Hey guys, I have a question for ya. My car seems to have a problem with cold temperatures (low teens and below...) So here's what I was gonna do. I was gonna drain the coolant out since its probably been in there a while and its got crap in it, and refill it up so that I know that it is a proper Antifreeze-Water Solution. So, can anybody help me out here with wheere to start or instructions?

Also, when its cold, I think the "coolant" freezes up or something and my car doesn't seem to circulate it very well. But I know when it does have this problem when I see the temp going up, but the temp coming out from the heater is still bitter cold.....any thoughts?

Thanks

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

If you coolant is freezing due to the wrong mix, it will expand and possibly damage somthing...

To drain your coolant, remouve the drain plug, under drivers rear 1/4 pannel on the coolant tube itself.

There is also one on the passenger side.

I believe there is one on the rad but I'm not 100% sure.

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Apparently there's no...apparent damage. One thing I have to do...well two, is replaced the thermostat cap and the gasket back in the engine. Thanks for the quick reply.

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

If your engine is overheating but your heater blows cold air then it is probably either low on coolant and/or the system is all gunked up and little water is flowing. I would drain and flush out your system real good, refill it and make sure you purge all the air from the system

heh, I just thought of this.....but everybody here knows all the retards at the tire shop etc, that jack the car under the coolant pipes? Yeah...I have a pinched one of those. What tubing do I use and what kind of clamps do I use to fix it? Its not like pinched shut, but its been definately pinched.....

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

Yea, I had the same problem. I had to disconnect the hoses and take off the whole pipe. took it to an exhaust shop and had them bend a copy! It was a pain.

There is a drain plug on the radiator aswell (lower passengerside if memory serves me correct). I always drain from the radiator (not sure if it matters). I do know all the coolant drains by removing this because I pulled heads already using this method (just remember to remove the thermostat cap and or radaitor cap to drain it quicker)!

You should open all the drains (1 at the rad and the 2 in the pipes). Flush it real good. Close the drains and run clean water thru with the heater running on full (I always forget that last part). Do this part with the filler cap on at the engine but no Thermostat. Drain it again. Refill with a 50/50 mix of coolant and demineralized water. Run again with no thermostat until warm with the filler cap only tightened one notch. When it cools enough so you can touch it replace the thermostat and seal it like normal.

Filling the system is a procedure by itself. I like to raise the rear of the car about 3". You can jack it or in my case my driveway has a good slant on it. Add coolant until it runs from the rad cap. Close the rad cap. Add coolant until full at filler (again with heater on). This is simplified but should work. Good luck.

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So are ya saying that I should have the engine on when I flush out the system? Eek! My car already has problems man! lol. What would I use to flush the system? (chemical wise) I figure my system has crap builtup in it so I'll need to clean it out. The filler cap is the cap on the thermostat correct? And one more thing......since I'll have my car on, is it pretty much safe to run on pure water (when I'm cleaning it out)? Just wondering since I've never done this or seen this done before. Just watchin my cars back is all.

Austin

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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

Okay, I may have typed that a little fast this morning. When you have the system drained with all the plugs out and the valve on the rad open. Run some plain water through until it is flowing out all the openings. Then let it drain again. Now close and refill the system with demineralized water. Run it about five minutes (leave the thermostat out). Drain it again and refill with the 50/50 mix. Follow the fill procedure I desribed and you should be in good shape. Is that better?

[This message has been edited by 1MohrFiero (edited 01-13-2004).]

Yes its quite helpful 1mohrfiero. thanks for your help. I'll get crackin on that today and maybe my car will be purring like a kitty soon enough, and not overheating itself.

BTW if anybody could fill me in on the replacing coolant pipes with what typa hosing and whatnot, it'd help me out a lot Thanks everyone.

Austin

P.S. Anybody know what you can do with old Antifreeze? Can you dump it somewhere without getting a fine like oil or something? Can I just dump it down the sink drain? Just wondering....
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Practice makes perfect, but since nobody's perfect, why practice?
If life gives you lemons, take them and throw them at people you hate.

[This message has been edited by ImmortalFirefly (edited 01-13-2004).]

Somebody on here in the last couple of days suggested using heater hose as a coolant pipe replacement. Seems logical.....Maybe fuel line if you can't find heater hose.
You will/did put in a new themostat while you're doing all this right? Reason I ask is your problems may also have been caused by a stuck thermostat.