If anyone has any suggesstions please let me know. I have heard this gets very messy, and since my car can not be moved and is in a storage garage that I rent, I want to make sure not to make too much of a mess.

 

Jack up the passenger side of the car.

Then undo the radiator drain bolt.

That should keep all the coolant exiting the car on the same side of the car.

If you don't, coolant runs along the lower radiator support rail to the other side of the car.

Since your catch pan is under the drain bolt, you end up with a big mess on the other side of the car.

Also... make sure to leave the radiator cap on. Then slowly release the cap as the fluid drains out.

If you pop the cap off, the change in pressure (or rather the lack of vacuum) will cause the coolant to shoot out of the drain hole, missing the catch pan.

Good luck,

 

lower radiator hose, plus the block drain bolt.

it's gonna be messy no matter what tho, but tony's suggestions help minimize it.

 

TonyG's idea is good or you can get a piece of aluminum foil to form a little drainage tray so the coolant clears the radiator crossmember as it drips out.

I draped a plastic trash bag over the crossover pipe and put the ends in the drain bin. The coolant then ran down the trash bag and into the bin. I was surprised how well it worked....not a drop on the ground.

The ultimate is the Mityvac coolant remover that sucks it all out with a vacuum pump.

 

I find that undoing the Top vent bolt on top of the engine also releases another 1 litre or quart of fluid.

I did make the initial mistake of undoing the coolant exp. tank lid before unscrewing the rad drain plug, and when I did the later, the drain plug literally FLEW out of the rad with such force that it took me 15 minutes to find it on the other side of the garage.



Make sure you put "phosphate free" coolant in there too.

 

Just get some of that spill cleaner stuff from wal-mart. I used like 1/8th of my jug cleaning up after my car.

You'll want to flush it a few times to clean things out before you fill it again. I used distilled water and filled it like 3 times before putting coolant back into the tank.

How much progress have you made so far?

 

Lay an old blanket under the car, get one of those real large (30" diameter) drain pans, loosen the clamp on the lower rad hose and slowly work it loose. If you don't pull the hose completely off you can kinda control the flow.

 

I cut the bottom out of a paper cup, put the mouth of the cup over the drain plug and unscrewed the plug with a long philips screwdriver through the cut out bottom. This was TOTALLY clean, not a drop anywhere, just make sure the cup clears the radiator supports. I used a big enclosed oil drain pan, the only problem I had was the plug went into the pan and it took a while to fish it out (putting a piece of screen over the drain hole in the catch pan would have been smart). Total investment: $0.01. Good luck.

Arne.

 

But what do you do with the old coolant?