Where is the block drain plug?

I have not done it on this engine yet, but I usually just remove both radiator hoses and thermostat if needed and force water thru the block. That should be good enough.

"Scot Caraway" wrote in news:Rjllb.107$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

assist

remove a

There are 2 drain blocks on this engine. I have never been able to access the one on rear bacnk but the one in the front bank is about midway is easy to get to. You should remove the lower shroud & also drain the radiator.

Thanks for the suggestion.

There seem to be a number of bolts on the front of the block and I would imagine that it would be pretty low on the block for good drainage. Odd how they never make it obvious....

I'm trying to avoid removing the shroud if I can although doing do would provide much easier access to the rad drain petcock and lower rad hose.

Cheers,

JP

This doesn't exactly relate to your question, but may prove helpful. Gen. 3 ('92-96) 4 cyl., scheduled coolant change - decided to drain from the block plug as well. Turned the heater control on full (engine cold), opened the radiator drain (radiator cap off), and waited for quite some time until all the coolant trickled out. Had the car raised on jack stands and had identified the drain plug on the back of the engine block. Reached it with an extension and a universal joint on the ratchet handle and managed to get it removed. There was some light rust on the threads, and probably about three to four drops of coolant drained out. The cooling system on this car works better than anything I've ever owned. Gauge never rises above mid point. But in the future, rather than changing coolant every two years, I'll just change it every year and skip the drain plugs on the engine block.

Sounds reasonable. In my case with the V6, there is a rather sturdy shroud that covers the bottom of the radiator and blocks access to the lower rad house and draincock. My thinking is to avoid removing the 10 or so screws holding the shroud and just use the block plug to drain. Sadly, looks like that might not get enough of it out.

Thanks for the info.

JP

Here's the info I wrote up on how I did it (may have to cut and paste the URL). Not hard. Just reach down from over the radiator and loosen the petcock. The rest of the article describes flushing and draining the block on a V6 Camry