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.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by RMcG

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.

After having slept on it, I am not so sure I will use Johnwk's minitip in the future of partially unscrewing the radiator drain plug. The tool I made of a funnel with a slot cut in it for the horizontally pointed radiator drain (picture of the funnel with the slot attached to the first post) works well and allows the radiator to drain quickly. You can also essentially stop the flow from the drain (even if the drain is wide open), by screwing on the radiator cap at the top. So you have some control of the flow even if the drain is wide open.

It is also easy to make one of these funnels with a slot cut in it. You can get such empty soda pop bottles from a recycling bin if you don't have any of your own. I think a bottle smaller than 2 liters would work for a funnel with a slot as well.

I am now almost finished with my own coolant change; I just have to add small amounts of more coolant to the system over the next week or so as the level goes down slightly with driving.

Thanks everybody, especially tmontague.

R.