Changing Coolant in a 1993 turbo
Detailed Instructions to change coolant on a 1993 MR2 turbo. Disclaimer: What you do to your car, is what you do. Warning: Before starting this proceedure, you must have two things available, you must have volume 1 of the 1993 shop manual and you must have a flat level surface to work on. Warning: Before you start to drain the coolant, make sure that the car has had sufficient time to cool down, I would not suggest working on the car if the coolant is hot. Time Required: Since this was my first time doing this it took a little longer than I had thought it would, I took my time doing some things and cleaning up that others may not need to do. Total time about 4 to 5 hours. Next time that could probably be cut to 3 hours. Warning: when it says in the book, pour the coolant in slowly, it means slowly. NOTE: the two pipe drain plug screws have compressed paper washers on them. You will want to get two new washers before you start the proceedure. These are the two pipes that run down the center of the car that carry the coolant to and from the radiator. Also note that you need to be very careful when tightening these two screw plugs, you can very easily snap them off. NOTE: please read all the way through these instructions at least once before proceeding, and also make sure you read through the section in the shop manual starting on page EG-418 Tools Used: 1/2 drive breaker bar 1/2 to 3/8 adapter 14mm 3/8 drive socket 12mm 3/8 drive socket 10mm 1/4 drive socket 3/8 drive ratchet 1/4 drive ratchet 6 inch 3/8 drive extension 3 inch 1/4 drive extension small flat blade screw driver 4 jack stands small funnel small pair of needle nose pliers Parts Purchased: Two gallons (US) of prestone antifreeze Two gallons (US) of distilled water 4 small rubbermaid tubs (11 quart (US) capacity) 8 ft of clear plastic tubing .230 ID .380 OD roll of duct tape small tube of pipe dope sealant Proceedures: NOTE: it is almost a must to have your shop manual to properly do this proceedure even with these instructions. Turn to page EG-418 of the shop manual. The only really hard part about this entire proceedure was finding and removing the engine coolant drain plug. But once I explain it here I will become quite clear where it is. First we have a little prelim work to do before raising the car up on jack stands. First open the front hood and remove the spare tire, and the plastic trim piece that covers the steering pump, ABS, and other associated parts in the front compartment. It is held on by the little center release plastic rivets. Press down on the center of the rivet and then grasp the outer rim and pull it out. I think there are 5 or so of them holding the plastic trim piece on. After removing this plastic trim then turn over to page EG-420 of the shop manual and see the proceedure for removing the upper radiator support seal. Pull up the weather stripping just at the top of the plastic cover piece that covers the radiator. There are seven clips, these are screw clips, and if you have had yours out a few times like I have they are going to be difficult to remove. Several of them I had to wedge a sharp small object like a screw driver blade or something to pry up the screw part of the rivet. Otherwise you can just unscrew them. Then once you have all of the rivets out you have to manuver the plastic piece off the hood release lever and slid it forward and off. Set it aside for now with the other trim piece. Now we are ready to hook up our two air bleed hoses. I want to do this now before I put the car up on jack stands or it will be difficult to reach. There are two hoses that we are going to hook up one goes to the right side of the radiator there is a little valve there and a little end to attach a hose to. Find your clear plastic hose and cut two 3 foot sections of it. I put a little Wesleys Black Magic on a Q-tip and then swabbed the inside of the hose and the end of the air drain on the radiator. The hose goes on a little tight so I used a small pair of needle nose pliers, inserted the pliers into the end of the hose and pulled on the handles of the pliers to expland the end of the hose, I then quickly pressed the hose over the end of the air drain cock and then taped the other end to the underside of the hood, so that the hose is strung up as seen in the picture on page EG-420 of the book. Now you are ready to do the same to the air drain cock of the heater. On mine it has a small white plastic screw top on it, there may already be a plastic hose comming off the end of it, as mine had. I did not use the stock hose, because it was very much longer than necessary, and the hose did not fit tightly on the drain cock end. So now swab the inside of the other 3 foot hose section and the end of the heater air drain cock, and slide the hose onto the the end of it. Then using a piece of duct tape tape the other end of the hose to the underside of the hood. Make sure that the hose has no kinks in it, and that it is not bent at a sharp angle. Now we are ready to raise the car up on jack stands. WARNING: be very careful of the process, you are dealing