Coolent change

[ATMINF]

Well finally changed the coolant in my truck this weekend. It was not particularly hard, but it was messy. If I ever meet the bean counter who decided it was a good idea to take away the drain plug on the radiator I'm going to throat punch him! But after putting in new coolant and water wetter I can actually see the temps are a bit cooler. I did not expect that at all. I would normally see my temp get to about 193-194 driving and then creep up to 197-202 in stop in go traffic. Well today driving around it would be around 191-193, and in stop and go it would go to 197 then drop down to 193. It's not a lot. And to see the temps so accurately, I have a scan gauge 2 that had a digital readout. All in all happy it's done! I also changed out the upper and lower hoses, since the hoses were stock.

[Bone head]

About to do the same in my 01 2500HD. How did you go about it?

[ATMINF]

I first uncapped my coolent tank, then unclampped the lower radiator hose and let the radiator and hose drain(very messy). Reattached the lower hose and filled with plain water. Ran the engine and let it get up to operating temp. I let it run at temp for about 5 mins. Then I waited and let the engine/coolent cool for a bit. I then unhooked the lower hose again.(very messy again). I did this to help "flush out" the old coolent. (I also replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses at this time). So I then swapped out the hoses, and filled the tank with fresh coolent/water mix 50/50, I also added redline water wetter. I let the engine run, and kept watching the temp and coolent level. I added more coolent as needed and the system basically "burped" itself. I let it run again for about 10min and watched for any issues. After that I checked all the clamps, hoses and coolent level, and then took the truck out for a little spin.

Of note, since yours is a 2001, you might have a drain petcock on the radiator, if that's the case it will be a lot less messy than me. I would say if you have the petcock, drain from there first, and then when most of the coolent is out then pull the lower radiator hose to drain the rest. I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions I will try to help. Good luck.

[j-ten-ner]

... If I ever meet the bean counter who decided it was a good idea to take away the drain plug on the radiator I'm going to throat punch him!

Same for the automatic trans....I don't even know if there was a drain plug ever.

Maybe there is a plausible explanation to it but I can't figure it out.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[ATMINF]

True about the auto tranny. I changed out the stock pan to a higher capacity one. The new one has a drain plug, yeah! Doing the stock trans was messy!

[kstruckcountry]

The reasoning for no drain plug on the tranny is that the filter should be changed every time the tranny fluid is, so they figured why make a drain when you have to drop the pan anyways. I guess they forgot how nasty it is to get ATF all over you when you drop the full pan and it goes everywhere!!!

 

Fresh coolant does make a difference. I had the shop do mine and the thermostat this spring. I didn't want to get coolant all over the place.

[Bone head]

Thanks ATMINF. I will give it a shot.