2000 Intrigue - Changing the Coolant

Trying to save money and at the same time learn more about cars, I decided to change my coolant. Everythign I read suggested this should be about an hour job for me. Never got past the stupid radiator drain valve. :banghead:

I needed a 1/4" sqare drive to open the valve. Didn't ave one so I used my socket wrench adapter (it is 1/4" square). The plastic "nut" jsut kept spinning and no coolant drained. I figure I need a longer 1/4" square drive to actually turn the valve and not just the plastic. Is this a "typical" part that I cna find in any hardware store?

At least I know where the bleeder valve is located now.:shakehead

You really dont need that. Just a pair of nice pliers. Turn the drain cock about 1/4-1/2 a turn and pull out on it. May have to wiggle up and down while pulling out. It doesn't even have to come all the way out in order to drain either. Hope this helps.

I couldn't get the pliers in position to get a good grip. I got the plastic piece to spin but nothing came out. I'm begionning to wonder if I stripped it. BTW, did you pull the engine block plug?

You should be able to pull out on the plastic drain plug on the radiator. Wiggle it while pulling out. Its just stuck because it has never been removed. Thats the oly thing you need to pull out in order to drain.

Thanks Atoyota. I'll give it another try this weekend.

instead of turning the drain cock, you may as well remove the bottom radiator hose and run a water hose through it. that's what I did to my 2000. cleaned out the whole thing.

You were right, atoyota. I changed the coolant this weekend. This time I pulled on the drain valve as I turned it. Popped right off. I couldn't reach the engine block drain so I only drained about 5 quarts of the coolant. I ran the engine with the bleeder valve partially open to let any air out of the system. Seemed to work as i had to add coolant a couple fo times. And no problems during my 45 minute commute in 90+ weather.

Simple DIY.

boy I have to be dumb, where did you find the drain plug? I have been all over the bottom of the radiator and could not find a drain plug. I am ready to pull the bottom hose

Drain plug is on the drivers inside bottom of radiator if I remember correctly. Its down there, believe me.

Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not easy to see.

Best thing to do is remove the black plastic shield (5 bolts hold it on). You can do it with the shield in place but it is easier without it. On the bottom of the radiator (driver side) you will see a round rubber "sleeve" with a hole in it. directly above it is a white plastic knob or bolt. that is the drain valve. Turn it to the left and pull on it at the same time. It should pop out. If you have trouble turning it, you cna use a pair of pliers.

Mine popped off and coolant came flying out. make sure your face is off to the side. Once you get it off, you'll be amazed at how easy it is.

the bleeder valve is on the top of the radiator on the passenger side facing the engine. It's black plastic "wing nut". I opened the bleeder valve as I was filling and left it open while the engine ran to get the air out of the system.

I changed my coolant today and I was able to swap-out about 8 liters (1 gallon antifreeze/1 gallon distilled water) of coolant (should be 10L). I found the engine drain valve and it's a hex 3/16 or 5-6mm metric hex-key (allen) type bolt. You had to move (not necessarily take off) a piece of plastic (3 plastic expansion screws) from the bottom of car to get room. I used a stubby ratchet and adaptor that will take hex bits.

That left-side drain plug was a pain to get loose. I jammed a flat head impact screwdriver bit (bigger than standard hex bits) into it and was able to get it to move with a ratchet (a pliers wouldn't get it to move). It moved fine after that, didn't come out but was able to drain the coolant. The coolant drains thru the existing body hardware=you will see what I mean. The air-bleeder valve will bleed to the outside of the car = this may surprise you = if you look closely you will see the opening. I thought it just let air out of the air bleed screw itself = it's actually a valve, the opening is 90 degrees from the screw.

I took the front air-dam off (5 10mm metric bolts), I'm not sure if this was necessary or not.

Do you have the 3.5L engine in your Intrigue? Where was the engine drain valve?

Do you have the 3.5L engine in your Intrigue? Where was the engine drain valve?

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=433814

Thanks Llittle hoov. I didn't see where he edited the post.

take a rubber hose 1/4" and jam it in the engine coolant drain hole (outside of hole is larger than the plug = the hose will fit) after the allen hex plug comes out. If not, the coolant will come staight out and all over ( I held my finger over the hole and realized I was the only one home when I needed the hose). You could probably hook a hose onto the radiator air bleeder and radiator drain valve also.

It was a mess for me. I probably caught only 6/10 liters that I was able to drain. My car has been running excellent with no overheating issues = actually runs a little bit cooler. The old coolant didn't look bad either.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e277/liquid100percent/DSC03804.jpg