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I changed my coolant yesterday, no big deal
Cold car, up on stands, There's my lifting point. There's where i put the jacks.
big ol' concrete mixing tray thing to empty the radiator into. Done deal. Can get em at big box stores in a size or two. I typically use a smaller one than shown, but it was up on the top shelf, full of fluid. Lower profile than a bucket. Can slide em under and slide them out easy and there's very little mess if any
Except this time I had a great big electric impact courtesy of Kobalt and was determined to get that coolant drain plug out.
Pointing to the offender! You do have to take the splash guard off, and also the right front wheel to be able to get eyes on it. Can see the serp. belt in the pic towards the bottom right. Note, I have a manual transmission so our CV shafts may look different, it sure didnt match the pic in the manual.
I went after this SOB with determination! My girlfriend broke up with me, but she'll change her mind once she sees I'm a man who can do a full coolant change as indicated by the Bishko manual!
Not so much.
I put some liquid wrench on it. I gave it time. Because of crummy location of this jerk plug I had to use two 12" extensions paired with two wobbles, one 1/2" and an adapter to take it down to 3/8" for the second and its socket (tried a u-joint cuz I didn't have 2 1/2" wobbles and the gun shook the pin right outta said joint!) and a shallow socket.
Well gents, she wouldn't come. I figured too much loss from all the extensions.
Note: I tried doing this once before at 40k miles with no impact, to no avail. The breaker bar wanted to round it and I didn't want a rounded bolt...
So! I tried again. This time adjusting my set up and removing one 12" extension, subbing in a 4" and changing my angle. I'm well aware it's stupid!!
I had to hold this unweildy freaking thing, eyes pointed elsewhere incase the socket split, adapter sheared, while my assistant hit the gun. NOPE
I could feel that shortening the extensions returned loads of power to the exchange, but nothing doing. This "plug" has now been soaking in penetrating fluid for 30+ minutes.
My impact was defeated and I was alone in a garage with a fifteen-year-old man who I'm pretty sure was there out of pity.
Back to the breaker bar to seal my fate!
A long, kinda bendy one from harbor freight (I figure i'd rather the breaker bar fail than actually break my bolt, hah!).
I put some grunt into this thing, lifting the powerplant and putting a fine curve into said bar (which I don't actually want to break. I'm still recovering from a broken finger caused by the old craftsman radial arm saw chunking plywood, causing it to slap up with enough force that I had a red streak down my left pointer for a month). I let the young lad at it too, cautioning against rounding the bolt. In the end though, it was me who rounded it. Rounded it to oblivion. I could NOT get that plug to budge. Having sheared many a bolt in twain, and rounded so many in the past, this really wasn't a surprise.
Do they put PTFE sealant on it and torque it down to 60 ftlbs.?! It's positively absurd whatever they did!
At this point there was no choice. I filled up the radiator and reservoir, slapped the cowl back on underneath, bolted my wheel and called it done.
To further pursue and potentially resolve this issue I'd need a welder to affix a new nut onto the rounded plug head, and maybe they could move it. Or pull the engine and impact the new nut directly! But for now I'm "happy" having gotten about 0.9gal back into the system.
For the other guys looking to attempt to remove this plug, I just want you to know what you're in for
My fit has never seen salted roads, and hasn't yet reached 90k miles. It shouldn't be stuck, there's no reason for it to be so tight, but it is. Good luck!
I couldn't get mine out either, and I gave up a lot sooner than you did - I figure changing only the fluid in the radiator is okay, so long as I do it every three years instead of five. Plus it's a lot less work!
Why are y'all even taking power tools to it? It's a white plastic little plug that takes half a turn with your fingers and it drains the system. Or are you trying to drain at the engine, maybe I missed something.
It's the engine's plug, boss! you missed every step but one 😂 just yanking your chain.
BUT! with that said, your way of looking at is how I've got to look at it now! The manual says to also drain the block. Why? I don't know, maybe they assume head gasket material can deteriorate and would be best expelled through this TREMENDOUS plug hole. I've seen it on older cars (gasket deterioration), mentioning age because i don't think it'll be relevant for our fits until they reach their expiration date near the 20 year mark.
Yessir, even carded board expires.
But I'll save the work of fixing this for when my compression dwindles. I'm sure 10 years from now me will remember the rounded plug.
It's the engine's plug, boss! you missed every step but one 😂 just yanking your chain.
BUT! with that said, your way of looking at is how I've got to look at it now! The manual says to also drain the block. Why? I don't know, maybe they assume head gasket material can deteriorate and would be best expelled through this TREMENDOUS plug hole. I've seen it on older cars (gasket deterioration), mentioning age because i don't think it'll be relevant for our fits until they reach their expiration date near the 20 year mark.
Yessir, even carded board expires.
But I'll save the work of fixing this for when my compression dwindles. I'm sure 10 years from now me will remember the rounded plug.
Ah, sorry I've been out of school for too long. All I could remember was how I did it last year and I remember it being extremely easy. I got just about all of a gallon out when I did mine, must've missed a few ounces..
Just curious what kind of jack you got there? I've been looking for a decent mid range one (i.e. not a Harbor Freight death trap surprise) and that looks pretty solid.
The jack is an old Arcan I bought from Costco back when then carried 'em some.. jeez. 7 years ago, maybe more. They're still making jacks that have solid reviews on amazon, dead in line with my experience. The pad splits and rips away, the jack itself has functioned flawlessly with zero maintenance. No leaks/pressure loss, it's just heavy and has a bad pad on it. I intend to replace it with a clone or the full aluminum model if it ever gives up.
I had to take that bolt out when I installed the factory engine block heater cord, which screws into the same hole. I forget the details (it was in 2014), but I remember it sucked.
@Pyts: Great story. When it's adapted as a Broadway musical, let me know. I'm ready to invest.
P.S. I've worked on, and owned, a few more cars than your average fifteen year old, and I have never been able to remove these coolant drain bolts. I fully expect to go to my grave hating them with an unholy bitterness.
To Fiting, The lower radiator hose is above the drain petcock on the radiator, so it fully empties without need for hose removal (I did verify this by removing the hose after draining the system). Took forever!
To Mr.Coffee, thank you for your support! It'd be a great musical
I do wonder if the hardware here could be supplemented by one made of different metal, like brass, that might not fuse itself to the block. Prolly something I'll try if I ever get one out
10-01-2020, 01:56 PM
