Radiator drain and fill
11-08-2013, 07:56 PM
#1
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Radiator drain and fill
I thought I would ask this here since the coolant sticky in the the fluids section hasn't seen much traffic in a while.
I plan on doing a radiator D&F before winter fully sets in. I bought the car last year and don't know the coolant service history. From the looks of the overflow tank, it seems like there is the green Nissan coolant in the system but I am not fully sure (could be auto parts store neon stuff for all I know). Zerex Asian 50/50 seems to have good reviews and I was thinking about refilling the radiator with it after the D&F. The Zerex only comes pre-mixed, so I want to avoid flushing with a garden hose and throw off the 50/50 mixture. Would it be worth it to also drain the engine block drain plugs? How hard is it to access them? I hear they can be tight as hell. The Zerex isn't too expensive at NAPA, so I may do multiple D&F's with it to increase the percentage of fresh coolant in the systemWhat do you guys think? Does the radiator in our cars hold roughly half of the coolant in the system?
I plan on doing a radiator D&F before winter fully sets in. I bought the car last year and don't know the coolant service history. From the looks of the overflow tank, it seems like there is the green Nissan coolant in the system but I am not fully sure (could be auto parts store neon stuff for all I know). Zerex Asian 50/50 seems to have good reviews and I was thinking about refilling the radiator with it after the D&F. The Zerex only comes pre-mixed, so I want to avoid flushing with a garden hose and throw off the 50/50 mixture. Would it be worth it to also drain the engine block drain plugs? How hard is it to access them? I hear they can be tight as hell. The Zerex isn't too expensive at NAPA, so I may do multiple D&F's with it to increase the percentage of fresh coolant in the systemWhat do you guys think? Does the radiator in our cars hold roughly half of the coolant in the system?
Last edited by mclasser; 11-08-2013 at 08:01 PM.
11-08-2013, 08:46 PM
#2
What I did (might be wrong way?)
1. jacked the car up enough to put it on a ramp
2. let the car cool down
3. open the radiator cap in front of the car nearest to the hood
4. undo the screw thingy below the car
5. let everything drain (messy as heck, it didn't come out of the hole instead it came out of everywhere but the hole)
6. unscrewed the reservoir tank and got rid of the fluid in there / cleaned it
7. put in distilled water into the radiator hole in front of the car
8. ran the car and kept filling it with distilled water (where cap opened) until clear color drained from below
9. Turned off car put back reservoir tank
10. filled the entire reservoir tank with green coolant
11. put cap back on and screw back on
12. drove the car around and when the reservoir tank dropped I put 50/50 mixture instead of 100% coolant
Coolant was OEM NISSAN
It took me ~6L of distilled water and a numerous bottles all over the car to capture as much of the stuff as possible.
Next time I do this, I will put cardboard or something underneath the car
1. jacked the car up enough to put it on a ramp
2. let the car cool down
3. open the radiator cap in front of the car nearest to the hood
4. undo the screw thingy below the car
5. let everything drain (messy as heck, it didn't come out of the hole instead it came out of everywhere but the hole)
6. unscrewed the reservoir tank and got rid of the fluid in there / cleaned it
7. put in distilled water into the radiator hole in front of the car
8. ran the car and kept filling it with distilled water (where cap opened) until clear color drained from below
9. Turned off car put back reservoir tank
10. filled the entire reservoir tank with green coolant
11. put cap back on and screw back on
12. drove the car around and when the reservoir tank dropped I put 50/50 mixture instead of 100% coolant
Coolant was OEM NISSAN
It took me ~6L of distilled water and a numerous bottles all over the car to capture as much of the stuff as possible.
Next time I do this, I will put cardboard or something underneath the car
Last edited by george__; 11-08-2013 at 08:50 PM.
11-08-2013, 08:52 PM
#3
Drain plugs on the block are tucked behind the exhaust manifolds on each side, IIRC. Radiator holds 4 quarts and total capacity is 8.25 quarts, so yes the radiator holds about half the coolant in the car. I haven't heard anything about the Zerex though, I stuck with Nissan green for mine.
11-08-2013, 11:07 PM
#4
What I did (might be wrong way?)
