What ever happened to good old fashioned water pump pliers for hose clamps?
Any Partial Coolant Drain Advocates ?
- Thread starter ChrisD46
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twouvakind
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Yup and tranny's too.
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I've always took off a lower hose vs a petcock, but I suppose you could do that too. Any chance the petcock could get rusted and opening it, it never closes again..Originally Posted by user52165
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
Once you open the radiator drain, you might as well do it all
If only it was that easy.
Been doing partial drains for years.
I think he meant to drain out whatever comes out of the radiator when you open the stopcock. For my Camry, it's about 1.25 gallons.
As to partial drain and fill, yes, as long as same stuff that came out goes in (with new coolant, if we are being literal.) Same on transmissions, and a lot of cars have drain plugs easily accessible sothat you could technically change the fluid that comes out the same time and way as an oil change.
As to cooling systems, would assume you have to bleed the system in either of these scenarios, unless it self-bleeds itself via an overflow.
I try to do it every few years. Caravan should get one, I'll plan on doing this by next year.
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The petcock is usually plastic, so it shouldn't rust (unless it's a Mazda3)
Every car though ?
Every one I've seen has been plastic. What car has a metal petcock on the radiator?
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Every car that I’ve seen within the last 20 years has a plastic pet cock (or nothing at all). It shouldn’t rust, however I have found that on totally neglected cooling systems some rust or scale that can get caught in the threads and o-ring of the pet cock...and it will feel kind of “crunchy” when you unscrew it. I’ve also dealt with some that just don’t want to come out and they snap right inside the radiator. And that’s ok as long as they aren’t leaking...not so good if they are because then you’ll need a new radiator, but that’s pretty rare. But for the most part these things are pretty simple to unscrew.
If you can’t get the thing out you can always remove the lower radiator hose (which will work but it’ll also be real messy).
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Don't touch your PetCock?
Originally Posted By: SumpChump Originally Posted By: Gokhan You mean the radiator drain plug? Those hardly ever break and in the unlikely case that they do, you can buy a new one for less than $10. Yep the drain plug aka petcock. Plastic. They usually are flimsy and squeek-creak when turned...
www.bobistheoilguy.com
Takeaway: It seems while most petcocks may be plastic, there for sure are some aftermarket ones that may in fact be brass. Or even in aftermarket radiators though not sure. Seems the issue is when they get overrightened in.
Post #28 would serve as confirmation that metal ones are in the wild.
I myself, seem to be recall having a petcock that leaked upon reinstall, I forget the particulars but I have gotten pretty good at getting stuck hoses off. The most stubborn of stuck on hoses can be a chore, but they usually come off with some push and pull.
I agree that partial D&R's (more frequently) are fine on a clean, non neglected system as long as you are using the same type coolant formula.... although I prefer a distilled water flush and refill with concentrate.
Do you consider using an AMAM coolant like ST or House brands to be the same as 'Dexcool' for D&R purposes?
Do you consider using an AMAM coolant like ST or House brands to be the same as 'Dexcool' for D&R purposes?
Depends on the model. There is no room to fit water pump pliers to remove the bottom clamp of a GM truck build in the last 12 or so years. Another revelation is they do not have radiator caps.