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Did anyone attempt to drain and fill their coolant?
I am specifically interested in bleeding instructions. Anyone with access to service manual can provide these instructions?
I did some searches, and just generic stuff comes up, looking for specific procedure for this car/engine.
I need to do this as it's on the List but not pressed to do it.
I'd assume :
-Drain Rad
-Drain block
-Fill overflow and Rad
- Run car with funnel attached to rad fill neck and wait for fan to come on, make sure hoses are burped and no more bubbles in funnel and you should be good.
Yeah, well I dont even know where to drain engine block. If its not easy, or difficult to get, I might skip it.
Also, some cars like Lexus/Toyota have bleeder valve you can open to release air. Wanted to see the offical set of instructions…
I get that, Surprised you didn't find anything searching, guess I'll dig around.
I'm pretty sure on these there is a coolant port on the back pass side of the block that you can pop a piece of vacuum hose over and crack bleeder loose.
Just don’t bother with the block bleeder valve then. Just drain the radiator, remove the coolant hoses/thermostat and you’ll get a large majority of the old coolant out,
Just don’t bother with the block bleeder valve then. Just drain the radiator, remove the coolant hoses/thermostat and you’ll get a large majority of the old coolant out,
I am asking about presence of air bleeder/burp valve that is present on some engines top cover(toyota 2gr-fe), which helps burping air. Is there such a thing in k20 engine?
It's the same process as most hondas. Drain the rad; drain the reservoir; refill both; use spill free funnel and run the engine until thermostat opens to bleed out the air, done. Keep an eye on the reservoir level for a few days as it will drop as more air escapes. It's very simple, don't over complicate it with trying to get every drop of coolant out. I did this on my TSX at 200,000km and 250,000km - the radiator and fluid looks mint.
I presume this write up is for 2019 RDX+? Looks like there is no drain of engine block. I heard its not worth the effort anyway, so not planning to do it anyway,
This procedure is for the Accord, but I expect our RDX's will be near identical. Basically, they just drain and fill using prediluted (50/50) Honda coolant.
This one is a mix of RDX specific and generic procedures. He repeatedly drains and refills with distilled water, then adds concentrate (then drains then adds more concentrate) to bring the system up to 50/50.
If I were to do the water flush version, I would use my coolant "protection level" meter to double check my work. I would mix a test batch in a cup 50/50 to calibrate my meter first.
No need to bother with distilled water flush.
just drain radiator and reservoir every 50k/6years and use pre-mixed Honda coolant.
Yeah, it doesn't seem that Honda sells the concentrate anyway, just the 50/50 premix, so cannot flush with water if you want to continue to use Honda coolant.
Here is the radiator funnel link. Mine's plastic parts are yellow, but they seem to have change to a clear reservoir. I've only used it so far on my wife's QX4, but it should include adapters which fit the RDX.
not sure, they still ship ATF and brake fluid.
Curry has reasonable shipping chargers, bernardi wants like $16 to ship 2 gallons
Bernardi has very competitive pricing on parts, accessories and other items, but shipping costs are ridiculous. I live about 30 mins away from Bernardi and the shipping costs are out of this world. I understand making up lower advertised cost on the parts via shipping charges, but they won’t get any more of my business. As an aside - you can’t pick up any orders there either - so you are forced to pay for shipping.
Some dishonest car dealers will charge you above MSRP when you buy parts at their parts department desk.
happened to me once, I went to get transfer fluid, and they charged me $5 more than MSRP. I paid it, but said to myself that I will buy parts from dealership
I sent email to Curry, got a mixed response that there is something wrong with their website and that I can call in to place order over phone…. He did not say if it will be fixed or not, strange…
Bernardi has very competitive pricing on parts, accessories and other items, but shipping costs are ridiculous. I live about 30 mins away from Bernardi and the shipping costs are out of this world. I understand making up lower advertised cost on the parts via shipping charges, but they won’t get any more of my business. As an aside - you can’t pick up any orders there either - so you are forced to pay for shipping.
Bernardi used to have parts on their web site at a discount, but they seem to be MSRP on many parts (e.g. spark plugs, ATF) now. That is still better than any of my local dealers (Acura, Honda or VW), who typically charge close to 20% above MSRP. Acura of Peoria in Arizona still offers discounts via their online sales at https://www.oemacuraparts.com. They do want $16 for shipping 2 gallons of coolant from AZ to the Bay Area, but that doesn't seem unreasonably high to me. I just try to order enough other parts (wiper inserts, other fluids, filters, PCV) to make it worth while. Even $16 shipping is better than taking over an hour to fetch parts from a local dealer.
