turbochrissy

Doing it later on. Never worked on the car before, so can anyone recommend an easy way? Whats the best place to drain the coolant from and how many litres does the system hold? Also, what ratio do you use for the antifreeze

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

when I drain my 99 it has a small black plastic tap down the bottom of the rad on the drivers side.
I attach a small (6"?) length of hose to this and point the loose end into my bucket.
start unscrewing the tap and remove the cap from the expansion tank to aid draining.
when its all drained re-do-up the tap and start filling with fresh coolant.
I think the book for mine is about 7litres in total which I made up with 50/50.
it takes ages to refill and will need a few engine starts to get it flowing.
when your all filled up whack the heater on full blast (hot) and give it a few revs, you might hear bubbling from behind the dash.
remove hose from tap and check for leaks.
not teaching you to suck eggs but watch your hands cos this stuff aint that nice, also be aware that you have to dispose of the liquid responsibly.
(i.e. your local tip/halfords etc) as its not environmentally sound/stable enough to dump down the drain.

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

warmed up cars have coolant at about 90degs.C
you might want to make sure its been stood for a good few hours (preferably overnight) before getting near it.
be aware that you may need to remove the expansion tank cap in two stages, firstly undo about 1/2 way and you may hear a hiss, let this finish before undoing fully and removing.
if the liquid is still too hot it will expand and overflow.
(hence doing it in the morning after its been stood is favourite)
Good luck

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

get a funnel for refilling and refill through the expansion tank.

sorry, thats all now!

911

Bloody horrid stuff to handle. Peanuts is spot on. I had a flood of the stuff when i did my cylinder heads, went everywhere, and it does not dry out, just sticks everywhere. Equal to brake fluid and gearbox oil (which i am now alergic too)
If it does splill I found only Fairy liquid washing-up fluid would shift it...

911

Rokay

Well this is my methord.

1/ Can't be bothered with the drain tap at the bottom of the rad so i use the lower hose as a drain point and let it drain off at a controlled rate. Undo header tank cap to aid draining.

2/ once drained reconnect lwr hose.

3/ To top up i find it best to remove the hose from the top of the engine. Using a flexable funnel fill this port until you get a flow out the top of the port.
Remove the top rad hose, again using the flexable funnel fill rad untill a flow is evident. Reconnect hose to the rad port and engine port.

4/ Top up header tank, teasing lwr rad hose as you go. You should find the coolent goes in a bit easier if you do this (air locks etc). keep topping up until header tank holds it's own level.

5/ Start engine with header cap off to start with. Replenish tank level as required. Once this level holds it's own replace cap and bring cooling system up to pressure and temperature. Chk for leaks.

6/ Over the next couple of days worth keeping an eye on the level in the header tank. Again replenish if required.

Flexable hose............plastic bottle and pipe approx 12" to 18" will be fine.
Coolent capacity.......7.5 ltr dry engine as in rebuild
Your find you'll only drain off 4.5 to 5ltrs only.
Coolent mix 50/50