Coolant Will Not Drain!!!

Benesesso · 11-04-2009, 09:46 AM

Stocked up on "Toyota Red" antifreeze ($$$) as I wanted to change the coolant on my recently acquired '88 SC.

NOTE_Car runs fine, temp. gage never even gets up to middle. Crawl under rear and cannot find engine block drain. Found oil filter, drain is supposed to be close to it. Nothing there except A/C compressor.

Move up to front and loosen radiator drain valve a few turns. Return to rear and remove "radiator cap". Get only a very slow drip from rad. drain. Open RAD. air bleed, no help. Completely remove BOTH rad. valves, still only a slow drip.

Now what???

muffinman · 11-04-2009, 09:49 AM

the engine block drain is behind the a/c compressor. you can pull the radiator hose to drain but make sure you clean the drain cocks before replacing.

Benesesso · 11-04-2009, 09:55 AM

Thanks. So why doesn't the coolant drain from the rad? Guess I'll work a thin wire in there and see what happens.

muffinman · 11-04-2009, 09:59 AM

it sounds like a clog

Jimmydee · 11-04-2009, 11:12 AM

If you have trouble finding the engine block drain plug, it's just to the right of the battery (if you're standing behind the vehicle).

It took me about 20 minutes of scratching my head before I finally found mine!!!

Benesesso · 11-04-2009, 12:31 PM

Managed to get the lower hose off the rad. Coolant poured out. Captured most of it--now it's in plastic jugs. Poured clean tap water into filler (rad cap) in engine compartment and captured what then came out in front. After ~3 gal. only clean water came out--at least the return line from the rad. got cleaned.

Replaced hose and filled system (somewhat). Water poured out of top rad. air vent. Closed vent. Left filler cap off and started engine. Water level did not get sucked down. Idled engine for ~5 min. Temp. gage worked normally. Kept feeling upper rad. hose (pass. side), never got warm. When temp. gage got to midpoint, something it never did before, shut off engine. Engine hoses hot. Rad. still stone cold. Car can cool off until tomorrow.

The plan was to "feed and bleed" the system with clean tap water until all/most of the old stuff was gone, then flush with demin. water and finally fill with 50/50 Toy. Red.

UPDATE

After it cooled down, I was able to add ~3 more quarts of water. I then restarted it and after ~5 min. the rad. got warm. Temp. gage didn't go above its usual 1/3 of the way up.

Next step is to wait a while, then pull the lower rad. hose off again and drain whatever I can. BTW, I jack the rear up a ways when I do this. Hope I won't have to repeat this too many times before I get clean water coming out.

RE-UPDATE

With the lower rad. hose off, I blew air in thru the rad. drain valve. Amazing how much orange/brown crud was in there.

All clean now.

MR JAS · 11-04-2009, 09:09 PM

you seem to have fixed it but for future refernce i will tell people how i fixed this issue it is almost always just abit of settled crap

easiest way is to put a air blow gun in blocked plug to blow crap out of the way

other way if you dont have that is simply start the engine with the rad cap etc on as pressure builds it will norm blow free in a min or two then just turn engine off and continue

also make sure the rubber orings are still decent condition

Benesesso · 11-04-2009, 10:43 PM

Most of my past experience has been with Chevies, and I never had a drain blockage problem with any of them. Turn the drain valve 1 turn and coolant poured out. These MR2's have very small drains, so they apparently plug up easily.

I found the car via another MR2 forum, and read all the mesages from the P.O. and from the guy HE bought it from. That guy said he took the car to Jiffy Lube (of all places!) for a coolant flush and change, and they charged him $170 and didn't do anything--said the coolant looked the same--rusty color.

I think he got discouraged after that and sold the car. Apparently the next owner didn't change it either, so it was in there for ~5 years or more and over 50,000 miles--maybe a LOT more.

It will be changed a lot from now on--"Happiness is clean oil and coolant"!!!

traintech86 · 11-05-2009, 12:00 AM

glad to know you're there to take care of the car. its lame to hear about people not knowing how to take care of it. once you learn the proper process, you can do the coolant in well under an hour. i'd never pay a shop anything to do that, more so on our cars because its pretty important. i to got charged for a coolant change and it wasn't done. ****bag shops... make sure to post in the forums the names of these ****ty companies so we can boycott them.

11-04-2009, 09:46 AM	#1 (permalink)
Benesesso No Skills Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Litchfield Pk, AZ Posts: 32 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	Coolant Will Not Drain!!! Stocked up on "Toyota Red" antifreeze ($$$) as I wanted to change the coolant on my recently acquired '88 SC. NOTE_Car runs fine, temp. gage never even gets up to middle. Crawl under rear and cannot find engine block drain. Found oil filter, drain is supposed to be close to it. Nothing there except A/C compressor. Move up to front and loosen radiator drain valve a few turns. Return to rear and remove "radiator cap". Get only a very slow drip from rad. drain. Open RAD. air bleed, no help. Completely remove BOTH rad. valves, still only a slow drip. Now what???

