Homemade tools for coolant change

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by RMcG

Johnwk's mini-tip: I found that only unscrewing the radiator drain plug part of the way prevented it from spraying all over the plastic under-engine guard (where it will collect and sit).

I just realized that I misunderstood Johnwk's mini-tip. I thought he said to partially unscrew the radiator cap (at the top, near the top of the radiator) to slow down the flow of the draining coolant. This does work, but it does not work well enough to prevent a mess, it does not slow down the horizontally shooting stream of draining old coolant at the bottom of the radiator enough to keep the coolant going downward through the hole in the under-engine plastic guard. In any case, I have told my story.

I will probably only unscrew the radiator drain plug (at the bottom of the radiator) part of the way in the future (as suggested in Johnwk's minitip), rather than making my fancy homemade funnel with the slot in it for the horizontally shooting stream of draining old coolant at the bottom of the radiator. But this system does work. And the homemade drain pan and homemade regular funnel (without a slot) do work; and the old mushroom trays work too and they will work for everybody no matter what system you use.

Thanks,

R.