drain coolant like this=-??

[jamesmetairie]

when i bought this 2003 vibe a few years ago it already had about 75,000 miles on it. i don,t know if the previous owner ever changed the coolant. i fixing to do it soon. i can see either toyota pink OR dexcool red in the resevoir. i don,t want to play with any engine drain plug. i plan to only drain the radiator several times. will fill with water after each draining. after that when draining water is clear i,ll drain it and refill with"any color/any kind" of prestone coolant,straight,not the 50/50. do you guys think this idea will work ??

[scherry2]

thats kind of the way the dealership I took my vibe to did it when I changed over to prestone.

[KNINE]

If you have car ramps, the engine drain plug is very easy to get to. It's on the back side of the block, facing the firewall. Seems easier to drain the block than the method you described.

[Serj22]

I too did it from just the radiator when I pulled the head off. Figured I might as well do it anyway and did not want coolant all over the cylinders. I pulled all the coolant out the bottom of the radiator, filled it with water, closed the cap, idled the engine for 5 minutes, then drained the water. I repeated that about 5 times till I felt it was safe to drink whatever came out the bottom plug (figuratively) then plugged it up, and refilled it(after the motor was back together), and closed the radiator cap. Took about an hour that way.

[jamesmetairie]

dose the block drain plug unscrew easily? do you have to put teflon or anything on it when putting it back on? would you do the same system where you warm the engine 5 minutes and drain and again and again replacing the plug each time. ??question =- i assume if you drained the radiator and the block plug you,d have about 90% of the water outta the system with some small pockets of water remaining . in that case i,d use 50/50 any kind, any color .

[BurnOnyx08]

In the old days we used to just pop the drain plug, open the rad cap and stick a garden hose in there till it ran clear and topped up again with new coolant. Not very environmentally friendly I know. The only thing I will say about a coolant flush is do not buy the rad cleaner sold in the auto shops. That stuff is very corrosive and can damage your rad if left in too long. And as was already said Prestone will do, Dex-cool is overpriced.Got to do this myself soon, once the spring hits I'll be at 100,000 Kms

[KNINE]

Check out this post. On page #2 namron has a picture of the drian plug. It's been a while, but I don't think you have to remove the plug completely to drain the block. I didn't use any engine flush. I just drained the radiator, then the block, and added new anti-freeze and distilled water. I ran the car long enough to get it on the car ramps and loosen any particles that have settled in the coolant system. believe me, it's very easy. I'm not an actual mechanic. I just play one at home. http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...age=2

[BLargal]

I saw when I opened my hood after getting my car from the dealership (have had the car for...hmm a week officially) that they didn't top off the coolant which is weird its at the min line not the max line it pissed me off a bit. One question I myself have about coolant is that i've used in all my old cars either standard green or in my last car which is an 02 ford taurus (can't ever spell that right) they switched it over from...well what ever mixed stuff it was from the idiot last owner who mixed two blends to G-5 the yellow stuff. Now with my new car the 09 Vibe GT its pink...is that dex-cool or something else? I wanna know so I can get the right stuff and if I wanted to is it safe to flush it and stop using dex-cool and go with the yellow G-5 which is from what I heard better for the car and cheeper then dex-cool. Maybe the pink stuff IS dexcool but just so new it looks pinkish? Reason i'm asking is cause I think i'd like to switch to G-5 if its safe for my car or at least for now get more of the right stuff cause the cheep sob's at the dealership left me at the min level for coolant *grumbles*

[jamesmetairie]

sometimes after a draining and replacing coolant the level will drop a bit as you drive around. maybe the dealership didn,t run it or drive it long enough for it to happen. personally i recommend draining "several times" untill you,re 100% sure that all the old mystery type of coolant is completely out. on the last draining i save and measure the amount. if it,s about 50% of the system capacity,then i add 100% straight ,any kind,any color coolant from prestone. in your case apparantly the dealer had to drain and replace your coolant for some reason= i,d ask them what kind they put in and just top off with that same stuff. BTW - some people say the pink coolant is actually a toyota brand. good luck with all that.