How can I optimize draining the coolant from my Nissan Frontier pick up WITHOUT removing hoses or the water pump? I can easily drain the radiator & the reservoir but that only gets about 1/3 of the liquid. I currently have no leaks so I’d rather not mess with hose fittings etc. Just looking to get the system mostly empty so that I can go into the winter with clean innards. Park downhill? Hot engine? Cold engine? Running engine? Thank you for you feedback!
Remove the lower radiator hose from the radiator. Sorry, there is no other way…
If you want get all the coolant replaced, remove the lower radiator hose and let it drain there. Then look along side the engine block and see if there’s a pipe plug that when removed drains the block of coolant.
Or, you could bring it to a shop that has a coolant exchange machine. These exchange all the coolant just by removing the upper radiator hose from the radiator.
Tester
Thanks. I did just that & all went pretty well. Didn’t empty as much as I would have liked. Trying to be a DIY weekend mechanic against my better instincts but thought I’d save a few bucks. Now, if you read my very latest post you’ll see that I may be headed for a shop after all. Can’t get ahead.
Thanks for you response. Might be headed for a full system flush after all. See above.
When we just had to get more out (like in a DexCool cleanup) we would disconnect heater hoses and one at the waterpump but the was on small Blazers in about 2001.
Droppoing the lower hose should be fine unles this car drains with a different route.
For my 2004 F-150 I bit the bullet and had it sucked out (for 85.00) They still left the old stuff in the overflow tank.