Coolant Drain for 2004 Frontier

Might it not be on the lowest part of the block, allowing you to drain the whole achievement?

In the 1950s, some trucks had two: one on the rad and another on the block.

-- Andrew Chaplin SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO

That information is usually in your owner's manual. Do you have one?

Thanks. Owners manual says take back to dealer for change. Found it though. Remove a rubber flap between the bottom of the radiator and the frame. It is held in place with plastic trim pops. The actual drain is dead center of the radiator and is a phillips head screw out plastic plug. Thought would post this in case anyone else is looking for it.

Just remove the lower radiator hose. This won't drain everything from the block, but the engine is unlikely to have a block drain and removing the hose is as effective as a radiator drain plug.

Ed

Ed,

Nissan engines have both a radiator drain plug and engine block drains. This is not a Ford.

I know my 06 Frontier had a radiator drain, but you can't beat removing the lower radiator hose for quickly draining the system. I never looked for a block drain plug on the Frontier, but with all the stuff under the hood and underneath (4WD) it was almost impossible to see anything on the sides of the engine (V6).

All the Fords I have owned had a radiator drain plug. I have no idea about a block drain. I never looked for one. My usual practice when changing antifreeze is to drain the system, then flush the system with one of those Prestone kits, then drain the system again and refill wih coolant. I don't use distilled water, so I am not perfect. However, years ago my father told me that the water from our farm wells was "good" for radiators. Not sure why, but it seems to be true. I've never actually had a radiator problem related to corrosion, and that includes a couple of tractors that were 40 years old.

Ed

What's the hurry? If you have a radiator drain, use it. The only thing you accomplish by pulling the lower hose is the possibility of damaging the nipple on the radiator, the hose or the non-reusable OEM clamp. Why take the risk?

I'll grant you Nissan block drains are less then obvious & the diagrams in the FSMs to find them are all but useless. The only reasonably usable ones I've encountered are on Hondas (visible, accessible & not torqued to ridiculous, useless levels). The only way you're going to see any of them is up from the bottom. But, as you say, hardly anybody bothers with block drains. A flush is much easier.

The only cars I've encountered that did not have radiator drains are a couple of Lincolns & an Isuzu.

on 11/5/2009 7:51 AM (ET) E. Meyer wrote the following:

How does a Nissan 'engine' have a radiator drain?

OK, now we're being anal retentive. The radiator has a drain plug & the engine has one or more bock drains.

on 11/6/2009 10:23 AM (ET) E. Meyer wrote the following:

Nah. I was being coolant retentive.