CharminBear

I'm about to drain my radiator in preparation for replacing my radiator next weekend with my uncles help. I've looked up a video on youtube about how to drain your radiator, but figured I'd play it safe and check with you all and see if there was anything specific I needed to do or look out for. Would hate to do some damage to my car in an attempt to save some money doing the labor myself and actually do more harm than good. Any tips or links to specific videos would be greatly appreciated!

rmodel65

take the cap off and open the valve at the bottom. let the coolant drain. fill with distilled water. start it and let it run drain that do it a few times till its clear. then fill with coolant and distilled water for your proper climate. distilled water is better but you can really cheap out with tap water(but it has minerals etc in it). you can also pull the thermostat and flush with a water hose pretty quick. or buy a tap to put in a heater hose and use the water hose as well.

groho

rmodel, he's replacing the rad, not flushing. C/B, there's enough capacity to use the same oil pan you use when changing the oil. Do as Rmodel says, remove the cap, then loosen the pepcock valve on the lower driver side of the rad let and drain into the pan. Next loosen the hose clamp and remove the lower rad hose, just enough to get it to drain not gush into the pan. Once its drained, completely remove the upper/lower rad hoses and the rad is ready to pull. If you're running an automatic trans, this is the time to pour your fluid into a bucket, wipe out the pan, and loosen/remove the two coolant lines into the rad, leave them hanging. Once new rad is in, fill the rad about 3/4 full and start the engine, you'll see the fluid drop, start adding distilled water/coolant mix SLOWLY so the eng can burp and get rid of trapped air. If you fill it too fast, the eng will burp and blow fluid out the top of the rad, doing it slowly lets the air escape without making a mess. FYI, you're in CA, use a cheap 5 ga home depot bucket with lid, and pour your coolant into that and take it to a recycle facility. Do not pour it in the drain, it WILL kill wild life and dogs/cats, all it takes is a teaspoon to kill an animal.

CharminBear

Yeah I was about to comment and say do I need to do all that if I'm pulling it?

Cool. Yeah I talked to someone at oreileys and asked where to dump it and they told me about a place just on the other side of 99.

Can you explain this part a bit - " If you're running an automatic trans, this is the time to pour your fluid into a bucket, wipe out the pan, and loosen/remove the two coolant lines into the rad, leave them hanging. Once new rad is in, fill the rad about 3/4 full and start the engine, you'll see the fluid drop, start adding distilled water/coolant mix SLOWLY so the eng can burp and get rid of trapped air." If I remove the coolant lines from the radiator then leave them hanging before installing the new one I assume I attach them again after I put in the new one?

Also I went ahead and got new hoses like you suggested and went with the ecp radiator. Been sitting downstairs for two weeks now. Hopefully it runs as good as it looks!

bop11

When you pull the bottom hose, you may find a spring in it. The spring is to keep the hose from collapsing under suction. Don't forget to reinstall it, or the hose will collapse and starve the system.

Starfury

^That shouldn't happen with modern quality hoses. Doesn't hurt to have it, though.

groho

correct, there's two 3/8" steel lines running under the engine from the passenger side of the car. they screw into the bottom of the radiator. Those are your transmission coolant lines. Just unscrew them from the old radiator, they will drip some red tranny fluid, and reconnect to the new radiator once its in place. Be sure to order a radiator that is the same style, with or without transmission coolant lines. Manual trans don't have this, but automatic transmission typically do have the coolant lines in the radiator. You're only going to loose about 1/2 cup of tranny fluid, not much, just need to catch it as you remove the lines.