I usually drain and re-fill coolant every three years. Did our 09 about a year ago...only drained the radiator and overflow tank. Took almost the full container. I wasn't aware of the drain plug, and on other vehicles I've disconnected the bottom hose. One thing to note if using the OEM coolant...and that is not to try and "flush" the system. The OEM coolant is premixed, so if you already have distilled water in the system due to flushing, then you will need to remove the block drain. Otherwise you won't be able to achieve the proper strength mixture using a pre-mixed product.

 

Basically true for me too, but then again on my other vehicles I never use a pre-mixed product. Thus I use distilled water to flush out the system, and then estimate how much distilled water is still undrained when I re-fill using full strength coolant. I think with the Honda I'll stick with the OEM coolant and probably just drain the radiator unless the drain plug is easy to reach.

 

Is this the same place that the engine block heater goes?

 

Because Honda does not want you flushing the system, but only draining it, I surmise that they think that removing the engine block drain plug is important to get as much coolant out as possible. That drain plug is not that hard to find or remove, once you remove the plastic under engine panel on the right side. It is true that you cannot see the plug when lying under the car, but you can feel it up above the drive shaft on the right side, if you search with your hand instead of your eyes. The key is that the rear of the engine is not a flat vertical surface and the plug is on a plane that is toward the front of the car and thus blocked from view by the rest of the engine below it, that is more toward the rear. If memory serves me, you will need a 19 mm socket with a short extension and then a breaker bar or perhaps a torque wrench and it will come right off. Unfortunately, although Honda shows the approximate height of the plug on their illustration, they do not make it clear that you cannot see it and must feel for it.

Someone suggested getting to it from on top after removing the cowl. Unless you are removing the cowl for some other reason, I think it is less work from down below. Also, it would be easier from below to catch the fluid that comes out.

 

Yes, if you get the Honda block heater and bracket.
http://www.bernardiparts.com/Images/...r_AII39862.pdf

 

I would like to hopefully contribute in my very first post on fitfreak even though this is an old thread lol. It did help me. Went to the dealership (Lindsay Honda in Columbus Ohio - very high volume) today 5/8/15 to get coolant for my change and a washer for this block drain plug since the HELM manual advises to remove the washer and replace with new for each coolant change. When asking the parts specialist to purchase the washer, I was told he had never heard of such a thing but would check with a technician who typically does these changes. When he returned, he said that they were aware of the plug and washer but that since there is such little coolant remaining in the system after opening the radiator petcock, they do not bother with the drain plug and washer change. May not be the 100% right way but I'm fairly comfortable without removing it. Of course if you are under there and want to for peace of mind I understand and wouldn't fault you. But if the plug is a real pain to get to, I wouldn't worry too much. I plan to change mine every other coolant change. BTW doing my first change now at 85,000 miles just cause.

 

HA! I was the originator of this thread, and it's funny how we don't visit these threads for years and then come back and see what conversations have been going on. For the record, I never removed the block plug and looking back, I really don't see any reason to. I have since replaced my anti-freeze twice, and I just drain it at the radiator and the overflow tank. The old stuff always looks just as good as the new stuff, and I now have 175,000 miles on my '09 Fit. Zero problems.

 

I infer that you are saying that Honda's recommendation to drain at the block plug is unnecessary. That means that you believe that you know better how to maintain their cars than Honda does. What credentials do you have to support that?

Your sample of one means nothing, because it is only a sample of one. Not everyone pays the price when they take short cuts on maintenance, but somebody does. You're betting your water pump, radiator, and head gasket that removing that drain plug (a five minute job) makes no difference.

It is just so easy to remove the drain plug that I am rather surprised that someone suggests not bothering to do it.

 

Umm...it is NOT easy to remove the drain plug, and that's my point. It does not get much more coolant out of the system by removing it. I have 184,000 miles on my 2009 Fit at this point and have had not one problem, so I will go ahead and trust myself instead of you.

