Radiatior drain plug

[camaro_guy_z28]

I went to change my antifreeze tonight, 93 explorer, I bought the new fluid brought it home, waited for the truck to cool, I installed a hose on the drain hole, opened up the plug, and all I got was a few drops here and there coming out, I assume it is plugged, any suggestions on unplugging it. Also what is the best way to mix antifreeze and water, could I use a 1 galloon jug. Sorry about the dumb questions but I am kind of new to the mechanical aspects of vehicles but I'm trying to learn as I go along. Thanks

 

[Oversquare]

when you drain the radiator, be sure to remove the fill cap first. If it still doesn't drain, the hole might be plugged.

-B

 

[Critical_Level2]

The way I mix anti-freeze is to pour half into a 1 gallon jug, then fill the rest with water. This way it is approx. 50/50 mix, and you now have two gallons.

 

[Bill Kemp]

If the drain is plugged remove the lower rad. hose and put a garden hose in the top of the rad. and see if you can flush it out. Maby you need some Rad. flush chemical in there. I hate to use that stuff cause you really want to be sure you get it all out before putting in the coolant.
Good idea to use distilled water to mix. Especially if you have hard water in your pipes.

 

[EBInterceptor]

Easiest way is to buy the water/coolant mix. But since you have it already, I do the same thing with pouring half of it into a gallon jug and fill it with water. Then I fill the rest of the radiator fluid jug. I forgot how much the X takes, but I think it's about 7 quarts, I had some left over and labeled the bottle and had some pre-mixed for a top off later on.

 

[stubborn1]

After a radiator flush, I look up the capacity of the cooling system and pour half that amount as straight anitfreeze into the radiator. I top off whatever is left with distilled water and "burp" the system. It guarantees a 50/50 mix because there is always water left behind in the system after a flush. If you pour in pre-mixed antifreeze you may actually be under the 50/50 mix due to the leftover water.

 

[Jason94sport]

My climate is different so I add 1 gallon antifreeze the rest water, & a bottle of water wetter. It doen't get below 50 much here in south FL.

 

[DeRocha]

IMO the premixed stuff is a waste of $$ (obviously 1/2 of what your buying is water).. I keep an empty antifreeze bottle around and fill it 50/50 myself. I shine a flash light through the bottle to see the fluid level easier.. I then write 50/50 mix on the jug and use this to fill the cars. This makes it a NO brainer if you ever need to add coolant in between changes. When the jug gets empty I just mix up some more. You can certainly look up the capacities as mentioned by stubborn1, but you don't need to if you add premixed coolant. .

 

[Rhett]

At least you didn't bust your drain plug! I bought a new rad and, being careless, broke the plug while installing it. Now I use the lower radiator hose to drain the rad.

 

[Tony H]

I save an old Anti freeze container, put half the antifreeze in that then fill them both up to the original fill mark of the 100% antifreeze. 50/50 mix is good for most regions.

The antifreeze will flow very slowly if the cap insn't removed from the top.

If it's really clogged you may be able to blast water in with a garden hose to loosen up the clog. If not you do the job by taking off the lower hose. I don't like taking off and on the hoses on these cheesy Plastic Tank radiators though.

 

[camaro_guy_z28]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm going to try again this weekend.