1. jacked the car up enough to put it on a ramp
2. let the car cool down
3. open the radiator cap in front of the car nearest to the hood
4. undo the screw thingy below the car
5. let everything drain (messy as heck, it didn't come out of the hole instead it came out of everywhere but the hole)
6. unscrewed the reservoir tank and got rid of the fluid in there / cleaned it
7. put in distilled water into the radiator hole in front of the car
8. ran the car and kept filling it with distilled water (where cap opened) until clear color drained from below
9. Turned off car put back reservoir tank
10. filled the entire reservoir tank with green coolant
11. put cap back on and screw back on
12. drove the car around and when the reservoir tank dropped I put 50/50 mixture instead of 100% coolant
Coolant was OEM NISSAN
It took me ~6L of distilled water and a numerous bottles all over the car to capture as much of the stuff as possible.
Next time I do this, I will put cardboard or something underneath the car
1. jacked the car up enough to put it on a ramp
2. let the car cool down
3. open the radiator cap in front of the car nearest to the hood
4. undo the screw thingy below the car
5. let everything drain (messy as heck, it didn't come out of the hole instead it came out of everywhere but the hole)
6. unscrewed the reservoir tank and got rid of the fluid in there / cleaned it
7. put in distilled water into the radiator hole in front of the car
8. ran the car and kept filling it with distilled water (where cap opened) until clear color drained from below
9. Turned off car put back reservoir tank
10. filled the entire reservoir tank with green coolant
11. put cap back on and screw back on
12. drove the car around and when the reservoir tank dropped I put 50/50 mixture instead of 100% coolant
Coolant was OEM NISSAN
It took me ~6L of distilled water and a numerous bottles all over the car to capture as much of the stuff as possible.
Next time I do this, I will put cardboard or something underneath the car
Let me try to re-write the steps for you.
1. Let car cool down.
2. Place pan under right lower corner of radiator.
3. Remove drain plug from right bottom corner of radiator.
4. Remove radiator cap.
5. When coolant has drained out, re-install radiator drain plug.
6. Fill radiator with water and re-install radiator cap.
7. Start engine and run it till it gets to normal operating temperature.
8. Rev engine two or three times under no-load.
9. Stop engine and wait until it cools down.
10. Repeat steps 3 through 9 until clear water drains from radiator.
11. Re-install radiator drain plug.
12. Empty and clean overflow/reservoir tank.
13. Fill radiator with undiluted, full strength antifreeze until radiator fins are covered.
14. Leave radiator cap off.
15. Start engine and run it till it gets to normal operating temperature. Watch coolant level in radiator that the radiator fins do not become uncovered. Add antifreeze if necessary.
16. Allow coolant to circulate through the engine and radiator for one or two minutes to allow air pockets that were trapped in the engine block to escape. Again, keep watching the coolant level in the radiator as it will go down as the air escapes out of the engine. Reving the engine to approximately 2,000 rpm will help.
17. When coolant level stabilizes and no more air bubbles are seen, turn off the engine.
18. Fill radiator to the top with undiluted, full strength antifreeze and install radiator cap.
19. Fill overflow tank to MAX indicator line with undiluted, full strength antifreeze.
Car can be driven as normal, but check the level in the reservoir tank every morning before starting the car. Add diluted, 50/50 antifreeze if necessary. If reservoir tank is completely empty, remove radiator cap and add coolant to radiator, filling it completely. Keep checking daily until the coolant level in the reservoir tank remains the same.
The capacity of the engine and radiator is 6.9 liters or 7.3 U.S. quarts.
The capacity of the overflow/reservoir tank is .8 liter or .75 U.S. quart.
11-11-2013, 04:40 PM
#8
all i do is yank the lower rad hose, let the coolant fly out, put the rad hose back on, fill it up with coolant, let it run for a while with the rad cap off and rev it occasionally, wait for the thermostat to open and bubbles to stop, thats it. i just pull the lower rad hose because its quicker than waiting forever for the drain plug
you dont fill up the reservoir full either. the reservoir is just a buffer zone to hold coolant when it expands warm and contracts cold. you technically dont even need a reservoir, most cars in the 70s and older never did. they were invented because without a overflow, when you initially fill the rad with coolant, some will dribble out from expansion and it would dump onto the road back then. after that, you wouldnt loose any more coolant from the rad unless you overheated. reservoir were invented so coolant wouldnt hit the road leading to animals drinking it
just fill the reservoir to the low mark
you dont fill up the reservoir full either. the reservoir is just a buffer zone to hold coolant when it expands warm and contracts cold. you technically dont even need a reservoir, most cars in the 70s and older never did. they were invented because without a overflow, when you initially fill the rad with coolant, some will dribble out from expansion and it would dump onto the road back then. after that, you wouldnt loose any more coolant from the rad unless you overheated. reservoir were invented so coolant wouldnt hit the road leading to animals drinking it
just fill the reservoir to the low mark
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