with a lot of weight, so make sure that you place the jack stands correctly and that you have a good solid area to work on. I started in the passengers side front, make sure that your parking brake is on before you start. I used the stock jack to jack up the car at near the jack point. I moved the stock jack in place at the jacking point on the front passenger side of the car (US), I then slid it forward about 5 inches or so, so that the jack stand could be set to hold the weight at the standard jack point marked by the two small cuts in the underside ridge. I then jacked up the car. On my jack stands I extended the jack to 2 (two), clicks of the inside extension. This is just about the limit of the stock jacks ability to raise the car, and will give me enough room to slide in and out from under the car easily, and enough room to work. Jack up the car with the stock jack, and slide the jack stand under so that it sets just under the marks. Then let the car down on the jack stand. Ok, now move to the drivers side front (US), and do the same, position the stock jack just forward of the jacking marks and slowly jack up the car. Then setting the second jack stand to the same height as the first one set the jack stand under the car and let it down on the jack stand. Now move the the drivers side (US) rear and slowly jack it up, and place the jack stand and then let the car down on it. Make sure that each of the jack stands is set to the same height or you will have problems later refilling the coolant. Now move to the passengers side rear, jack up the car and set the 4th jack stand to the same height as the others and set the car down on the jack stand. Now, go back and check all of the stands and make sure that they are on firm ground. Now we are ready for the fun part. The order of pulling these plugs is important unless you want to take a bath in coolant. First we will remove the rear fuel tank plastic protector, this is shown in a picture on page EG-419 of the manual. Using your 10mm socket, 3 inch extension and 1/4 inch drive, remove the bolts and one nut that hold the undercover on, there were, also on mine, two plastic push on rivets,(why I will never understand), but anyway, they were there, these I had to use a small screw driver to pry them up and then pull them off. They come off rather hard. I think there were six screws and one nut and two plastic rivets two remove the undercover. Set the screws and the under cover aside for now. Now with the remainder of the clear plastic hose you have, on the underside of the car, front, on the passengers side (US), is the drain for the radiator press on this small length of hose on the the end of the drain cock. Position one of the tubs or a bucket under the hose. Now slide out from under the car and remove the radiator cap in the engine compartment. Also at this point check and make sure that you slide the heater control lever all the way over to hot. To avoid getting drenched in coolant (like I almost did), you will want to open the drains on the front radiator, and the coolant pipes first, then last remove the engine block plug. So with the tub or bucket positioned on the radiator drain cock, carefully open the drain and let it start running. Now move to the center rear of the car underneath where you removed the undercover and see the two bolt ends as shown in the picture on page EG-419. Position your tub or buckets, and using a 12mm socket and socket drive remove the two radiator pipe plugs and let the coolant start to drain out. Now we are ready for the really fun part. The engine block plug. If you have never had this out before, it is going to be one mother bear to remove. So assemble your 1/2 drive breaker bar, your 6 inch extension and your 14mm socket, and get under the car with your feet pointing directly to the rear of the car, and your head to the front of the car. Slide under until your head is just forward of the drive shaft comming out of the diff. That is the passengers side drive shaft (US). Now look up (you will need some light on the subject), as you look up you will see a short support brace piece, right at the end that connects to the block, look just to the right of it, the end screw on the brace almost hides the drain plug. Believe it or not there is enough clearance to put a socket on it. The drain plug is there next to one of the engine block freeze plugs. It is kind of there all by itself, so you will be sure that you have the right one. It is just to the right of the screw holding the brace piece on. Once you have found it, then position the breaker bar and socket on the plug and pull with all your might. Believe it or not it will come loose. Once you break it loose then you can switch to a 3/8 drive socket to get it the rest of the way out. When you remove it do it slowly and make sure that you have your tub or bucket at the ready. If you do this one last as suggested, then the flow of coolant from this plug should be greatly reduced. Do not do as I did and remove it first. (The coolant does not make a good shampoo.) Remove the plug slowly and let the coolant drain. I let