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Doggone it, where is the petcock on the S10 radiator?

I feel like an idiot. I was easily able to do this on my previous vehicle which was an import. I was trying to locate where the petcock was on the radiator in my 2002 S10. On my other vehicle, the petcock was easy to find and get at. for my s10, I crawled under the vehicle and saw that there is a big black plastic shell under the radiator that spans the distance of the radiator making it difficult to get to the drain plug when under the car. Guess the shell needs to be manually removed. Other option was that I made myself a contortionist and crawled in on the front of the vehicle and reached in with my hands/flashlight (not much room to move around). I "did" see a spout of somekind on the lower-left side (facing the front of the vehicle looking down at my radiator) which sticks out about 1-2 inches and has a white plastic round end about 1/2 inch wide. Funny thing though, this white plastic piece looks nothing at all like the petcocks I see in the catalogs "and" there's no real easy way to loosen it (no butterfly wings on it) and looks like you need a special tool. Without removing the big plastic piece under the vehicle, it's tough for me to get into the right side of the radiator to see if the petcock is there.

I feel like an idiot as I did not think this would turn out to be as difficult as I thought (as I have done this without problems on 3 previous vehicles of mine). For anyone who knows about the 2002 S10 radiators, I have 2 questions:

  1. Where is the petcock located on the radiator (when facing the front of the vehicle)? I "think" I see it on the lower left side (hard for me to get in) but the actual petcock (if that's what I see there) looks difficult/unorthodox to remove (ie, no flaps on it and cannot be removed with a wrench).

  1. If #1 above "is" the petcock, what tool should I use to remove this? It almost looks like you need a special type of allen-wrench-like tool that will fit in the plastic molding to remove it.

The "thing" I see in my vehicle looks nothing like the following:

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is the result of a lookup for the S10 petcock search I did at:
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And another question:

  1. Anyone know where I can get a factory service manual for the 2002 S10 relatively inexpensive? ebay?

thanks!

Reply to
Lets Play Two
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This is what you are up against:

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If you notice the small tit on the valve and the curved path that "it" follows in the radiator, this will tell you how it is turned. You need to use a 1/4 inch ratchet with a small extension, this will fit inside the draincock. Then turn it counterclock wise slightly, pull it out while turning it further. Sometimes, they will not pull out simply with the force of your square drive...at this point you need to "help" it come out, or you will just strip out the square drive in the draincock. I usually put the tip of screwdriver under the draincock and try to pry it out as I turn the draincock. Remember that the draincock is not intended to come right out, just 1/4-1/3 turn and then it will drain.

If all else fails and you break something, you can pull the radiator right out and replace the draincock and cartridge in the radiator. It's designed to be replaceable.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

Thank you so much Ian for your help on this...

Without sounding like an idiot, what kind of extension would this be? Would I be able to get it at the dealership?

I worked on a friend''s car today. Her radiator drain plug is the easy kind to turn (just need a needle nose pliers).

thanks...

Reply to
Lets Play Two

No, I simply meant a 1/4" extension that will fit on the ratchet. If you have enough room, you can get the ratchet onto the drain c*ck without an extension, but often you need a 1" extension.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

IE: The pet c*ck is a square drive, not hex. It looks like it goes back in with a large flat head or a quarter or something of that sort.

Ian, what is this, one of those things to try to prevent vandalism??

GMC Greml>

Reply to
GMC Gremlin

I was under the impression that it was designed to irritate technicians.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

I understand fully. People-proof. You one of the guys that pulls off the "child proof" cap on scripts? There is a nice NORMAL frekken cap under there....

GMC Greml>

Reply to
GMC Gremlin

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