Club 80-90 Forums

I was going to drain 8ltrs of coolant today and top up with 8ltrs of Antifreeze ready for the winter, but upon looking under the front of my Caravelle, I cannot see any radiator hoses

How on earth do I get to them Anyone know.?

I know about the drain plugs in the engine block under the push rod covers, but I don't want to drain it that way if possible.

I don't know, but I would imagine up behind the spare wheel (drop the spare).

Drop down the spare tyre and then you can see the 32 or 38mm (daimter) rub br pipes which will be attachd to either metal, plastic or possible even stainless steel solid hoses that run from the ront to the back of the van. Ideally you want to drain off old coolant from the lowest point in the run and with the coolant resrvoir and radiator bleed screw (at top LHS of the rad as you look at it.) When i did mine the pipes to the rear of the vehicle were connected to original metal pies under the van so I took them apart at that point. The radiator rubbr hoses were about 20" long on my van. Good luck.

do it in the engine bay, make sure the heater is switched to cold first, save you a lot of bleeding !
unless you like showering in coolant, cos that what youll get if you lay under it and pull a rad hose off!! lol!

Cheers guys, the thing is, my Caravelle is the Syncro, so no spare under the front. There is what looks like a blank bash plate protector thing under the front, just need to figure out how to remove it?

NB I wouldn't unscrew the cylinder head drains bolts unless fairly new.

Indeed, hence why I wish to drain from the radiator, as the bleed plugs in the block are 20 years old, and I don't want to run the risk of causing any issues when it comes to the cooling system.

Kev to the rescue

Thanks mate, printed it out

I just used the search... try it sometime

Guilty as charged

kevs pic is from an early diesel setup.
different from ALL later petrol /diesel rads , basically the same tho .

the vertical pipe is part of the rad on later ones.

i would not disconnect any pipes near the radiator

undo the radiator bleed screw - that will allow the coolant to drain.

use a hose pipe and flush the system. once all is clear just reconnect all the system and start filling with neat antifreeze.

some times its worth bleeding the system properly before you add the antifreeze. this will show up any probs or prevent you wasting antifreeze.

once all bleed go for a run , this will help flush the system , the drain and refil with antifreeze.

ignore any comments of funny angles to blled ect.

if it dont bleed on the flat then there is a problem with the cooling system or a part of it .

it should bleed very easily/simply!

Thanks Billy. I have a bull bar fitted, which I need to remove so I can fully remove my headlight grill. When I tried to remove it yesterday, i found that the bull bar was stopping me removing the grill completely, but it may of also been that the headlight washers was preventing removal too. Do the headlight washers detach from the grill, or do I have to disconnect these also?