anyone out there change the freeze/core plug on the backside of a 2.2 4 cyl?? It appears at a minimum that the hood, intake manifold will need to be removed. it looks like it will be a bear to get to.

Please respond if you have any experience, or know of any shortcuts to get there.


thanks.

Anyone, class, Anyone???

I will answer a question with a question. What makes you think you need to replace this freeze plug?

You may be able to get to the freeze plug from underneath if you remove the right side axle. The intake manifold isn't all that hard to remove if you want to go that route. Either way it's not that bad. The freeze plug should come out pretty easily, especially if it's already leaking, it most likely won't be too tight. The new one just gets tapped into place. Good luck.

Brian R.

Sorry i was on vacation--

Hey your question is a fair one. i determined that the freeze plug was bad because:

a) i recently replaced a front one; and

b) i put it up on ramps and saw water peeing out of the freeze plug with a mirror.

the front plug was not all that easy to get to, nor was it very easy to change. Of course, my experience has always been that repair jobs take twice as long as i think they should.

update to the freeze plug issue:

My Dad and i replaced the freeze plug that was leaking. it was on the rear of the motor. We had Jack it up as high as possible and take the right front tire off to get to it. Make sure you have good light in your workspace so that you can see everything.

I have removed two freeze plugs from my car and both of them were a chore to remove. the biggest problem is breaking the "seal" between the engine and the plug. We used a torch to cherry red the plug, then sprayed it with a water hose expanding/contracting the plug. Be careful not to burn up any lines -- we had to shield a line from the heat.

After the second time of heating/cooling we tapped on it with a long iron rod, and it came out.

We replaced it with a rubber screw in freeze plug, kind of a universal freeze plug from discount auto. We didn't even try to put one of the regular metal drive in freeze plug because we couldn't get a direct perpendicular angle to drive it in.

this was just one of 4 plugs located on the rear of the engine. 3 of the 4 are pretty accessible. good luck.