Coolant Drain/ Refill Instructions

Coolant Drain/ Refill Instructions

Hy-Di-Ho Neighbors,

Does anybody know the proper way or is familiar with draining coolant and refilling it?

I followed the instructions from the "2003 Service Manual Impala, Monte Carlo."* For my '03 3.4 engine.

So what happened was I only got 1 gallon of Coolant out of the radiator whereas the service manual says the car has a little more than 3 gallons in it.

Also when I unscrewed the bleeder screw and pour in radiator fluid, the fluid never comes out of the bleeder valve.

Does anybody know the proper way or is familiar with draining coolant and refilling it?

I drove the car for a while to see if the engine temp gauge would go back and fourth the way it would if there was an AIR POCKET, -everything seemed to be OKAY.



*Here is the lowdown straight from the "2003 Service Manual Impala, Monte Carlo."


Draining and Filling Cooling System


Draining Procedure

1) Park the vehicle on a level surface.

2) Remove the coolant pressure cap.

4) Place a drain pan under the drain cock.

5) Open the radiator drain cock.

6) Drain the cooling system.


Filling Procedure

1) Close the radiator drain cock.

4) Open the cooling system "2003 Service Manual Impala, Monte Carlo."*


/ Use a 50/50 mix of DEX-COOL and de-ionized H2O. /


5) Slowly fill the cooling system with the 50/50 coolant mix.

6) Close the cooling system bleeder screws.

7) Install the coolant pressure cap.

9) Run the engine until the engine reaches normal operation temperature.

10) Allow the engine to idle for 3 min.

11) Shut the engine off.

12) Allow the engine to cool.

13) Top off the coolant as necessary.



I felt these instructions were NOT VERY GOOD because:

-They mention "bleeder screws." Plural. I only could find one bleeder screw.

-With my old 3.1 corsica, the drain cock would let out all the fluid in the car, and then on refill the fluid would come out of the bleeder screw opening, insuring there were no "air pockets," etc.

Compared to the 3.1 corsica I felt like the 3.4 Impala's cooling setup was not done as well, and the official shop service manual does not identify all the parts it should, and the instructions don't work exactly.

Thanks.

You only drained the radiator, the rest of the coolant was in the engine. This is the method that I recommend, it has worked great for me and many others:

For normal system maintanence:

Buy the following:
2 gallons of distilled water $1
2 gallons of Dexcool* $20
Prestone Flush 'N Fill kit $3
Prestone Radiator "Flush" $3

Turn your heater on and leave it on for the entire process

Drain the anitfreeze from the system.

Install the "T" from the Flush 'N Fill kit and follow the directions that came with it.

Disconnect the water hose, close all the drains, add the Prestone Flush, fill with water, get engine up to operating temperature and run for 20 minutes, allow to cool then, drain the system.

Connect your water hose to the Flush 'N Fill "T" and flush one more time. Drain.

Fill the system with a 50/50 mix** of DexCool and distilled water. Continue to fill the system over the next few days as the air is worked out of the system.




For clogged, neglicted, or extremely dirty systems:

Buy the following:

2 gallons of distilled water $1
2 gallons of Dexcool* $20
Prestone Flush 'N Fill kit $3
Prestone Radiator "cleaner" not "flush" $4

Turn your heater on and leave it on for the entire process

Drain the anitfreeze from the system.

Install the "T" from the Flush 'N Fill kit and follow the directions that came with it.

Disconnect the water hose, close all the drains, add the Prestone Cleaner, fill with water, run the engine 3-6 hours (you can leave it in for a few days if neccessary), drain the system.

Connect your water hose to the Flush 'N Fill "T" and flush one more time. Drain.

Fill the system with a 50/50 mix** of DexCool and distilled water. Continue to fill the system over the next few days as the air is worked out of the system.



* If your vehicle was made prior to Memorial Day 1995 or if you don't want to deal with the problems associated with Dexcool, get the standard green antifreeze.

**When you do your final drain and fill....not all the water will come out so to get the proper 50/50 mix you should add the right amount of straight Dexcool then top off with the distilled water.

Thanks.

Wow,

When I bought this thing I thought it was just going to be like my 3.1 corsica: Open the drain plug: All the fluid comes out; Open the bleeder Valve; fill until the fluid comes out the bleeder valve and the job is done.

Now I have to deal with all this complication.

I think GM lost a good engineer between the 3.1 engine design and the 3.4.