dave04z

hey guys,

I'm going to change the coolant in my 04Z. I've read some of the posts regarding this but I still have some questions. From what I've read it seems straight forward.

1. Remove plastic cover under engine
2. When engine is cool, remove radiator cap
3. Remove radiator drain plug on driver's side of radiator, let drain
4. To remove more coolant from system, remove bleeder plug near rear passenger side and let coolant drain.
5. Install radiator drain plug and slowly (very slowly) fill radiator until full
6. Also fill coolant slowly (very slowly) where bleeder plug is located until full
7. Put radiator cap and bleeder plug back on and start engine, set heater to max, and slowly bleed air from bleeder plug, refill radiator when cool (repeat this procedure a bunch of times)

My questions are, has anybody ever just removed radiator cap and radiator drain plug and allowed coolant to drain. Then start car and keep adding distilled water to the radiator. After a while (20 to 30 minutes) you should have gotten rid of all the old coolant and have nothing but distilled water in system, then just add a gallon of coolant at the end. I did this in my Mustang before, I'm not sure if it will work on a Z.

Also, from step 7 above, if you leave the radiator cap off while starting car to help bleed air from the system. Will coolant spill out the radiator cap opening when the thermostat opens? I want to avoid that mess.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.