Coolant: cylinder block drain point?

[pphilpot]

Hi all

I need to drain the cooling system on my 1.8 petrol D9 as the previous owner was topping up with water, and I need to change the thermostat anyway. The Haynes for this car seems a bit generalized for various models, and it mentions a second drain point on the cylinder block but it fails to mention where it is.

Can anybody point me to it please?

Cheers

Paul

[Welly]

I've never known anyone drain the block like this, the bottom rad plug or hose is the lowest point so draining should be done from there. I don't think I'd want to disturb an old water plug anyway as it might leak after

[pphilpot]

Oh, OK then. So I'll assume at this point that the cylinder block will drain itself after I flush it then.

Cheers

Paul

[kevtherev]

i did mine a couple a months back. open the bleed screw at the bottom right of the rad wait until no more comes fluid comes out.
remove air box for ease of access to the stat housing, i then removed the hose from the stat housing going to the rad ,obviously any fluid will come out, undo the two studs and 1 nut, remove housing but before you pull the stat out make sure you got plenty rags to soak up the fluid from the block ( thats how i drained my block )
in my very humble opinion the haynes tells two little white lies here; 1 there is a pic of the stat being removed from the housing , this is not the case the stat is fitted in the block and sealed by o ring and 2 the drain plug you mentioned i dont think is fitted to the 1.8 as i couldn't see it for the life of me

[pphilpot]

Thanks for that kevtherev. When you refilled after draining, did you need to create the 'header' with a bottle or was the tank high enough to avoid bad airlocks...?

Cheers

Paul

[Doggy]

The usual 'trick' is to park with OSF wheel on the kerb, (or jack it up), then you shouldn't need a 'header'.

[pphilpot]

Cool, thanks for that dogslife.

[kevtherev]

Thanks for that kevtherev. When you refilled after draining, did you need to create the 'header' with a bottle or was the tank high enough to avoid bad airlocks...?

Cheers

Paul

i went down the header route but in hindsite its probably easier to jack it up.. the bottle has got to be a good fit i put electrical insulation tape round the bottle till it was a tight fit, also i bled the system for good measure too as i had airlock issues before i started the job.
there is only the 1 bleed screw too near the bulk head not 2 as the haynes implies. hope it goes smoothly for ya