Re: (Bender)
| Quote, originally posted by Dextrobrick » |
It's directly under the radiator's driver side end tank. There should be a small access hole under it in the radiator's belly pan (if said pan is still installed).
With a suitably sized socket inserted vertically up into said access hole, loosen said plug just enough to begin liberating the old coolant. Don't bother trying to completely remove said plug as there's no need.
When draining is complete retighten said plug snugly--don't over-torque it or you'll be looking at getting a replacement radiator. |
Thank you, sir! That seems to be what I found as far as doing the older cars, and I suppose it holds true for these newer ones, then.
| Quote, originally posted by Dextrobrick » |
When refilling the system via the coolant expansion tank, any air trapped in the cooling system can be burped out by squeezing the upper radiator hose with the coolant expansion tank uncapped. Watch that you don't get sprayed with a geyser of coolant shooting out said reservoir. Then reinstall the expansion tank's cap securely and check for any coolant leaks under and around the engine.
Note that as the engine reaches normal operating temperature and the thermostat fully opens expect the coolant level to drop slightly the first time the car is driven after changing its coolant. To remedy this, top off the coolant level according to the level indication molded into the coolant expansion tank with the engine off after the engine's has had time to completely cool off. As always, don't mess with the expansion tank when the coolant inside is pressurized and steaming hot.
|
As you (somewhat) alluded to, I am quite wary of
not getting all of the DEX-COOL out and then dumping in Volvo's "green." I think I will just have someone flush it for me with their machine... (But, how would their machine get all of the coolant out of the engine block if the thermostat needs to heat up to allow the coolant to flow out of it...???
)
| Quote, originally posted by Bender » |
| I will have to find it again, its been a long time since i did this research. |
I'm finding stuff now that says adding some "green" (ethylene glycol w/ silicates) to DEX-COOL (ethylene glycol w/ organic acids) will not cause any harm, just reduce the "long life" capabilities of the DEX-COOL to the "green" operating life of 30k miles/3-years (instead of 100k miles/lifetime, which is
)
But I'm also seeing that mixing the two will result in the DEX-COOL causing the silicates to precipitate out of the "green." As I only put a small amount of Volvo "green" into the DEX-COOL, I think it is either not enough to cause any precipitates or, if it does, it won't be a whole lot to cause any serious issues. (I tried mixing some more Volvo "green" with some of the orange I pulled out of the expansion tank, and it didn't precipitate on me or anything...
)
I don't want to drain the radiator and fill with Volvo "green" just to have the DEX-COOL in the engine mix and pull all of the silicates out of the Volvo stuff, and I don't want to leave the DEX-COOL in as I'm not sure of the state of the water pump. (I suspect that it was replaced not long ago with the belts, and I expected good documentation from the
attorney that I bought the car from, but she was completely unorganized [seeing as she
lost the title and had to get a new one from the state, and
lost one of the sets of keys in Bermuda or something-or-other
] Got not records at all...
At least I know from the CARFAX I obtained that she took the car to the local dealership up until she had the accident which necessitated the radiator replacement (10~20k miles ago), so I can ask the dealer what was done. But I don't know where the radiator and belt work was done, so I can't ask them about the parts... (I was told that newer water pumps use metal propellers instead of plastic so the erosion-by-DEX-COOL problem might not be an issue? But I don't feel like taking that risk...)
So, assuming I can get a shop to flush the radiator and the block(?), I'll just fill the stupid thing with Volvo stuff and now I'll know to (and
how to) drain the radiator every year or so just to give the coolant a boost (instead of flushing the whole system every 3 years and refilling all with new).
Thanks all for all of the help. I believe this thread has gotten me what I needed/wanted to know, and I think I have now learned more than I had ever expected to know about coolants!