 

Since I switched over to a different coolant make (Peak Long Life, but the chemistry is basically the same as Honda), I decided to remove the engine block drain plug in order to get everything out...not too hard, more of a PITA than anything else. Didn't measure it, but quite a bit of coolant came out. If you continue using the Honda coolant, and change it every 4 years its probably not an issue.

 

changing my coolant soon and will be using honda oem type 2 coolant...

 

Been a reader of this forum for sometime and finally decided to register so I could post some 411...

Zerex Asian is the same as Honda Type 2 and Toyota Super Long Life. Peak Long Life is not. Read this and you should have answers to the questions you are surely thinking of right now: http://www.motor.com/magazine/pdfs/082010_08.pdf

Our coolant is said to be good for 5 years or even 10, depending on what source. However, I feel that if you desire to never flush the system, then stick to changes every 30,000 to 40,000 miles using the OEM or Zerex Asian (same chemistry) and just opening the radiator drain. I believe doing changes this often would also keep you from having to mess with the block drain. Which I am sure shops don't touch either.

If you neglect a cooling system or run the same fluid for say 10 years, then a distilled water ONLY flush is a good idea to remove any build up. However, given that the coolant actually adds a protective coating to the cooling system it seems to me that it makes the most sense to NOT flush with water and NEVER any chemical and to simply do a radiator drain and fill more often. You don't want to remove the protective coating created by the coolant and you don't want to introduce more air into the system than necessary. You also don't want to risk breaking things loose in the system by power flushing. Thus, don't be more aggressive than is absolutely needed to replenish the coolant's chemical properties and remove sediment. Big rigs and some Mercedes vehicles actually do this by adding chemical replenishing packs to old coolant and doing actual changes much less often.

I may be wrong, but maybe not. Cavitation from air is REALLY bad on the pump. New coolant takes awhile to provide protection. Asian coolant is good for at least 100,000 miles, but not if mixed with the wrong coolant or if full of air. Replacing most of the coolant every 30 to 40 thousand miles seems to be a great way to achieve what we are going for - reviving the coolant's protective properties before they are depleted & remove sediment - and is the least amount of work. A win win.

Thoughts? These are just my opinions based upon lots of reading on the topic.

 

Evans Cooling » Home

Just to stir the pot this stuff gets used in Semi trucks, for 1,000,000 miles.

Its just expensive enough I dont plan on it for the FIT yet..



No relation just a happy customer..

 

Well I did exactly as I suggested earlier. Drained via the radiator petcock and removed the reservoir bottle to empty it and rinse it out. Took a gallon of the Zerex Asian premix coolant to bring 'er back up to full. I used this spill-free funnel for the first time and I gotta say, it worked as described. No coolant spill whatsoever when filling.
It did take well over 30 minutes to get the thermostat to open up though. Even revving and high idling it I just could not get her to operating temp fast at all. Took a very small amount of the gallon the next day to get to "full" - less than 6 ounces. One gallon in all though which if memory serves me correct, that means only 0.3 gallons I did not get out by NOT using the block plug. Pretty good!

Figure I'll do this every 30,000 miles. Less than $15. Easy peasy!

 

Assuming I can locate and remove the engine block drain bolt in my Gen2 GE8, what is the torque specification when it's re-installed? I can't seem to find this anywhere. Thank you.

 

I found the answer to my own question above and I think it's 58 LB/FT

I replaced my coolant yesterday, using Honda fluid. I couldn't actually lay my eyes on the Coolant Block Drain Bolt, but could feel it. I didn't remove the Bolt because I could not determine a way to properly tighten it with my torque wrench with a free and unencumbered swing.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. I seem to recall reading that folks barely get a pint out of the block drain.

 

Thanks mp06011999 - I feel a better now. I guess I should have figured that there wouldn't be much quantity in the block. Without draining the block, my job took 0.8 GA or so, including filling the reserve tank. I added the entire 1.0 GA anyway. It fills the reserve tank to a point above the FULL mark, but will not come anywhere near overflowing it even with a hot engine.