best way to drain coolant?
 

Hi Folks,

this may be a stupid question, but before I end up with some 6 gallon of coolant on my garage floor, I'd rather ask how to drain my 239 F2 with as little of a mess as possible?

Would you simply loosen a lower radiator hose? The radiator is labelled Salient and has indeed a drain screw, but in a somewhat unconvenient position, and I would have loved it to have a stud where to attach a hose and put that directly into a container, but it hasen't one, of course.

https://up.picr.de/32134156lk.jpg

Another question: The heater core sits much higher as the passenger side engine head.... how does it fill once it has been drained?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...1f6c427012.jpg
The heater core will fill via the water pump when the engine is running. Draining the coolant is usually somewhat of a mess, you could try one of those funnels with a hose on the smaller end of it to a bucket. It is called "form a funnel".

Ditto what JB said on the valve with hose spigot. Also my filler piece from the grille to the radiator has a hole right in front of the valve for the hose to run down thru, factory stamped. I leave a hose connected all the time.

Thank you all for your suggestions. The coolant is from the PO, but hardly one year old, so I would like to keep most of it and use it for the test runs to come. I have a large 90x60cm pan ready, And I will make some sort of spash shield from an old paint bucket lid, slit it and put over one water pump outlet. When I work a screw driver only a bit between pump outlet and hose, the coolant should come out in a controled amount I shoud be able to handle. If not, I will have a great time in cleaning up the garage.....

Defo will be after one of those valve loaded drain plugs for the radiator after this.

Wil

The leaked coolant is a lot easier to clean up than oil, just don't let your dogs or animals drink it!

That's a big 10/4 on the animals and coolant Topper. I keep a bag or two of Dollar store (clay) cat litter on hand just for such spills. Soak it up and sweep it up rite away, plus it's great for oil spills too.

Just make sure that if you spill any that your dog or other animals don't try to lick it up. They will try but it is poisonous. :-X18

https://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/...eeze_poisoning

And make sure your wife doesn't add any to your Gatorade or your iced tea!

I must watch too many of those crime shows about evil wives!

I have an endless supply of sawdust, works great on oil, gas, any fluid. It soaks it up and I toss it into our city garbage cans. I have had more than my share of leaks!

Well, the coolant is out, only to find lots of rust and scale in the water jackets. Positive is, I lost maybe 1/5 of a quart at most. And as no one coated the concrete floor in decades, its already "gone". But it is indeed shockingly similar to Gatorade, regarding the looks.... as for the taste, I cannot say, I had no Gatorade to compare it to.

There was a BIG wine scandal here in Europe, in the mid-80's, when the wine growers did exactly this: putting Glycol, a major constituent of antifreeze into their wine to make it more sweet. People got a massive headache and got a little sick, but other than that most of them still live till today.