Radiator drain

[timber74wolf]

Was going to drain my cooling system and flush it before I put fresh antfreeze in it, but I cannot figure out how to drain the radiator. I see the drain, but there is not a screw to unscrew for it to drain. Anyone seen this before? With that said is the only way to drain the radiator is to pull loose the lower radiator hose?

[oleshifty]

vaguely remember grabbing mine with vice grips when I changed my radiator, was a 1/4 turn pull straight out deal.



But doing lower hose would work too.

[timber74wolf]

Well after removing my CAI and grabbing a hold of the lower radiator hose clamp with a pair of pliers and pulling with the other hand I finally got it off. To my surprise or rather what I imagined... the amount of radiator fluid that came out was less than I expected. I know I have the smaller radiator, but any idea of how much radiator fluid the system holds? My radiator measures 28 or 29 inches across between the plastic reservoir ends.
Oleshifty... I might just look into that bit of information instead of pulling the CAI again and wrestling with the hose clamp again. Thanks

[oleshifty]

should hold like 2 gallons for smaller rad...3 for larger. Motor holds a bit. If it wasn't completely disgusting, I wouldn't worry about it.

[timber74wolf]

I wouldn't call it completely nasty, but it is pretty rough after a 104K miles on it.

[PitchBlackC3]

There should be a petcock on the driver's side. There is a rubber hose attached that is held vertically along the rad tank by a loop. Pull the hose out of the loop and you can run it down to a catch can. Some aftermarket radiators don't have the petcock.

[timber74wolf]

Found the pepcock earlier, but no rubber hose and no type of screw to undue. Stick my finger in the hole were a screw valve shoulb and and nothing, but an emtpy hole. I will look again tomorrow when it is not raining. As far as the lack of fluid pouring out... I guess I let it cool to long and possibly the T-stat closed and will not let the radiator fluid flow out freely? Is that possible? I will check my reservoir level before I head out tonight for work.

[timber74wolf]

Okay another quick question. I went and purchased 2 gallons of Peak Extended Life radiator fluid. And when talking to the mechanics at work they said not to use it. They said even after flushing the complete cooling system the Peak or Prestone would attack the seals and gaskets which in turn would cause them to leak and fail in the future. So my question is should I return the peak and get a Antifreeze that has Dex Cool in it? I rather have the correct antifreeze instead of taking a chance.