Drain and fill of coolant - Not adding up - help

[rodneyramjet]

I searched here but didn't find the answer I was hoping for...

When I drained the radiator (using both the wing-nut like thing and with both radiator hoses off) it seems like I only got about 2 gallons of fluid out.  I then filled up the block from where the thermostat goes, reinstalled the radiator hoses, then topped it off and used only 2 gallons of new coolant.

Where is the old coolant hiding? The radiator was filled to the top when I started.  Then the other question...how do I get new coolant to displace the old stuff?

The manual says it should hold 17 quarts.

Thanks!

[Pete in NH]

Hi,


Welcome to the group. Unless you pull out the drain plugs on the sides of the engine block you will only get about 1/2 the coolant out with the radiator drain. There will be a little more trapped in the heater core.

[rodneyramjet]

Excellent!  Thank you Pete for the welcome and for the information...much appreciated!

[green69rt]

I'm really reaching back in my old car maintenance days but,  I seem to remember that when I drained my old car it was similar to yours.  To do mine I hooked up a hose connection to one of the heater hoses and the other heater hose had a dump.  Run a garden hose to one and use it to flush the engine, heater and radiator and to get all the old AF out.  Sometimes I did a flush with cleaner then another flush. Maybe I ran the engine for a bit.   I tried to end up with straight water in the system.  Put the system back to normal and then drain the radiator and fill with pure AF.  Seems like that returned the system to about a 50/50 mix that I wanted.  I was trying really hard to get a clean system for some reason, maybe just anal.

[Dino]

Dangit I should've flushed the heater when I had the engine out!   

[Pete in NH]

I'm really reaching back in my old car maintenance days but,  I seem to remember that when I drained my old car it was similar to yours.  To do mine I hooked up a hose connection to one of the heater hoses and the other heater hose had a dump.  Run a garden hose to one and use it to flush the engine, heater and radiator and to get all the old AF out.  Sometimes I did a flush with cleaner then another flush. Maybe I ran the engine for a bit.   I tried to end up with straight water in the system.  Put the system back to normal and then drain the radiator and fill with pure AF.  Seems like that returned the system to about a 50/50 mix that I wanted.  I was trying really hard to get a clean system for some reason, maybe just anal.

I do something similar. I drain the radiator and fill it with clean water, then turn the heater control to full hot. I start the engine and let it run until the thermostat opens. Then I shut the engine off and open the radiator drain. I use a garden hose feeding just enough fresh water into the top of the radiator to make up for what is coming out the drain. Then I restart the engine and let it run a half hour or so until the drain water runs clear with no hint of antifreeze. Then I shut the engine down and let the radiator drain, close the drain cock and let the engine cool off. Then I fill the radiator with two gallons of pure antifreeze. This gives you -30 degree protection with a 17 quart system. There's no need to pull the engine drain plugs.

[Kern Dog]

The "wing nut type thing" is actually called a pet cock. Whoever thought of that term for  drain on a radiator is a strange person.

[twenty mike mike]

The "wing nut type thing" is actually called a pet cock. Whoever thought of that term for  drain on a radiator is a strange person.

It's actually spelled petcock.

One of the many meanings of cock is a valve for draining fluids. It's easy to see how that began to be used for the slang use of the word nowadays.

Pet is probably short for petty, meaning small. Hence, small drain valve. Not so strange at all.

[green69rt]

The "wing nut type thing" is actually called a pet cock. Whoever thought of that term for  drain on a radiator is a strange person.

It's actually spelled petcock.

One of the many meanings of cock is a valve for draining fluids. It's easy to see how that began to be used for the slang use of the word nowadays.

Pet is probably short for petty, meaning small. Hence, small drain valve. Not so strange at all.

Isn't it amazing what trivial or useless stuff gets stuck in our brains, especially since sometimes we can't remember where we left our keys

[twenty mike mike]

The "wing nut type thing" is actually called a pet cock. Whoever thought of that term for  drain on a radiator is a strange person.

It's actually spelled petcock.

One of the many meanings of cock is a valve for draining fluids. It's easy to see how that began to be used for the slang use of the word nowadays.

Pet is probably short for petty, meaning small. Hence, small drain valve. Not so strange at all.

Isn't it amazing what trivial or useless stuff gets stuck in our brains, especially since sometimes we can't remember where we left our keys

Or remember which way to turn the petcock's handle. Let's see...was that righty runny, or lefty leaky? 

I can't count the number of cars I've seen with completely stripped handles, probably due to overenthusiastic use of Vice-Grips.