changing coolant
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 8,623
Likes: 1,392
From: Aurora, Colorado
Welcome- there's really not much to changing antifreeze. Put the car up on jackstands and put the drain pan under the radiator. Pull the belly pan to get clear access to the bottom of the radiator. With the OEM radiator, there's a black rubber radiator plug on the bottom that can be turned with a phillips head screwdriver. Of course, remove the car and thoroughly drain the old fluid into the pan. You'll need to decide whether to run a radiator cleaner at this point. Otherwise, just replace the drain plug and mix up a combination of 50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water. A gallon of each should be sufficient.
Filling and burping the radiator is a matter of some debate. I find the easiest way is to purchase and use a Lisle funnel:
https://smile.amazon.com/Lisle-24610...ateway&sr=8-14
It comes with a selection of special radiator caps that take the place of the OEM cap for filling. Using this and the large yellow funnel allows you to start the Z and begin filling the funnel with your coolant. You'll see it swirl and bubble on the open top as it allows the thermostat to open and eliminate any air bubbles in the system. Allow the VQ to come up to operating temp and open the heater box by switching to high heat for a brief period. The last steps are to shut the engine down and allow it to cool down before topping off the radiator.. Pull the overflow bottle and refill it to the minimum level with fresh coolant mix before replacing it.
One last suggestion is to consider replacing the radiator car while you're at this- it's cheap and something that usually fails at the worse times after a few years, so why not?
Filling and burping the radiator is a matter of some debate. I find the easiest way is to purchase and use a Lisle funnel:
https://smile.amazon.com/Lisle-24610...ateway&sr=8-14
It comes with a selection of special radiator caps that take the place of the OEM cap for filling. Using this and the large yellow funnel allows you to start the Z and begin filling the funnel with your coolant. You'll see it swirl and bubble on the open top as it allows the thermostat to open and eliminate any air bubbles in the system. Allow the VQ to come up to operating temp and open the heater box by switching to high heat for a brief period. The last steps are to shut the engine down and allow it to cool down before topping off the radiator.. Pull the overflow bottle and refill it to the minimum level with fresh coolant mix before replacing it.
One last suggestion is to consider replacing the radiator car while you're at this- it's cheap and something that usually fails at the worse times after a few years, so why not?
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