Draining the Radiator

[blarney]

Where is the drain plug for the radiator?

[redlinepontiac]

just pull the lower hose

[TheOtherNick]

Yup just pull the lower hose. If you must know the drain petcock is on the lower left side of the rad and is a 1/4 drive square, but it will strip out as soon as you try to open it. So just pull the lower hose and have no worries about stripping the plug and having a coolant leak.

[blarney]

thanks guys, after not being able to get a grip on that lil thing that is what I did. I need to get new antifreeze in it for winter since it only had water in it because I changed out those plastic water elbows.

[01gpgt01]

hope you ran distilled water

[FriboRage]

I've been trying for almost an hour now to get that lower hose off, but I cant find anywhere that anyone actually says what the best method is for doing that.

Im just reaching in from the top, but I cannot get a grip on that clamp with the pliars, there's just not enough room, and even if I got the pliars on I dont think there would be enough room for me to grip the pliars.

And it seems like there wouldnt be any access from under, since the air dam is there and blocking it from under... do I have to remove that whole piece? It looks like it's one big chunk under the whole front end..

[TheOtherNick]

Remove the air dam, its like 10 screws.

[FriboRage]

I see 3 screws on the inner part... and like 5 clips that look as if you have to break them to get em out, is that what you mean? I dont see any other actual screws.

I really wanna get this done, cause the reservoir bottle is really low, lookin like red mud inside, and inside the radiator neck it looks muddy too... it's just so harsh doin it in the cold and wet like this.

Think it'll be ok to just top it/fill it with prestone dex or prestone "any color" just to keep the level safe until it warms up outside and I can use the pit in a month or 2?

Would you recommend either the prestone dex to keep it straight dex, or the prestone "any color" to sort of dilute the dex mess a little bit?

[FriboRage]

Suggestions?

[brandonl2000]

Fribo, maybe try taking the pliars and man handling that hose. try to twist it around so you can get a better grip on your clamp.

[TheOtherNick]

I take it off from the top, buy some bastard clamp pliers.

[brandonl2000]

yup. and once u get that lower hose off, remove that clamp, place it in the nearest trash can or junk pile, and get yourself a nice new shiny one with a flat head screw adjuster. makes life beautiful.

[FriboRage]

Craftsman Cable Operated Clamp Pliers

I havnt tried it yet, looks like exactly the right tool for the job... just for anyone's future reference searching this topic.

[sd98gtp]

i just flushed my radiator this last weekend while doing fresh plugs and wires and the easiest way to drain it is to remove the bottom air dam and take the hose off from the bottom. I too had the same issue when i first tried to get the hose off from the top, my clamp was positioned where i couldn't get a good grip on it, but it took all of 3 mins to get the air dam off and it was smooth sailing after that. For coolant i just used O'reilly's any make and model coolant.