Coolant Flush

[rockport]

hi all,

With winter settling so quick i decided to check the level of anti freeze left in the water coolant system.. i bought one of these kits from halfords, its quite a funky looking gismo! anyway turns out im a bit low.

So my question is... anyone know where the drain plug is loatation on the rad of a phase 2 valver?

I have a haynes manual at home, but i think its gone walk about! ill have another look tonight if no joy on here



cheers...

 

[BRUN]

i dunno if there is a drain plug, might just have to take a pipe off, thats what i did

 

[Ben H]

There is a drain plug. From what I can remember, its just below the exhaust manifold and its a bugger to get at.

Good luck!

 

[rockport]

something tells me im in for a bit fun tonight, why cant life be simple!!

 

[cliocup]

your both right, in a way. there isnt a drain on the rad, you just remove the bottom hose (bit of a pain) there is, however a bleed screw on the left hand side at the top.

Also a coolant drain plug in the back of the block, under the exhaust manifold as Ben H says. It is also a pain to get to but can be done.

Flush it all through, remove any hoses you want to clean out, clean and replace them and re-fill system with 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze. AS the coolant comes out of each bleed screw (continuous stream with no air bubbles) replace screws and fill almost to the max on the header tank . Run the engine for few mins at 1000rpm whilst keeping it topped up with coolant and it finds its own level.

Did mine last week and it runs nice and cool and wont freeze over the winter! Sorted...

 

[rockport]

thanks cliocup, ben brun... hose removal it is then

 

[rockport]

errr.. 2 secs

50% water 50% antifreeze? you sure thats right? if so thats alot of anti freeze! cant i just put one whole bottle in?

 

[cliocup]

I did a 50/50 mix. I think that is even stated on the bottle of antifreeze. Makes a good coolant that way.

Youll need to mix up loads as you loose quite a bit bleeding the system and topping it up. Mix a up about 4 litres so 2 bottle of a/freeze and thats enough. that will give a good flush aswell. (and reverse flush rad with hose if you can)

 

[cat171]

i flushed mine a couple of weeks ago and posted exactly the same,

the bottom hose is a complete b*stard to get off i had to jack it up a bit and put a g clamp on the green clip and slide it up the hose and pulled it off, i then lowered it to get all of the old sh*t out, it was bloody filthy, with loads of rusty water.

i flushed it through, and replaced the thermostat as it was shagged,

the only problem now is that i managed to get an air lock so the heater doesnt work, i am going to bleed it this weekend to cure it !

 

[BRUN]

a 50/50 mix should give you protection down to about -35c

you can get a little test kit from Halfords for £2 which will show you your current level of protection, its re-usable too

mine turned out on low protection, which is -14c i think, so i went an bought another litre of the stuff and im on medium protection now which i think is -20?

 

[cliocup]

Think -35c should do us!

Not planning a trip to finland over the winter although it would be a laugh...(logs on to holidays abroad website...)