Drain Dexcool coolant
September 17th, 2012, 3:15 PM
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Drain Dexcool coolant
Hi
2005 Malibu V6, Maxx
What is the best procedure for draining the subject, e.g. location of all drain plugs and radiator drain **** etc. and refilling same? Thanks.
2005 Malibu V6, Maxx
What is the best procedure for draining the subject, e.g. location of all drain plugs and radiator drain **** etc. and refilling same? Thanks.
September 19th, 2012, 11:25 PM
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If I may -
I have a 2004 Malibu and last summer, I drained the coolant for the first time (it had approx. 90K miles at the time).
I DID find the drain plug on my radiator, but it was stuck. A good friend of mine at work gave me this advice:
Don't use the drain plug at all - instead, disconnect one of the two big hoses that goes to the radiator (preferably the lower hose), and drain the coolant out that way.
Reason: It's possible that your drain plug could be stuck if it has never been used before. You will probably have better luck disconnecting the radiator hose than trying to unscrew (without breaking) the drain plug.
The procedure that I did:
1) Remove spring clamp from lower radiator hose and pull radiator hose off of radiator. Catch coolant coming out of hose in drain pan.
2) Reattach radiator hose and clamp.
3) Refill car coolant with straight water from garden hose.
4) Run car for approx 5 minutes with heat on, full blast.
5) Disconnect radiator hose and drain out water.
6) Repeat steps 3-5 one or two more times.
7) Reconnect radiator hose and spring clamp, and then fill with proper coolant (I used the concentrated Dexcool stuff, so I mixed it myself 50/50 with water).
I have a 2004 Malibu and last summer, I drained the coolant for the first time (it had approx. 90K miles at the time).
I DID find the drain plug on my radiator, but it was stuck. A good friend of mine at work gave me this advice:
Don't use the drain plug at all - instead, disconnect one of the two big hoses that goes to the radiator (preferably the lower hose), and drain the coolant out that way.
Reason: It's possible that your drain plug could be stuck if it has never been used before. You will probably have better luck disconnecting the radiator hose than trying to unscrew (without breaking) the drain plug.
The procedure that I did:
1) Remove spring clamp from lower radiator hose and pull radiator hose off of radiator. Catch coolant coming out of hose in drain pan.
2) Reattach radiator hose and clamp.
3) Refill car coolant with straight water from garden hose.
4) Run car for approx 5 minutes with heat on, full blast.
5) Disconnect radiator hose and drain out water.
6) Repeat steps 3-5 one or two more times.
7) Reconnect radiator hose and spring clamp, and then fill with proper coolant (I used the concentrated Dexcool stuff, so I mixed it myself 50/50 with water).
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