Coolant Removal (Messless) :)

[Raxephon]

I'm in the middle of stripping my engine bay out and have gotten to the point that I need to drain the coolant out of the block.

Problem #1- Car cannot be jacked upProblem#2- Cannot loose any coolant...................Any(Too many animals in my area)Problem#3- No power bleeder availableProblem#4- Unable to get to block drain plug due to manifolds

I was thinking of doing some reverse highschool engineering

Something along the lines of a waterbong but using a 1 gallon canister.

Or maybe a better way to put it would be siphoning with a catch-can.

I'm concerned mostly with vapor issues regarding the ethyl-glycol(ie, are there any?)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[elwesso]

You cant just drain it into a bucket? Is the radiator already drained??

out of the total capacity of the cooling system (something like 12qts, cant recall off hand)... over 50-60% is located in the radiator and heater core.....

Why do you have to drain the coolant??? if you let it drain on the ground and rinse it with water it wont hurt anything.....

[goody90q45]

Ethylene Glycol has a NAS Hazard rating of 0 (on a scale of 1 to 4) as a vapor irritant, and a flammability rating of 1 (flash point=240 degrees). It is a water pollution hazard and does have human toxicity (2) if ingested and aquatic toxicity (1) so you should not pour it down the drain. All in all it is a relatively safe chemical as long as you are not drinking it while welding.

[elwesso]

All in all it is a relatively safe chemical as long as you are not drinking it while welding.

LOL!!! are surefoot way to get yourself into the darwin awards!

Ive always read that its OK to dump it down the drain, as long as you rinse it down with water..... As long as its not going into a septic tank and into a city sewer system.

[Raxephon]

You cant just drain it into a bucket? Is the radiator already drained??

out of the total capacity of the cooling system (something like 12qts, cant recall off hand)... over 50-60% is located in the radiator and heater core.....

Why do you have to drain the coolant??? if you let it drain on the ground and rinse it with water it wont hurt anything.....

Radiator has been drained & removed.

I'm having some headwork done & I'm putting a new set of headgaskets on.

(I'm getting a tap of some kind, sounds like a stuck valve or a bad chain tensioner letting the chain go slack.Its coming from one of the 2 heads, (possibly both), and the headgaskets have over 180,000 miles on them, so R/R them wouldn't hurt anything.)

There seems to be quite a bit of coolant left in the cylinder heads and there aren't any water spickets outside the building.

Any notion as to just how much coolant the cylinder heads hold?

All in all it is a relatively safe chemical as long as you are not drinking it while welding.

LOL!Thanks. Great Info.

[Jesda]

EPA says to flush it down the toilet. I just take mine to Jiffy Lube where they pour it in the miscellaneous hazardous waste container.

[elwesso]

Better than me, i drain it on the driveway and then hose down the driveway...

[nchopp]

Better than me, i drain it on the driveway and then hose down the driveway...

Selfish b@stard. Sounds like the kind of guy that'd take the catalytic converters off his car, too.

[elwesso]

You my friend are GOOD!

[Raxephon]

Problem solved.

I Houdini'ed my hand in between the manifold at cylinders #3 & #5. guided the socket, got the bolt loose, centered my drain pan between the crossmember/ steering rack.

Went back & removed the plug completely (Not a good idea!)Drained almost 95% into the pan.

Now here's where it became a PITA.

Installing the bolt without crossthreading it required using my index/middle finger to hold/guide/screw the bolt in with my hand behind the manifold.

Needless to say, I'm now missing a little skin on a few fingers.But the motor is mostly drained, so I'm happy.

And I don't have to worry about pulling any dead animals out from under her tomorrow.

[Chansen]

out of curiosity isn't there a drain plug on both sides of the block?

[Raxephon]

out of curiosity isn't there a drain plug on both sides of the block?

Maybe. My FSM only shows 1 though.

Pulling the driverside plug drained the cylinder heads and dropped the coolant level where the thermostat housing is enough for me to pull the heads w/o coolant spilling everywhere.

ie,.. I haven't even looked

[squeefoo]

out of curiosity isn't there a drain plug on both sides of the block?

Yes, and both easier to get at from the back (for me anyway)

[Raxephon]

Yes, and both easier to get at from the back (for me anyway)

I couldn't even begin to get to the drainplug from the rear of the motor.(NAraku isn't jacked up, just had regular ground clearance to work with)

[heywier427]

read page ma 12 in the service manual there is a special step that nobody ever does.