My check coolant message has come up and I have my test strips but now I can't get any coolant out of the drain petcock. Is there a secret to it. It turns a quarter turn but nothing comes out.

 

It is a pain! I'm not sure what the engineers were doing when they designed that thing but it is not what you expect. You have to turn the petcock 180 degrees. It feels wrong and like you're going to break something but you won't. The petcock actually backs out of the radiator housing as you turn it the second 90 degrees and fluid may come out around the o-ring. It's odd and somewhat messy. If you're taking a sample, make sure you let some fluid drain for a second to flush out any impurities in the nipple. When you rotate the petcock to close, you have to maintain some force to push it back into the housing. It's just a weird deal. They also very strategically placed the passenger side drain in the most difficult place imaginable. I used a small vice lock to finally open and close that one.

 

I had to use a pair of pliers to turn both drains. I also 'wiggled' the drain as I was turning which seemed to help ease the strain. I was able to turn them both back in by hand.

I had one set of test strips for concentration and Ph. I did not have the kit to test the corrosion resistatnce. I ended up eventually taking the truck to a dealer who tested everything for free. They had to add VC-12 which cost me $15.