Changing the coolant. Help quick!

[AcidDrag0n]

I went to autozone today and picked up prestone coolant/antifreeze to change it. I opened the drain **** on the bottom of the radiatior and now its draining. I need help with the other steps. Where are the bleed screws, knock sensors, ect. I've not changed the coolant before and it had the orange (or brown i should say) dex-cool in it, so i have to flush the whole thing to get that out. Pics would be helpful if anyone had them.

[AcidDrag0n]

Anyone? I need help soon before I have to go to work.

[97camRS]

I always just drain the radiator, I have never drained the block. There should be a plug on the block that will drain the block, if you do that and the radiator you should be able to just fill it back up. That's it!

[AcidDrag0n]

I can't find any of the other plugs to drain. I've been filling the radiatior cap and the coolant tank beside the battery for ~2 hrs now and its still orange. I only have an hour and 1/2 before and i gotta get this done. Can anyone tell me where to go to find them?

[97camRS]

I've been filling the radiatior cap and the coolant tank beside the battery for ~2 hrs now and its still orange.

What do you mean? It's supposed to be orange. I'm confused.

[Christian]

Originally posted by AcidDrag0n:
I opened the drain **** on the bottom of the radiatior and now its draining. I need help with the other steps. Where are the bleed screws, knock sensors, ect. I've not changed the coolant before

Really man you are thinking a bit much. It's simple as they come. All the xtra stuff like the knock sensors, bleed screws, yada, yada yada are not neccesary @ all. Unless you are backflushing then the steps go like this. 1. Drain from the clock 2. Grab a water hose and run the water as high as possible through the system let it run until the water color goes from orange to clear. 3. Apply a coolant cleasing products of your choice and run that though 4. Once those are done, you refill the system with coolant-some like the green, I use DEX. Now when you refill, depending on your climate, you have to adjust your percentage of water to pure coolant ratio. The water keeps the engine cool, and the coolant prevents freezing. You can purchase the pre-mixed stuff @ any parts store for about the same price. Oh yea, use distilled water also, it keeps deposits and film to a bare minimum. When you close the clock, don't strip it with the grip of death. Get in your whip and enjoy the sensation of a cooler, more efficient engine and never look back my friend. If it is your first time, I'd replace the radiator cap as well, they manage pressure and need to be changed. May as well get the chrome one from the parts store while you are at it. P.S. No pics.....YOU DON'T NEED THEM!!!!!
-Scott

[AcidDrag0n]

I'm trying to flush out all the dex-cool (which would be the orange right?) so put prestone green in it. I know you're not suppose to mix these so i'm trying to get all the orange out

[AcidDrag0n]

Originally posted by Christian:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by AcidDrag0n:
I opened the drain **** on the bottom of the radiatior and now its draining. I need help with the other steps. Where are the bleed screws, knock sensors, ect. I've not changed the coolant before

Really man you are thinking a bit much. It's simple as they come. All the xtra stuff like the knock sensors, bleed screws, yada, yada yada are not neccesary @ all. Unless you are backflushing then the steps go like this. 1. Drain from the clock 2. Grab a water hose and run the water as high as possible through the system let it run until the water color goes from orange to clear. 3. Apply a coolant cleasing products of your choice and run that though 4. Once those are done, you refill the system with coolant-some like the green, I use DEX. Now when you refill, depending on your climate, you have to adjust your percentage of water to pure coolant ratio. The water keeps the engine cool, and the coolant prevents freezing. You can purchase the pre-mixed stuff @ any parts store for about the same price. Oh yea, use distilled water also, it keeps deposits and film to a bare minimum. When you close the clock, don't strip it with the grip of death. Get in your whip and enjoy the sensation of a cooler, more efficient engine and never look back my friend. If it is your first time, I'd replace the radiator cap as well, they manage pressure and need to be changed. May as well get the chrome one from the parts store while you are at it. P.S. No pics.....YOU DON'T NEED THEM!!!!!
-Scott </font>[/QUOTE]How long does it take to go clear?? I've been doing this for 2 hrs

[Christian]

Originally posted by AcidDrag0n:
I'm trying to flush out all the dex-cool (which would be the orange right?) so put prestone green in it. I know you're not suppose to mix these so i'm trying to get all the orange out

Then what you need is a back flusing kit my man. There are a couple posts of late about it. The entire process just involves cutting your heater hose and installing a permanant T insert there that will allow the cleaner to reach the block-thw kit only costs about 5 buck if I can recall and once you buy one you never need to purchase it again. Hope it helps

[97camRS]

I use the dexcool (orange stuff). If you do like Christian said you'll be fine.

[quote]Grab a water hose and run the water as high as possible through the system let it run until the water color goes from orange to clear. [quote]

[Christian]

Search for coolant Backflushing 1

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[ May 26, 2004, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Christian ]

[smiley49]

Run the engine with the heater on high to get the radiator completely cleaned out. Your resovoir probably has a bunch of the orange stuff in it, which the engine is pulling through as the temperature of the engine increases. To get that out, I just stuck a hose in there and let it overfill for a minute or two, then I sucked it dry with a syphon. I filled it up with a little water and let it all flush out, and no more orange stuff came through. Hope this helps...

[Christian]

Originally posted by smiley49:
Run the engine with the heater on high to get the radiator completely cleaned out. ...

Good point

[Razzer]

Use dexcool if you can't bleed out the entire system. I got to use a coolant flush and replacement tool when I changed mine 2 weeks ago. It was a GM shop tool, way cool. You run the car during the process, when the thermostat opens you take off the radiator cap, insert the plug for the machine, turn the airhose on and the coolant is vacumed out while the engine is running, then you flip two valves and the premixed dexcool and water mixture is forced back into the system. When vacuming the system, my hoses were completely flat, that was really neat. It was the easiest coolant change that I have ever done, no bleeding or filling the reserve tank needed...

[azrscamaro]

ok despite all of these helpful tips there should be drain plugs on the block, the book says that they may be occupied by the knock sensors, i just took both of the knock sensors out and thats not it, where the f are the drain plugs does anyone have a strait answer?