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coolant drain ???

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Old May 7, 2005 | 11:47 AM
  #1  
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Default coolant drain ???

Recently tried to drain & refill the coolant when I opened the drain on the radiator only got out one gal. am I missing something or is there something else I need to do.....Help!!!
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Old May 7, 2005 | 11:55 AM
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Drain and fill procedure:

Make sure engine is cool, remove radiator fill cap

Open radiator drain ****

Allow to drain completely

Close drain ****.

Fill system thru surge tank opening

********Fill half the system with 100% Dex Cool

********Add clean water till it reaches the base of the neck.

Start engine and idle for 1 minute

Replace surge tank cap

Cycle engine RPM from idle to 3000 in 30 second intervals until coolant temp reaches 99 degrees

Shut off engine

Remove surge tank cap

Start engine

Idle for 1 minute and fill surge tank to ½ inch ABOVE Full Cold mark on tank

Install surge cap

Cycle engine again idle to 3000 RPM in 30 second intervals until temp reaches 99 degrees

Shut off engine

Top off coolant as necessary ½ inch ABOVE FULL COLD mark on tank
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Old May 7, 2005 | 12:09 PM
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pewter99 did all of that but only one gal. drains out is that normal?
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Old May 7, 2005 | 12:19 PM
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I don't recall but I don't think it holds much more than that if that much...don't have my manual in front of me.....I think when I refilled mine it didn't take the whole gallon of DEXCOOL premix
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Old May 7, 2005 | 12:58 PM
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I just drained mine recently. I think the entire cooling system holds 12 qts of coolant. When I drained mine I got out about 10 quarts (a little over 2 gallons). I did have my front wheels up on ramps and to get the last couple of quarts out I jacked up the rear end so it was a little higher than the front end but it drained at least 7-8 qts before I had to do this. You should be getting out a lot more than just 1 gallon. Did you open the fill cap when you drained it?
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Old May 7, 2005 | 01:10 PM
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white top -

check out this thread about coolant change.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...nge&forum_id=1

About 3/4 through the thread there is a post by jimcork1 and he says he got out about 11qts. If you're only getting out 4 qts I don't think that is normal.
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Old May 7, 2005 | 01:38 PM
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Jerry,

In addition to the radiator drain ****, there are drain plugs on each side of the block that must be removed to get the coolant out of the engine block. These plugs are extremely difficult to get to without removing the exhaust manifolds and starter. In addition, once you have the radiator and block drained, you should take an air hose an blow the coolant out of the heater core.

Good luck.
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Old May 7, 2005 | 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Pumba
Jerry,

In addition to the radiator drain ****, there are drain plugs on each side of the block that must be removed to get the coolant out of the engine block. These plugs are extremely difficult to get to without removing the exhaust manifolds and starter. In addition, once you have the radiator and block drained, you should take an air hose an blow the coolant out of the heater core.

Good luck.
Just to clarify...when I drained mine I got 10qts out of the radiator/coolant reservior. I did NOT drain the block. The only drain plug I opened was on the lower passenger side corner of the radiator.
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Old May 7, 2005 | 01:52 PM
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if you do the flush and fill you should get what you need..I think we are all on a different page here

Radiator only probably 4 qts..entire system definetly more
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Old May 7, 2005 | 05:04 PM
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Do the power flush, much better and well worth the money, IMHO.
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Old May 8, 2005 | 03:59 PM
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I replaced my coolant last week and I was able to drain 8 qts from the petcock at the bottom of the radiator. Since I had the car up on ramps I had to use a pump to get about 1 pint that settled in the rear of the surge tank. the Dex-Cool was in good shape so I didn't need to flush. Btw, if you do flush, don't use anything other then water. Flush products can have a bad reaction with Dex-Cool and cause major problems with gaskets, etc.
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Old May 8, 2005 | 05:03 PM
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I got about 11 quarts from mine. It was very clean, shop manual says if it is clean there is no reason to flush system. I did not flush the system. Changed mine at 5 years, but only about 60,000 miles.

Be careful when opening drain valve, it only turns 90 degrees and then pops out. If you turn further you will break it (experience talking). New ones are under $5.00.
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