the coolant drain until it no longer dripped. Now we are ready after draining all of the coolant, to put the plugs back on. I started with the engine block plug. I used a small wire brush and brushed the threads to clean them off, and then applied a small quantity of pipe dope to the threads, and using my left hand (I am right handed), position the plug and screw it back into the hole. Using my left hand was what I found to be the easiest position to get into to put the plug back, it would have been much more difficult to do it with my right hand. After getting the plug in the hole finger tight, then using the socket driver and 14mm socket tighten the plug down. I have to confess that I tightened it a little more than the 18 ft lbs that are suggested in the book. But I would suggest that you tighten it to the spec. If you experience any leakage later then you may have to apply a little more torque. As a side note, I wish I had known the condition of the plug before I started and I would have purchased a new one. The shop that did the coolant change before, the first time, really bangged up the plug getting it off. so next time I will need to buy a new plug. After you get this plug back on then using the 12mm socket and drive put the two pipe drain plugs back on and torque them to spec. Now move forward to the underside radiator drain, and close it off and remove the short piece of clear plastic hose. Move the tubs of used anti freeze out of your way and clean up any antifreeze that may have spilled in the process. Please dispose of the old antifreeze in a safe manner. Now look over on page EG-421 of the shop manual and open the two air drain plugs. One plug is on the right upper side of the radiator and the other plug is for the heater core. The heater core plug is at the center rear, just to the right, it is partly obstructed by the metal frame that is used to hold the plastic trim piece in place. On mine, it is a white knob about a 1/2 inch in diameter. It has a slotted top that you can turn with a small screw driver. I did not think it necessary to remove the trim support rail to get at it but you may choose to do so if you want. The book says open these two valves "above three turns", or they could have said three turns or more, something like that anyway. Now on page EG-421 (c), when it says slowly fill the system with coolant, it means just exactly that. Fill it slowly. Give the air sufficient time to escape. You will observe it gurgling in the hoses. Make sure that the two hoses are free of bends or kinks so that the air can escape easily. You may want to put a rag down over the exit of the one attached to the radiator, I had some little bit of coolant burp up out of the end of the hose as the air escaped. I took my time re-filling, it took me about 20 minutes to refill. It was obvious that all of the coolant did not drain out if the actual capacity figures are true. There must have been at least 1.6 gallons (US), still in the system because when I refilled it only two gallons went back in. I would highly suggest premixing your coolant and distilled water together to get the proper percentage that you desire. That way you won't have to guess at anything. As you are refilling, go to page EG-421 at the bottom steps (d) and (e), check that you are getting air gurgling up the hoses, and also check the level of the coolant in the hoses. Now as you near the end of the filling cycle, turn to page EG-422 at the top. I gave the system a little time to settle out and checked that the coolant level in the hoses was steady. NOTE: I did have some leakage of coolant out around the top rim of the air valve on the radiator, this can cause a false indication of the level of coolant in the radiator hose. Now perform step (f) and close the air drain plugs on the heater core and the upper right side of the radiator, and move on to step (g) Put the radiator cap back on, but only turn it down to the first stop. Do not turn it all the way down. NOTE: the car is still up on jack stands so be careful when you start it up. NOTE: make sure that the heater knob is fully in the on position. Start the engine and time it at idle for three minutes then shut it off. Remove the cap and check the level, it will probably go down so add more coolant, slowly, and fill it back up, put the cap back on to the 1st position, not all the way down, start the car back up and let it idle for 3 more minutes, take the cap off and add more coolant, bring the level backup up. Repeat steps (g), (h), and (i) as many times as necessary until (j), the coolant does not drop. NOTE: I had to go through this cycle two times. NOTE: After I cleaned up and put everything back together, and of course took the car off the jack stands, I drove around for a little while, and then came back, I also made sure that I had the heater on during this time. I found that I had to put a little more coolant in. The book says check the coolant level for the next 300 miles. Now is a good time to check for leaks. Make sure that there are none at the engine drain plug, at the two plugs on the coolant pipes next to the fuel