Coolant block drain plug

[JohnFol]

Just drained cooling system and with heater set to hot and expansion tank open I see about 1-2 litres in the bowl. Feels a bit on the low side.

I read there is a drain plug on back of cylinder block but it's quite inaccessible. Bigger concern is it sheers or doesn't reseal meaning a long spell off road.

Is there any other way to let air into the system so it drains more fully?

[SanRemo78]

Remove the bottom hose from the radiator and after that, the thermostat?
Guy

[peteracs]

Maybe use compressed air carefully?

Peter

[WestonE]

Hi John

The Block drain Bolt is 8x1mm thread and can be replaced with another 8x 1mm bolt if it is a mess which is very rare. It drains the block very effectively and is easier if you make a take away tinfoil tray water diverter/deflector. This is because when it is removed the water goes sideways not down to your handy container! It you skip the tinfoil deflector expect a mess of coolant in the wrong places. There is probably an expensive deflector tool, but I prefer the easy free way.

Enjoy.

PS I am changing the Monte Water Pump so I did this recently.   

[JohnFol]

Thanks for all the responses. Also struggling to locate it. Images suggest back, right of engine and obscured by exhaust manifold

[peteracs]

Hi John

I think this is what you are looking for marked in red. Photo of block removed from car, but you should be able to ref to yours.

Peter

[JohnFol]

I think I found it but not much space for leverage and still nervous. Tried the thermostat idea but settled on plan C. 8mm bore flexible pipe fed through expansion tank and managed to pump out nearly 2l.

[JohnFol]

Expansion tank overflow pipe was brittle and snapped so trying to source a replacement

[SanRemo78]

What snapped? The pipe or the spigot on the expansion tank?

[JohnFol]

Fortunately just the pipe.

[peteracs]

That was lucky, that small spigot looks to be very vulnerable.

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi John,
Any used expansion tank will have similar brittleness so consider
doing a conversion to a new Clio tank, which in my case, was a success.
Details on my HPE page.

Regards
Nigel