Hello,
I am due for a coolant drain/flush/refill for my Maxima 09. I have been reading about that and found valuable resources here in this forum for which I am very grateful. Only 2 things I need to ask. I knew that there is a Philips screw drain plug on lower passenger side of the radiator. Is that accessible from up top somehow? and if not, can I access it from the ground successfully if car on ground and no ramps used? my suspension is stock and am nor lowered, please share your knowledgeable tips.
Bonus question: is the drain plug the best place to drain, or a disconnected lower rad hose would be?
Thanks

 

Do you not have splash guards?

 

Stock my friend. Yes.

 

There may be an access hole in the lower guard. The problem with not raising the car is having a suitable container in which to drain the fluid. I raise my car up and use a 5 gallon bucket. I have a higher capacity radiator, but you'll need something that will hold a few gallons but will fit underneath the car. Figure that out and you may be able to get away with not lifting the car.

 

If you've never done it before, doing it without ramps or jacking up the front end will make it a miserable job. It's like $80 to have Firestone do it for you and they can flush it out better then you can. Done while you wait with an appointment.

 

I just did my 2010 Maxima what I did was jack the front end up slightly opened the radiator cap unscrew the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator and let all the coolant drain out, I then removed the reservoir and dumped the coolant out and rinsed it with distilled water and put everything back and refilled the radiator with genuine Nissan coolant (blue). I left the radiator cap off and the car jacked up slightly and bled the air out of the cooling system. A buddy of mine who works on these cars said he doesn't recommend running water through the system and flushing because of the water to coolant ratio seeing the Nissan genuine coolant is already 50/50 you don't want to dilute the ratio of the coolant. do this process every 30k miles and I believe that should keep things fresh in the system. I would check with the LT he's a great guy and will give you any info and tips. I've read people doing it different ways with an air lift machine, or using back flush with a hose I didn't want to run water through the system so I did it the way specified above but followed up with a mechanic i know before hand that works on these cars from time to time and said it's fine to just drain it from the radiator and fill it with Nissan coolant and follow up the same procedure every 30k miles.

 

You can do as MadMax said above as well which will probably be the most efficient way to get it done. I believe they may use a machine.

 

I personally will not risk having a moron work on my car that I care about. I might use some place with a lift for rent and do it myself.

 

Pretty condescending statement considering you don't know how to change the coolant fluid in your car and like a moron asked for help on a forum.

 

My car has the green Nissan fluid, I have a gallon of Nissan green coolant (undiluted) and was thinking to use DW for few runs then drain and refill with 50/50 mixture. But your concern is valid because that will not make the total system 50-50 because of the diluted coolant in the engine that can't be drained.

 

Hehe seems like you're still salty since the $2500 Maxima thread the kid bought. Not gonna argue with you, based on your uncivilized approach.

 

The very least you can do is collect the coolant and dispose of it correctly. Sounds like you were thinking about letting it drain into the street. Do that and I won't be so salty.