So how do we do it on our Z's? Can we just use any radiator fluid at the store?

 

a. Drain the radiator.
b. Fill with water.
c. Run engine with heater ON.
d. Drain the radiator.
e. Fill with anti-freeze recommended in the owners manual.

 

The service manual states to change the coolant every 60k miles, or 48 months.

For recommended fluids and lubricants in the 350Z please click the link in my signature, for the top 100 questions thread.

 

I can't see those last 2 pics. The words are broken up. Any other way I could get ahold of those 2 pages?

 

Go down to the bottom right corner of the document and hold your mouse there until a icon shows up. Click on the icon to make document bigger.

 

The icon never came up, but I figured how to make the attachments legible. Thanks.

 

On page 2, the manual instructs to remove the 3 engine plugs to drain the block and check for contaminents. Did anyone actually do this, or is it a bit overkill? I'd like to skip this step if it's not really necessary.

Another question:
Page 3 step#4...

"If coolant does not overflow air relief hole, grasp upper radiator hose so that it occurs with closing radiator cap. After installing air relief plug, open radiator cap & fill radiator"

I'm assuming this clause means that if the overflow does not occur @ the air relief hole, it is because there is still air in the system. Is this correct, squeezing the upper radiator return hose will force the air out? Is the radiator cap suppose to be closed when you squeeze the hose? The wording on this instruction is vague.

 

bump for answers...

 

Davids instructions are right, just have to do a bleed procedure. A flush is seldomly needed....Dont feed the Sharks at the Garages that are pushing them

 

Page #2 ---severe over kill !!! and Page 3 ---keep cap closed if you have to tease the air out of the line.....You want the air out the relief, not the open radiator

 

Thank you sir. Will do. I have the car up on stands now and the skid pan removed. I've been performing the procedure in small steps.

 

I finally got around to changing my fluid last week. It was a real smooth process.. I pulled the drain plug. Let it drain slowly. Remember to remove the radiator cap, so the fluid can drain properly. After it stopped flowing, I turn the car on with the heater on full blast, and let the car run for 1min only. About another pint of fluid came out.

After I drained everything I filled the radiator itself, until the fluid began to back flow into my funnel. I then closed the cap and filled the overflow reservoir to it's appropriate level and turned the car on. I let it warm up to operating temp and took a test drive. No problems...

One thing I might add, is I could not find the "air relief hole".. The valve indicated in the service manual is the EVAP valve. I was not going to mess with this. Maybe they have an "air relief hole" on another year/model of Z, but it sure wasn't anywhere on my 2003 Touring model.

 

I don't think you're supposed to run waterpumps dry like that.

 

I have a 2003 and found it - it does exist. It's near the firewall, kind of behind the engine, you can access it from the passenger side. You'll see a tube running into the firewall, and the tube raises up a bit (for air), and there's a phillips screw-cap on it. When you remove the screw, you should see some green-colored liquid inside (anti-freeze/coolant). When you squeeze ("grasp" in the manual) the tube coming out of the radiator, the coolant will come out of this hole.

 

Thanks for the info... I'll look for it, but I don't think I'll need to bleed any air of of the system. Everything seems to be running fine so far.

 

What did u use to unscrew the radiator drain plug, im assuming a philips head screwdriver?

 

You assume correct...

 

Thanks for the tips.. I did this today, I used the dex-cool coolant, the orange stuff. The air relief valve is a big help in getting the air out of the system, located inline in a heater hose going into the firewall right next to the battery, Its the same type of screw as the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator. If you just fill it up at the radiator you have a chance of overheating when test driving, so dont go too far from your house.

 

Here is how I always change coolant on every vehicle I have owned. Drain it from the radiator, refill with distilled water, run until warm, let cool then drain again. Refill and run until warm, let cool then drain again. Usually repeat this 3-4 times or until drained fluid is looking pretty clear, may have a little color but mostly water. Then on the last fill I add exactly 50% of the specified volume of full strength coolant. Then I top off the rest with the distilled water. This gives you almost total replacement and correct 50/50 mix. Anything else besides a power flush or pulling the block drain plugs is just 1/2 a change IMO. Takes 8-12 gallons of distilled water and around 4 hours, mostly waiting time for cool down, I run a big fan on the radiator to speed up the cool down. Never add cold water to a hot engine. One other note, I never ever run the car with the radiator drained and the air vent for the 08 is on the driver side in front of the firewall. And if you do the initial part of the drain with the cap on it will suck the fluid out of the overflow jug, I only do that if the overflow jug looks clean, otherwise I use the turkey baster to empty that jug.

 

If you use water to flush the system you should go a bit heavy on the straight coolant to ensure you have a good mix. A coolant tester is your friend.
Flushing with water means you will have some water left in the system when you begin filling with new coolant.