Coolant change procedure

[mayday1122]

Hello everybody, first time posting here!! Long time lurking and learning more than I would ever thought in this forum. Please excuse my language, I'm a southern Europe citizen. I wanted to ask a question about how to change coolant. My current car has a Nissan hr16de engine in. In other cars i always replaced coolant simply unlocking the return hose to the expansion tank and pointing it directly to a jerrycan with the aid of a simple garden hose. By turning the engine on old coolant is poured into this jerrycan while i'm adding the new taking care not to get bellow the minimum to avoid air entering. I do it until engine warms enough to open themostat, 10 minutes aprox. So there is no need to lift the car and take out the under engine cover, etc. I realise all the posts in this thread first drain radiator and/or block and then refill and purge. Do you see any drawbacks in my system?

 

[Brons2]

I assume you are not using actual water from a garden hose in this scenario.

Seems fine to me.

 

[Leo99]

They sell a fancy funnel for your technique.

 

[mayday1122]

Thank you for your tips. Of course I plan to use coolant, not water. Regarding these funnels I still do not see the point as I don`t let any air enter while changing the coolant, so it should be a "self purging" method. My goal is to avoid lifting, pulling out the under cover and the unavoidable mess.

 

[vavavroom]

Even if the system is self-purging you may want to leave the cap of the expansion tank off initially. Maybe you can find an adapter like the one I have. It screws into the expansion tank and you can fit a length of rubber tubing into it. It will prevent the tank from overflowing as the coolant gets hot and expands. Bleeding the cooling system may require exposing some bleeder holes, for example at a heater core hose. You don't want to end up with an air pocket in the heater core.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Thank you for your tips. Of course I plan to use coolant, not water. Regarding these funnels I still do not see the point as I don`t let any air enter while changing the coolant, so it should be a "self purging" method. My goal is to avoid lifting, pulling out the under cover and the unavoidable mess.

The Lisle coolant funnel and similar funnels are tall, so you can fill the funnel above the radiator level and higher than the highest point in the cooling system. Therefore, the air bubbles will go to the funnel, and when the bubbles stop, you know you got the air out of the system.

When you are done, you can close the funnel with the stopper and recycle or dispose of the coolant, or even put it back in the original container if you wish.

 

[mayday1122]

Thanks, I will have to take a look at one of these funnels or something like the adapter shown above.

 

[michaelluscher]

Thanks, I will have to take a look at one of these funnels or something like the adapter shown above.

You should be able to get one shipped to you

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Thanks, I will have to take a look at one of these funnels or something like the adapter shown above.

Since you're in Europe, you can get this one or wherever you shop for auto parts.

 

[The motor guy]

I just take it to my cousin Eddie and let him do it. He assures me everytime it will be okay.

 

[nthach]

Nissan is a big advocate for vacuum coolant fillers - but not everyone has an air compressor or other source of compressed air to operate one.

Those coolant filler funnels work decently well. If you can find “Asian formula” coolant in Europe, all you need really is drain and fill.

 

[Urshurak776]

I just take it to my cousin Eddie and let him do it. He assures me everytime it will be okay.

ONly if you get to pet snots!