Coolant draining for Renault 19

Hi there,

My heater has never worked since the cars purchase and I've had recommendations to use a coolant cleaner, which involves draining and replacing all the coolant.

As a complete beginner I took hold of a Haynes Manual and followed the instructions quite well until I reached the point 'Unscrew the cylinder block drain plug', I spent quite a while trying to find this thing, and from the diagram it looked the like plug was at the rear of the engine in an impossible to reach place. I concluded that this would be a job that required the car to be raised. But maybe I'm wrong (quite likely).

Could anyone give me some tips on how to fins the cyclinder block drain plug (remembering I'm a complete novice!).

Many thanks,

- Adam.

Reply to
Adam Del-Monte
Loading thread data ...

Don't bother! Easiest thing to do is drain what you can via the rad hose, connect up a hosepipe and then flush the remaining stuff out. You're now left with a block full of fresh water. Find out the coolant system capacity, halve it and dump in that much coolant. Then just top up with more water. Done!

Reply to
Scott M

Hi Scott,

Would this method clean the block enough to remove the (caustic) cleaner that I have been recommended?

Thanks,

- Adam.

Reply to
Adam Del-Monte

If you slosh enough water through then it should be.

Reply to
Scott M

Cheers Scott, I'll give it a go when I can borrow a friend's hose.

Reply to
Adam Del-Monte

In general Renault do not recommend using coolant flushing chemicals, or oil flushing chemicals in their engines. Usually, lots and lots of clean cold water should be sufficient.

You don't say what engine type is in your R19, but certainly the F-series engines hold a fair bit of coolant in the head and block - but it'll come out the radiator hose when you flush it through with water from a hose.

Rich.

Reply to
Rich Russell

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.