Where on earth is the cylinder block coolant drain plug? I see the pic in the manual but I can't make sense of it....

For now I'm carrying on with removing the rad, fan and cowling and then timing belt. But I need to drain all my oil infected coolant.

interesting cos i could never find the bloody thing either

Normally just un bolt the thermostat housing, only face fit so no gasket required
Thats what i did on my classic when i changed the anti freeze, i did the stat too.
Gave it a good flushing both ways with the hosepipe to get rid of any crud.


Nick

I think I may have found it. Lower rear engine block, drivers side, there is a screw in the block. Doesn't seem to have any other purpose. Very tight though. Going to try to persuade it

Yep. That's the one. Tight as hell. Got a soldering iron with a flame attachment on it, some penetration fluid, and a breaker bar. Finally she loosened. Water came gushing out and went straight down my open exhaust pipe!

Bitch to get to if you aren't taking the engine apart.

personally i would consider putting it back with ptfe tape

Agreed. AM def going to

it's the only plug that a 14mm socket fits onto.
No need for ptfe tape (and I would not fancy running the risk of the tape getting into the engine).
You could put a bit of instant gasket or sealant onto it before refitting if you like.

same risk of instant gasket or sealant getting in there

true, but sealing tapes etc can get wrapped around the waterpump shaft. only ever seen it once and that was when they had wrapped a load of ptfe tape around the egr pipe on the thermostat outlet and it had got sucked right in there

most people know, or should do that you only need just over a turn of thread tape to create a better seal than thread to thread, rtv or sealant has the risk of going adrift in a globule and blocking a drilling or radiator vein, more likely with the pipe to the stat housing was the excess was in the fast flow and being close to the pump the excess was dragged off because of the water flow past the pipe acting like a venturi and dragging the tape away in strings, you can see the same effect on central heating pumps were an excess of tape has been used when fitting the adaptors up

Personally, I would fit a thin copper washer if there is enough thread to take it. Therefore removing any chance of anything getting into the system

you cant as the plugs a taper fit gary, trouble is a lot of taper fits leak slightly under pressure untill corrosion seals them, hence the use of a sealing agent of some form,