Bernardi used to have parts on their web site at a discount, but they seem to be MSRP on many parts (e.g. spark plugs, ATF) now. That is still better than any of my local dealers (Acura, Honda or VW), who typically charge close to 20% above MSRP. Acura of Peoria in Arizona still offers discounts via their online sales at https://www.oemacuraparts.com. They do want $16 for shipping 2 gallons of coolant from AZ to the Bay Area, but that doesn't seem unreasonably high to me. I just try to order enough other parts (wiper inserts, other fluids, filters, PCV) to make it worth while. Even $16 shipping is better than taking over an hour to fetch parts from a local dealer.
$20 shipping for me. May need to buy other things to make it worth while
any experience with them? $16 per gallon, and only $8 shipping for 2 gallons. Seems good.
I'm not showing the coolant as available on that site. It says "discontinued," if I am looking in the right place. Also, the link I supplied above is also saying discontinued now. Hmmmm.
hondapartsnow.com says:
Currently Unavailable
Due to manufacturer supply shortage, this item isn't currently available for ordering.
Last edited by attofarad; Aug 26, 2025 at 08:57 PM.
Placed an order through them, $41 for 2 gallons shipped. I wonder if it will go through, because if I look it up again it says discontinued. There is something weird going on with coolant being shown discontinued on all Acura websites and their parts department says its some kind of website error
Just completed coolant drain and fill. Supper easy with spill free coolant kit. Did not have to raise car at all, drain accessible easily. This is so easy, easier than oil change.
Just completed coolant drain and fill. Supper easy with spill free coolant kit. Did not have to raise car at all, drain accessible easily. This is so easy, easier than oil change.
Thanks for this, we're coming up on 6 years for our RDX but I wasn't sure this was something I wanted to tackle. Did it take both jugs to fill or was one enough? How does the spill free kit work, I only have a plain funnel and I'm not sure I want to buy the kit?
Thanks for this, we're coming up on 6 years for our RDX but I wasn't sure this was something I wanted to tackle. Did it take both jugs to fill or was one enough? How does the spill free kit work, I only have a plain funnel and I'm not sure I want to buy the kit?
You need to buy 2 gallons. It will take around 1.5-1.6 including the reservoir.
I use this one. Has various attachments to be used in other makes (toyota/lexus).
it attaches to radiator which is used as funnel and excellent way to burp it free of air
Ok, thanks again, I think I get how the funnel kit works now. You use the radiator cap that fits along with one of the o-ring adapters and then as the car warms up, the bubbles and burps don't overflow out of the funnel?
Ok, thanks again, I think I get how the funnel kit works now. You use the radiator cap that fits along with one of the o-ring adapters and then as the car warms up, the bubbles and burps don't overflow out of the funnel?
yes, it keeps everything spill free while it bubbles and level goes up and down while car is warming up. It then has stopper cork to remove it with coolant without spill.
It’s a good tool to have. It works on my Lexus great too, uses different adapter.
I didn't realize there was anything like that, I've always just used a funnel but it always boiled over with coolant running out the fill neck. I guess I will have to order one of those.
Placed an order through them, $41 for 2 gallons shipped. I wonder if it will go through, because if I look it up again it says discontinued. There is something weird going on with coolant being shown discontinued on all Acura websites and their parts department says its some kind of website error
I already have a nearly full gallon on hand so I called our local dealer and with a 15% senior discount the price was $22 so not worth ordering. While picking it up this morning though I made the mistake of impulse buying a PCV valve, with the discount it was $60. On the site you ordered from it's $44, oh well, lesson learned.
Holding this thing in my hand I would think Acura would be embarrassed to charge more than $20 for it.
I changed the coolant today and dang, I wish I'd found that spill free funnel 50 years ago. The cap from the kit wouldn't quite go on the neck though, I had to bend the locking tabs out a little bit and then it was fine. The car was sitting level and quite a lot of the coolant drained out on the shield under the radiator instead of into the pan. The next time I will park with the front up and maybe that will help.
The instructions above say to run the engine until the fan comes on twice. It was 70° here today and I didn't think that was ever going to happen. It was at least 30 minutes before there was any flow at all across the radiator and another 30 to 40 minutes before the fan came on. All the while the temp gauge was sitting at the normal running mark.
I don't know if this is normal but after the engine finally warmed up there was a continuous stream of very tiny bubbles coming up into the funnel that stopped as soon as I turned the engine off. The coolant looked fine, the oil looks fine but now I have thoughts of a head gasket problem in my mind.
russianDude, did you see any tiny bubbles like that when you changed your coolant?
I already have a nearly full gallon on hand so I called our local dealer and with a 15% senior discount the price was $22 so not worth ordering.
I'm in your area. What dealer gives you a senior "discount". I put that in quote marks, since he just reduced the price to MSRP -- still better than the markup above retail that all dealers of all brands do around here.