tank, and also at the drain plug on the radiator itself. Once you are satisfied that there are no leaks then we are ready to start cleaning up and putting everything back together. I started by putting the rear fuel tank protector back on first, rather than last as the book suggests. (I also cleaned the plastic protector with some Wesleys clear magic, you can do this if you so choose.) I then made sure that I had removed the small section of hose that I had attached to the lower radiator drain. Now proceed to take the car down off the jack stands, in the reverse order that you put it up on them. I started with the passengers side rear, using the stock jack, take up the weight off the jack stand and pull the jack stand out, and lower the car. Now, proceed to the drivers side rear, and do the same, take the weight off the jack stand with the stock jack, and then lower the car. Then proceed to the drivers side front and do the same, and then last the passengers side front (US that is). Now the car should be down off the jack stands, put them away. Put the jack back in its pouch. Now put the plastic trim piece back in the front compartment. Of course make sure that you have removed the two clear plastic hoses first. NOTE: I left the one hose on the heater air drain. Just personal choice. You can if you want. I coiled it up and put a little twisty tie wrap on it to hold it. Position the plastic trim piece and then put in the push rivets. Remember these rivets require that you pull the center pin out just slightly then press the rivet in place and push the center pin down flush with the rim of the rivet. Now put the spare tire back in place and screw in the hold down clamp. Now put back the plastic piece that covers the radiators, remember it is a little difficult to position, make sure you get it positioned around the hood release lever and the little clamp that holds down the hood holder rod. Then press in the rivets and the plastic screws that hold it in place. These plastic screws can just be pressed in place, they do not need to be screwed down. Now press the weather strip piece back in place. Put the jack pouch back in place along with the jack crank handle. Always check your work, go back and check that you did not leave a bolt laying around, or the radiator cap half on, or something loose. Now after cleaning up, as I said before in the note, I drove around with the heater full on, (you don't have to have the fan on if you don't want), and then after a few minutes of driving, I came back to the house and let the car cool just a bit, and then carefully clicked the radiator cap to the first position, and then removed it and checked the coolant level. If the neck of the filler was empty then I added more coolant. I did this a total of 4 times. Lastly make sure that you dispose of the used coolant in a safe manner. + ------------------------------------------------- + + +++ N E C +++ +++ A M E R I C A +++ + + ------------------------------------------------- + + Marc L. Summers System Administrator + + 3100 N.E. Shute Road Hillsboro Oregon 97124 + + PH: 1-503-681-3338 FAX: 1-503-681-3304 + + Email: marcs@tdd.hbo.nec.com + + ---------- Sic transit gloria mundi. ------------ + + --- "Thus passes away the glory of the world." -- + + ------------------------------------------------- +
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 13:20:01 -0700 To: geoff@mr2.com From: Jeffrey Ho See (jhosee@artemis.davd.com) Subject: Coolant additions Hey Geoff, add these comments to Marc S's article. Thanks. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The hardest part is locating the engine block drain bolt and loosening it. The next hardest part was making sure the fluid wouldn't wind up on the floor instead of your container. ;D I'd highly recommend everyone to wear facial protection when draining the fluids. A little bit got on my face and in my eye (which resulted in a 30 minute delay to complete the work) The only thing I would add to Marc's directions would be to indicate how strong the fluid will gush out. So if Geoff is listening, please add the following comments : From the front radiator, fluid will seep out a steady pace from your drain tube. You can leave this unattended. From the two steel lines underneath the car, the fluid will gush out almost horizontally and rapidly trailer off to a steady dripping. So DO NOT leave this unattended. From the engine block drain bolt, I followed Marc's draining instructions and the sucker still gushed out and nailed me good. I'd HIGHLY recommend wearing protection for this. If you have a helper, have them ready to position the drain container when it comes gushing out. If you're the patient sort, you can loosen the bolt to the point of it dripping out some fluid (will take a long time) but you're guaranteed not to make a mess! [Note : On my 2nd try, I waited. Much much cleaner. Didn't wait to long. About half an hour] I refilled approx with 2.5 gallons of fluid. So yes about, 1.5 gallons remained in the system. I supposed I'll do another drain in a few months to ensure most of the old nasty fluid is outta there.