How do I drain the cooling system?

[03fx4ont]

I recently changed the upper and lower thermostat housing on my 03 and flushed it all out because it was looking pretty gnarly inside I went to go fill it after, thinking I was going to have to put about 12 liters in because that's what my owners manual says and it only took 6. Is there an engine block drain? What am I missing?

 

[JohnnyO]

There is no drain on the block. There is a drain on the bottom of the radiator but I find it much faster to just pull off the bottom radiator hose. Then refill it with water, drive it around a for a few minutes with the heater on, drain and refill with water again, and repeat until the water comes out clean. Then drain it and refill half the total capacity with antifreeze. You will need to start the engine and leave the heater on to get all the air out. You will probably have some antifreeze left so just dump it in the overflow tank. You did remove and rinse out the overflow tank, right?

 

[adsm08]

Nope, no block drain. Shop manual says that less than 80% of the coolant can be recovered with the engine in the vehicle.

Best way to make sure the system is full full is to fill the radiator through the cap and then pull one of the heater hoses off and pour coolant down it until it starts puking out of the core. Gets all the air out too.

 

[Snoranger]

This is the best way to fill it, but not everyone has one. I use it at least 2x a week.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=643141&group_ID=681175&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

^^^^ X eleventy billion.

 

[adsm08]

This is the best way to fill it, but not everyone has one. I use it at least 2x a week.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=643141&group_ID=681175&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

The airlift/radkit is all well and good, if you can afford it, but they are expensive and I don't care for the way they work on non-degas bottle systems, which are common on the Rangers.

I've found that I can get basically the same air-removal results from jamming a funnel down a heater hose and then putting just a scosch too much in the over-flow tank.

 

[Snoranger]

What dont you like about the way it works? Between my snap-on kit and the shops Airlift we've filled over 1000 systems!! (You have to put a pair of pinch off pliers on the overflow hose 75% of the time.) The only problem we've every had is when someone leaves a clamp loose or forgets to close the petcock.