11-04-2009, 12:31 PM	#6 (permalink)
Benesesso No Skills Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Litchfield Pk, AZ Posts: 32 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	Managed to get the lower hose off the rad. Coolant poured out. Captured most of it--now it's in plastic jugs. Poured clean tap water into filler (rad cap) in engine compartment and captured what then came out in front. After ~3 gal. only clean water came out--at least the return line from the rad. got cleaned. Replaced hose and filled system (somewhat). Water poured out of top rad. air vent. Closed vent. Left filler cap off and started engine. Water level did not get sucked down. Idled engine for ~5 min. Temp. gage worked normally. Kept feeling upper rad. hose (pass. side), never got warm. When temp. gage got to midpoint, something it never did before, shut off engine. Engine hoses hot. Rad. still stone cold. Car can cool off until tomorrow. The plan was to "feed and bleed" the system with clean tap water until all/most of the old stuff was gone, then flush with demin. water and finally fill with 50/50 Toy. Red. UPDATE After it cooled down, I was able to add ~3 more quarts of water. I then restarted it and after ~5 min. the rad. got warm. Temp. gage didn't go above its usual 1/3 of the way up. Next step is to wait a while, then pull the lower rad. hose off again and drain whatever I can. BTW, I jack the rear up a ways when I do this. Hope I won't have to repeat this too many times before I get clean water coming out. RE-UPDATE With the lower rad. hose off, I blew air in thru the rad. drain valve. Amazing how much orange/brown crud was in there. All clean now. Last edited by Benesesso; 11-04-2009 at 08:23 PM.

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11-04-2009, 09:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
muffinman Brain Surgeon Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ft. Lauderdale Posts: 1,797 Thanks: 24 Thanked 102 Times in 99 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (1/100% )	the engine block drain is behind the a/c compressor. you can pull the radiator hose to drain but make sure you clean the drain cocks before replacing.

11-04-2009, 09:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
Benesesso No Skills Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Litchfield Pk, AZ Posts: 32 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	Thanks. So why doesn't the coolant drain from the rad? Guess I'll work a thin wire in there and see what happens.

11-04-2009, 09:59 AM	#4 (permalink)
muffinman Brain Surgeon Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ft. Lauderdale Posts: 1,797 Thanks: 24 Thanked 102 Times in 99 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (1/100% )	it sounds like a clog

11-04-2009, 11:12 AM	#5 (permalink)
Jimmydee No Skills Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Hastings Posts: 7 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	If you have trouble finding the engine block drain plug, it's just to the right of the battery (if you're standing behind the vehicle). It took me about 20 minutes of scratching my head before I finally found mine!!!

11-04-2009, 09:09 PM	#7 (permalink)
MR JAS Always blow on the pie Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: hamilton new zealand Posts: 355 Thanks: 7 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	you seem to have fixed it but for future refernce i will tell people how i fixed this issue it is almost always just abit of settled crap easiest way is to put a air blow gun in blocked plug to blow crap out of the way other way if you dont have that is simply start the engine with the rad cap etc on as pressure builds it will norm blow free in a min or two then just turn engine off and continue also make sure the rubber orings are still decent condition

11-04-2009, 10:43 PM	#8 (permalink)
Benesesso No Skills Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Litchfield Pk, AZ Posts: 32 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post iTrader Rating: (0/0% )	Most of my past experience has been with Chevies, and I never had a drain blockage problem with any of them. Turn the drain valve 1 turn and coolant poured out. These MR2's have very small drains, so they apparently plug up easily. I found the car via another MR2 forum, and read all the mesages from the P.O. and from the guy HE bought it from. That guy said he took the car to Jiffy Lube (of all places!) for a coolant flush and change, and they charged him $170 and didn't do anything--said the coolant looked the same--rusty color. I think he got discouraged after that and sold the car. Apparently the next owner didn't change it either, so it was in there for ~5 years or more and over 50,000 miles--maybe a LOT more. It will be changed a lot from now on--"Happiness is clean oil and coolant"!!!

11-05-2009, 12:00 AM	#9 (permalink)
traintech86 Traintech86 on all im's Join Date: May 2009 Location: Norfolk VA Posts: 913 Thanks: 13 Thanked 25 Times in 24 Posts My Google Map iTrader Rating: (2/100% )	glad to know you're there to take care of the car. its lame to hear about people not knowing how to take care of it. once you learn the proper process, you can do the coolant in well under an hour. i'd never pay a shop anything to do that, more so on our cars because its pretty important. i to got charged for a coolant change and it wasn't done. **bag shops... make sure to post in the forums the names of these **ty companies so we can boycott them.