Steps to Fully Drain all 16 litres of Coolant

[thecyrusvirus]

HI Everyone

Today I disconnect the two hoses at the bottom of the rad and opened the bleed screw, drained coolant into a container.

Then opened the expansion and header tanks

Some more coolant came out

Then tried to undo the waterjacket drain plugs...... no chance, they were totally rusted in despite me using plus gas on them yesterday.

I checked and only about 9 litres of coolant came out altogether. The rear of the van was higher than the front at this point as it was parked on my driveway which slopes.

I flushed through with a hose from the header tank and from the front to back pipes.

How the heck does the rest of the coolant get drained? I must be missing something.

I even ended up removing the rad to check it was truly empty and not blocked

Am I being a dip stick and missing something obvious? Does the fact that I couldn't get the waterjacket drained account for another 7 litres of coolant?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Heater on hot? That's a few more litres.
I've never managed to get it all out either and mines a diesel! I don't know where it hides.

[thecyrusvirus]

Yep heater on hot, I followed the process form the brickyard coolant bleeding guide.

Driving me nuts as the old coolant is all gunky and I know it was not g12 or g13 stuff and they aren't supposed to mix very well are they?

I guess for now I will keep running it, then drain it every few days and top up with water until I get a uniform colour in the header tank, then drain again and try to flush it all out.

Any ideas how much water the water jackets hold on a 1.9dg?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Not a clue!!

[Theclash]

Undo all the pipes in the engine bay and flush them through with a hose then do them again reverse flush that should clear all the old antifreeze in the block

[thecyrusvirus]

Cheers theclash, I flushed it from the header tank end aswell, I thought that would have done the same thing.

I didn't undo all of the pipes though, I only undid the ones at the radiator end.

So, do you think it is best to disconnect them from the thermostat , water pump and the return from the radiator too?

[Hacksawbob]

I would try to disturb as little as possible, you can unleash the dreaded leak monster unless you are replacing with new. If you aren't reusing spring clips then go easy if using jubilee clips esp on the long front to back pipes they are notorious for corroding and leaking on the end sections.

[kevtherev]

removing the front to rear pipes at the radiator with the heater open will leave just a little in the engine.
you have to flush the rest out.
Ideally with a hose into the water pump.. via the thermostat bypass.

[AdrianC]

The only way - on ANY vehicle - that you'll ever drain anything fully, be it coolant or oil, is to take every last component out and tip it upside down.

Get as much as you can out, refill with plain water, bleed, up to fan-cutting-in temperature, drain. Repeat until it's no longer horrible looking. Then put the right coolant mix in.