Engine Block Coolant Plug

This may or may not apply to the T&C, but over the years, I and others have learned the hard way to not even worry about removing the block drain plugs for draining because they are almost always a royal PITA to get to, and in many cases require serious removal of parts, like the exhaust manifold, to get to risking further otherwise unnecessary problems (broken studs, replacing gaskets, etc.). It's very easy for a manual to say "Remove the block drain plugs" - much harder to actually do so, and do so without causing other problems.

The work-around is to thoroughly flush the system thru a radiator hose, then draining what you can out (thru the lower hose - see below), then filling with the pre-calculated quantity of pure antifreeze (i.e., exactly 50% of the total system capacity published in the FSM), then topping it the rest of the way with water. For the final phase of flushing and the top off, use only distilled water.

You'll save yourself a lot of time and trouble by altogether leaving the block drain plug(s) alone on most vehicles (again - T&C may be an exception, but I doubt it).

Also, because the radiator drains on most Chrysler vehicles are a pain, and you can create problems for yourself simply by opening and closing them, don't mess with them either. Disconnect the lower radiator hose and use that for your drain, and do lots of flushing (dilution process, last stage with distilled water) before the refill as described above.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

On the *front bank* it is to the right and up a little from the the oil filter base. I would imagine that the rear one is in the same location on it's bank, but won't be as accessible.

These plugs may be difficult to remove since they have been in place for 5+ years. Some anti-seize compound will help their removal for the next time.

-KM

i use to use a little butane torch..i mean little you can get them from the mac tool's i think the same on the other block drain plug he's talking about should be real close to the other one. good luck...

I wouldn't take out a drain plug unless it's leaking. You are just asking for problems. If you take off the lower radiator hose it will pretty much drain the block. Whenever I do have to replace a drain plug i replace it with a brass plug instead of a steel plug. Brass plugs don't cost much more and will never rust out.

Grizz440

This is the way that I have to do my Stratus. There is a drain, but I can't turn it by hand, and pliers are too long. The front clip comes back so far, that there is no room to work.

The engineers don't worry about the poor guys that will be working on their stuff later.

-KM

Also, because you're going to have some water remaining in pockets no matter what you do, don't buy the pre-mixed coolants for flushing - you'll not be able to get the coolant mixture up to 50/50. Buy the un-pre-mixed so you can add the correct amount as I suggested. Only use the pre-mix to topping off later as needed (actually you're money ahead by using an empty container and mixing it yourself to keep around as a premix).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

FWIW, whenever I *do* get the block plugs out of my engines, I always replace them with brass radiator drain petcocks available at any auto parts store (same size and pitch thread as the block plug). In the future whenever I do a coolant flush, I start by opening all the petcocks (radiator plus both block drains) and draining ALL the coolant out of the whole system, then flushing with water, then draining ALL the water, and refilling with the correct coolant mix.

I've pulled the plugs out of 40 year old engines with no "problems." It may take some work, but you'd be amazed how much gunk comes out of those drain holes that you'll NEVER get out through the lower rad hose.

If you take off the lower radiator hose it will

If "pretty much" means "except for about a gallon" then you're right :-/

No - you keep flushing it with clean water - that's the dilution process I was talking about. You can even fill it with distilled water and start the engine and let it go thru a complete warm up/cool down cycle, then drain it again before refilling. It won't take any more time than figuring out how to access and remove the block plugs in most vehicles - and without the potential for something breaking to gain access to the plug.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

That's because it's all standard tapered pipe thread!! :)

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Aka "NPT." :-)

Ahh! You win. :) I started to say that, but I didn't because I couldn't spare the time to check and make sure I wasn't confusing NPT and NPTF (dryseal).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')