should I buy?

Lastly I would have thought there would be the danger of air locks when changing the coolant but the manual mentions nothing about this?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, I just want to do it right first time!

Thanks,

Brien

Post by **vipfto** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:57 am

radiator cap is what they mean

just remove bottom radiator hose and stick hose into block to from there to give it a proper flush (leaving cap on at this stage) so no need to remove plug

when letting it warm up for thermo to open leave radiator cap off and refit once both radiator hoses are warmed up to help prevent air locks

Ecnerual · Post by **Ecnerual** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:54 pm

its preety simple mate

1. get a coolant flush from supercheap auto or something and stick it into your radiator and let it run for a good 15 - 30 minutes

1. get underneath your car and remove the radiator plug which should be on the left hand side on the bottom of the radiator and drain
2.remove the radiator cap and stick your hose in there and flush all the sh*t out!
3. pull out the coolant resevoir tank out and clean
4. put in your new coolant

JOeJOe · Post by **JOeJOe** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:50 am

Ecnerual wrote:its preety simple mate

1. get a coolant flush from supercheap auto or something and stick it into your radiator and let it run for a good 15 - 30 minutes

1. get underneath your car and remove the radiator plug which should be on the left hand side on the bottom of the radiator and drain
2.remove the radiator cap and stick your hose in there and flush all the sh*t out!
3. pull out the coolant resevoir tank out and clean
4. put in your new coolant

Wouldn't the cold water ruin the radiator internals? Running the car for that long will heat the radiator and the instand cold snap from your garden hose, i would think it won't be too good for the radiator.

Post by **vipfto** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:42 pm

yip ^ as i said a proper flush is done via sticking hose up from block with cap on etc

Ecnerual · Post by **Ecnerual** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 8:02 pm

well if you remove just the hose you wont get everything out of the radiator then?

well common sense i didnt mean straight away, if you were to take out the plug while the coolant was hot be prepared to be scald...

but i didnt realise that you could damage radiator internals just by sticking a hose in there.. ill keep that in mind

Post by **vipfto** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:28 pm

Ecnerual wrote:well if you remove just the hose you wont get everything out of the radiator then?

well common sense i didnt mean straight away, if you were to take out the plug while the coolant was hot be prepared to be scald...

but i didnt realise that you could damage radiator internals just by sticking a hose in there.. ill keep that in mind

the flow goes from botttom of block through engine back round to top of radiator then through radiator then back to the start at block