xasnxkiddox

I did search but could not find a specific answer to my question.

Has anyone tried draining the rest of the coolant from the drain bolt located on the backside of the engine? If so, what kind of wrench is best suited for this purpose? I gave it a look this afternoon with the car jacked up and can't seem to fit any of my wrenches in that tight area (~12 inches above the oil drain bolt) so I wanted to ask for help on this matter. I do know where the drain plug and drain bolts are located, but just not sure how to remove the drain bolt. Is it better to access it from above (engine bay) or below (with car jacked up)? I see from the owner's manual that it's only 7ft-lbs to tighten so I assume it isn't on there too tight. Does the bolt use a washer to seal or do I have to apply any type of teflon tape to the threads when screwing it back in?

If I don't remove the engine drain bolt (which seems to prevent some headaches due to possible stripping of seizing of threads), what is the best alternative way to drain/flush out the rest of the coolant from the engine block? I don't want to cut into any of my radiator hoses and am a little weary of flushing with a garden hose because I haven't ever done it before and the thought of flushing with tap water scares me because of the minerals and other stuff in them.

If I can't get the drain bolt off, I was thinking I could just do a radiator drain, flush only the radiator with distilled water, fill up with Honda coolant, bleed, drive around for a while, then come back and do it all over again. Will this procedure be fine? Time is not an issue for me just as long as it's an alternative correct procedure. If I get enough help/advice before tomorrow afternoon, I will do it tomorrow since I have a break from school this week. Thanks for your responses.

rjheiss

I've been draining and refilling the radiator every year without flushing, chemicals, etc. I'm too lazy to look for that bolt in the back of the engine, and I figure doing the coolant every year is like draining and refilling the tranny. Maybe everything doesn't get changed out, but with 5/50,000 coolant life, there's no worries. This method requires exactly one gallon of the premixed coolant.

us000011

I also tried to reach the drain plug (it loosens and has a fitting for a hose on it, you don't take it out) but could not get a normal wrench on it.

I'd like to hear if anyone knows the right wrench type, maybe box end rachet, with pivot??

xasnxkiddox

I was thinking the exact same thing because this is what I do with the tranny also.

Pivot for sure. Box end ratchet seems to do the job. Maybe safe to go with a 6pt. box end pivot ratchet to prevent stripping. But since it's not torqued down very much, a 12 pt. should be okay. I'm probably not going to deal with the drain boltand instead just drain/flush radiator/fill and do it again every year or two.

fla-tls

When I drained my coolant I did undo the bolt in the back - with a box wrench. It's not really that tight, and you will get quite a bit of coolant to drain from the block. A hose over the fitting will make the job a lot cleaner. It's not hard to do.

Changing out "some" of the coolant lowers the life of it significantly. That's why they state that the initial fill should last to 105k, and subsequent drain/fills (with draining the block) will last for only 60k. The amount left that can't be changed (i.e. heater core, etc.) lowers the life of the new coolant because of contaminants it contains.