Started to change coolant.. Need some help
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 145
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Started to change coolant.. Need some help alright i was reading up on how to do this as far as draining the block. and i found 1 of the drain plugs beside the starter, that thing is damn hard to get out. and i cant even find the other one by the alternator.
anyway i filled my rad with water, let it get hot and thermostat open, then drain rad, and repeat. i did this 2 times and im still getting **** out. so this is my idea. fill the rad with water, take off bottom rad hose by thermostat. run the motor to drain, or just leave the plug on the rad open and drain it that way, but i figured it would be a lot slower.
i dunno, any suggestions. then the thing that i was wondering about. how do you know your mixing ur dex-cool and water 50\50 with having the block full of water. does anyone know exactly how much dex-cool needs to go in? or what the capacity is.
i dunno, i thought this would be a simple procedure, but going from working a 67 camaro to a 2001 proved to be rather different
anyway i filled my rad with water, let it get hot and thermostat open, then drain rad, and repeat. i did this 2 times and im still getting **** out. so this is my idea. fill the rad with water, take off bottom rad hose by thermostat. run the motor to drain, or just leave the plug on the rad open and drain it that way, but i figured it would be a lot slower.
i dunno, any suggestions. then the thing that i was wondering about. how do you know your mixing ur dex-cool and water 50\50 with having the block full of water. does anyone know exactly how much dex-cool needs to go in? or what the capacity is.
i dunno, i thought this would be a simple procedure, but going from working a 67 camaro to a 2001 proved to be rather different
I dont know about the whole draining thing. I would just keep adding water or even radiator flush till the water drains out clear. Im almost positive that the radiator takes 1 gal dex-cool 1gal distilled water. Im sure someone else who knows exactly will chime in. Hope this helps and good luck!! 
TECH Regular
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 418
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From: Houston, Tx
The owners manual and the Haynes manual both state 11.9 quarts for the coolant capacity, which is correct. I did the flush/refill procedure until the water was clear - this took about 10 times. I would drain the radiator and then pull the thermostat to let some more drain. After having distilled water in the system, I drained and added back 6 quarts of dexcool for the 50/50 mix. When you first top off the radiator, let it sit for a while and then come back and top off - it'll drop as the air escapes. After filling back up, I let it go through several warm up/cool downs and kept topping off the radiator until is stayed at the neck. I never messed with the coolant plugs on the block. Go to www.installuniversity.com on how to disconnect the throttle body coolant line to purge air when filling the radiator.
Originally Posted by shocker45
alright i was reading up on how to do this as far as draining the block. and i found 1 of the drain plugs beside the starter, that thing is damn hard to get out. and i cant even find the other one by the alternator.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 145
Likes: 0
alright, i did the ol drain rad, refil tap water, run, drain rad. haha. anyways after doing this 11 times with water being crystal clear. i filled it up with distilled. then did it again, then filled with anti freeze. i only got 5 litres in tho, and no more air. so i might have to drain a little more and add coolant come winter time.
thanks guys.
thanks guys.
