How do you get ALL of the old coolant out, and replace the WHOLE system with new coolant. Only 40-50% of the coolant comes out when you drain the radiator. The rest is trapped in passage ways in the engine etc.

In the how-to's online it says
1. Drain the coolant.
2. Fill radiator with water. Run engine. Drain the water.
3. repeat step 2

4.Fill radiator with coolant.

The problem I see is that upon step 4 - filling the radiator with coolant....there is still water in the engine passage ways. So when you run the engine, the good new coolant is going to mix with the water...diluting and watering down the final mix.

 

You need to figure the total quantity of coolant, which should be in the owner's manual. Then, on your second flush, use distilled water, especially if you live in a hard water area.

Then, using straight coolant, fill with 1/2 of the total quantity needed. Fill the rest with distilled water. Run the engine until it is warm, cool down and recheck the level, top up with distilled water.

Now, unless it gets really cold in NSW, you don't really need a 50/50 mix. Pure water has better heat transfer than coolant, and racers often use just water with a water pump lube and water wetting agent (a few drops of dish soap work good for that). Coolant does have other additives, like the water pump lube and corrosion inhibitors, but a lot of folks have high mileage cars using only 30% coolant mix, especially in hot climates. The 50% mix is for the lowest freezing point. You can find charts on the internet for what mix is needed to protect your system from freezing at the lowest recorded temps in your area.

So unless it gets to -30C or so in your town, I wouldn't worry too much about the dilution.

 

There is a block drain bolt.
Never put water in the system.
Use honda premixed blue coolant.
Do the proper bleeding procedure.
Sorry I dont have the manual at hand.

 

Thanks Heaps
It wasn't obvious from the videos.
And you gave me a perspective with the coolant mix levels.

 

Please, what is/describe the proper bleeding procedure.
thanks

 

Hi. Sorry I dont have the manual in front of me and don't have the time to look for it (i have online access but it takes a while to remember the passwords etc).

I've done the change twice.

Basically, drain the old coolant from radiator, expansion canister, and the engine block.
Set the cabin heater to high
The block's plug/ drain bolt is screwed into the pipe. Look for it and you should find it.
Then close all the drain bolts.
Fill the radiator to the top. (I use the attachable funnel found here:
It helps to prevent spilling. Start the engine and let it idle until the radiator fan comes on. This will indicate that the thermostat opened and the engine reached the operating temperature.

Shut the engine off but rev it to 2-4 K rpm 2-3 times to let the bubbles out.

Now, hold on hold on. I don't remember if the procedure on the fit also includes initial filling with fluid until it starts coming out of the bleeder valve. This was the proper way of bleeding the air out of the block on my old 95 nissan altima.

Anyway, if the fit's procedure doesn't include that (i can't confirm this right now), then you would finish by topping the radiator and the canister off and then checking the level for the first several rides, making sure nothing leaks and bringing the fluid to the top mark if it went down.

I prefer to replace the fluid no less frequently than every 3 yrs.

 

I did mine a while back. I was concerned with getting a full drain-out. I still got about 3 1/2 qts just from the wingnut petcock drain no problem. Then cut the bottom out of a milk jug or soft plastic container that fits snug inside the radiator neck to use as a fill funnel. You want it to make a decent seal, so you can start the engine and wait for the thermostat to "burp" air and top off. Squeeze the upper hose will aid in getting all trapped air out, very simple. Then fill the bottle 1/2 way and keep an eye on it for a day or 2. Mine never drank any more after that.

 

i never bother with draining the entire system when i change coolant.

 

instead of flushing with water, why not, flush with the coolant, solves the problem of water/distilled in engine, I realize coolant is expensive, I'll be willing to go a bit overboard on my fit For all the great service it has given me!

 

I bought and used this many times. Very convenient and prevents any spills.

 

lol is dat like a fake lisle funnel? mine is yellow in color, but use this:

 

Seems real to me. I guess the colors can vary. Mine is yellow too.

 

Distilled water but otherwise do that. Drain and fill until it comes out clear.

 

If you unhook the hoses and hook a big shop vac up it will clear a lot of the water from the system.

 

I was doing coolant change this morning and i noticed that there is a black fluid coming out of the funnel when i was burping the air out of the radiator. Is that normal? I used Zerex pink coolant and while i was filling it up, the color turns black because of the black fluid that comes out of r
Radiator.

 

i always use factory coolant and it does not change color..

 

That is nasty.
How dirty is your cooling system.
I would drain it and refill again if mine looked brown.

 

The pink stuff is si-OAT (the si is for silicate) . Honda type 2 is OAT. Honda recommends not using Silicate coolants on aluminum blocks. If you didn't drain all the way the color change could be due to a chemical reaction between different coolants.

As to draining the block the full way. From what I've gathered the coolant changes primary purpose is to replenish the oxidation inhibitors in the coolant, and that replacing the fluid inside the radiator and expansion tank is sufficient to accomplish that.

 

Honda's coolant is blue and sold as gallons of 50/50 premix. Don't mix different types. A radiator drain and fill uses a little less than a gallon, which is about half the total capacity for the cooling system on the Fit. I drove for a couple hundred miles in between one radiator drain/fill and another to allow the old and new coolant to mix (via engine block passageways intersecting + water pump propeller). I realize that doesn't get everything.

You need a no-spill funnel to allow trapped air to escape after filling. I unscrewed the plastic plug at the bottom of the radiator (driver's side), let it drain completely and then snugged the plug back up with a pair of pliers. A lot of people can probably reach it through the top of the engine bay. I refilled it slowly and then turned the heat on high while the engine was idling. It should be easy to see the bubbles in the no-spill funnel within the first few minutes. You can also get some air out by gently squeezing the radiator hose. After that, you cap it back up and check the level on the overflow tank. It's not very difficult, but you can definitely do it wrong or neglect it.

Now what do you do with the old coolant?

 

Put it in a milk jug and drop it off at the parts store.