1st time to half ass a project: Coolant drain plug

[96ToyoCam164K]

I wanted to drain all my coolant out this afternoon, but only ended up taking it out from the radiator and resevoir (which was very dirty at the bottom).

I spent 2 hours trying to reach the coolant drain plug on the back of the engine from underneath the car using 3 different sized wrenches (the click type one). Although I was able to reach and connect the socket to it, I could not turn the thing because there wasn't enough room between the axle and the bolt connecting to the exhaust manifold to get a strong enough pull. I was able to remove 1 bolt from the manifold but couldn't reach the other, in which I would have just removed that and would have had complete access to the coolant drain plug.

Has anyone had any luck reaching it?

[Mister_Perkins]

Originally Posted by 96ToyoCam164K

I wanted to drain all my coolant out this afternoon, but only ended up taking it out from the radiator and resevoir (which was very dirty at the bottom).

I spent 2 hours trying to reach the coolant drain plug on the back of the engine from underneath the car using 3 different sized wrenches (the click type one). Although I was able to reach and connect the socket to it, I could not turn the thing because there wasn't enough room between the axle and the bolt connecting to the exhaust manifold to get a strong enough pull. I was able to remove 1 bolt from the manifold but couldn't reach the other, in which I would have just removed that and would have had complete access to the coolant drain plug.

Has anyone had any luck reaching it?

Yeah I can reach it very easily on my motor stand. ehehe

What you should try to do is remove your thermostat And run a hose through the upper radiator hose. This should flush almost all the fluid in the motor

[96ToyoCam164K]

Originally Posted by Mister_Perkins

Yeah I can reach it very easily on my motor stand. ehehe

What you should try to do is remove your thermostat And run a hose through the upper radiator hose. This should flush almost all the fluid in the motor

are you referring to the spongy radiator hose or directly to where the thermostat is? where would I find a hose of that size and would I need to turn the car on once the hose is connected? (sorry to sound so daft right now lol)

[fenixus]

or forget about drain plug on the back of engine

just drain the radiator and refill with distilled water. turn the engine on until fans spin twice (it guarantees thermostat opens and mixes fluid between rad and engine block).

shutdown, drain and refill with distilled water again like above. then repeat one more time (3 total).

at this point you have almost clear distilled water in engine block, so all you need to do it to top off the radiator with red coolant concentrate, pour some into return reservoir, then start the car and let the water pump mix all of that to perfect 50/50 mixture. then just bleed it and done

you can get cheap distilled water in gallon bottles from almost any dept store (Walgreens, CVS, etc.). just make sure it says DISTILLED WATER and not vinegar or something else those bottle look all similar haha.

[Mister_Perkins]

Originally Posted by 96ToyoCam164K

are you referring to the spongy radiator hose or directly to where the thermostat is? where would I find a hose of that size and would I need to turn the car on once the hose is connected? (sorry to sound so daft right now lol)

remove hose that houses thermostat.

Remove themostat

Re-install thermostat radiator hose (without thermostat)

Aim same hose towards a bucket

Remove radiator hose on drivers side, Spray water inside of the hose.

The water will circulate and exit where the thermostat is supposed to be.


Or... follow the instructions fenixus listed