92 miata 1.6 engine coolant drain plug

[Tony Thomas]

Has anybody got any idea on how to actually get to the drain plug on the
side of the block and remove it. Proceedure for changing antifreeze calls
out to drain block so you can get the right mix of water and antifreeze back
in. I can barely get to the plug w/ a swivel and long extension but cannot
apply enough torque to remove bolt without pulling the socket off.
Any ideas?

Tony
92 red

[Jim Stuyck]

STOP! Don't do it!

I have a '90 and I have the shop manual, also a 1.6 engine.

The drain plug is the little plastic one at the bottom of
the radiator, loosened easily with a Phillips screwdriver.

Jim Stuyck

[Tony Thomas]

But my shop manual states to drain the engine block also. And since I have
now flushed the engine with water really good and water is all that is in
the system and the radiator only holds about 1/3 of the total system, I
really need to drain the block in order to get a 50/50 mix of antifreeze
back into the system.

--

Tony Thomas
My boats at http://members.home.net/thomastl1

"Jim Stuyck" <jst...@home.com> wrote in message
news:3B8D6D35...@home.com...

[Joseph Meehan]

When you drain the radiator, you get most of the fluid out of the block
as well.

--
Dia 's Muire duit

Joseph E. Meehan

"Tony Thomas" <Thom...@home.com> wrote in message
news:wyej7.131055$k7.32...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...

[Tony Thomas]

Ended up doing the following:
1. Disconnected the heater hoses and drained the heater core. Took shop
air (low pressure) and blew thru the heater core to remove any excess water.
2. Disconnected the lower radiator hose. Blew shop air (low pressure) back
thru the engine block from the heater hose connections to remove excess
water that I could.

Was able to get 3.5 quarts (approximatly - a little left in the jug) of
antifreeze back into the system. The book states that the system is a
6.3 quart capacity. Bottom line, I was able to get 1/2 of the water out
doing the above to arrive at a 50/50 mix for the system.

Radiator only holds about 2 quarts which is about 1/3 of the system.

Obvously no one knows how to get the block plug out to actually drain the
block. Please remember that if you just drain the radiator, flush, and
refill you are only refilling 1/3 of the system and not getting a 50/50 mix
of antifreeze.
--

Tony
92 Red

"Tony Thomas" <Thom...@home.com> wrote in message
news:wyej7.131055$k7.32...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...

[BRUCE HASKIN]

Tony,

If you can only get 1/2 of the water out, why don't you just put 100%
antifreeze back in ? ( I think that makes a 50 / 50 mix, or is there
sonething wrong with my math ?) <grin>

Run the engine and then test the mix after that.
(don't forget the water in the over flow tank.) I empty & clean the
over-flow tank each time I change antifreeze & it's a good place to add
water or 100% antifreeze to get the mix correct.

Bruce RED '91 (thats how I do it!)

[Leon van Dommelen]

"Tony Thomas" <Thom...@home.com> wrote:

>Obvously no one knows how to get the block plug out to actually drain the
>block. Please remember that if you just drain the radiator, flush, and
>refill you are only refilling 1/3 of the system and not getting a 50/50 mix
>of antifreeze.

It is very strange that neither the official Mazda Workshop Manual
nor the Enthusiast Manual mentions this point. In fact the Enthusiast
Manual specifically says that you need a container of at least 6
quarts (one and a half gallon) to drain the system through the
drain hole.

I cannot believe Mazda would not have provided a second drain
plug if only one third would drain out through the hole they tell
you to use. What is the point in replacing *one third* of the
coolant?? I think that: either your car was not level when you
drained, you used the wrong hole, or your system is plugged somewhere.

Leon
--
Leon van Dommelen :) Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
REMOVE THE "z"s -> domm...@zmiata.net www.dommelen.net

"EXIT THE INTERSTATES" (Jamie Jensen)

[W. Kiernan]

BRUCE HASKIN wrote:
>
> Tony,
>
> If you can only get 1/2 of the water out, why don't you just put 100%
> antifreeze back in ? ( I think that makes a 50 / 50 mix, or is there
> sonething wrong with my math ?) <grin>

Nothing wrong with the math given the presumption you can drain half out
the radiator but Tony sez draining the radiator gets only two quarts out
of 6.3 quarts. But if you really, really want the specified 50-50 ratio
and can stand being a bit wasteful, which might be preferable to messing
with a drain plug you can't even get at as compared with unscrewing the
easily accessible radiator plug, you could do it in two steps. All you
need is a container that has graduations on it (you could calibrate a
plastic bottle with a kitchen measuring cup and a Magic marker).

Flush the system and fill with clean water. Run it for a minute and
drain out 2.0 quarts from the radiator. (You can look at what comes out
and see if you flushed it good enough.) Add 2.0 quarts of antifreeze to
the radiator. Run it for a while to mix the fluids. Drain out 1.7
quarts of the 2.0/4.3 antifreeze-water mix, of which 1.15 quarts will be
water and 0.55 quarts will be (wasted) antifreeze. Add another 1.7
quarts antifreeze to the radiator and you end up with a nearly perfect
50-50 antifreeze-water ratio.

Yours WDK - WKie...@concentric.net

[BRUCE HASKIN]

It's OK, W.K

I think you missed the "<G>" aka. "GRIN" at the end of my note.

I live on a hill & I am able to get all that is "practical", drained
out of my Miata. Then I do have this neat little tool called a
"Hydrometeor" (I'm sure you know of this tool, it was used on the "Ark",
Noah used it to check the water quality of the bilge, With all the
animals you know, you wouldn't want the EPA after you ! ) .........
anyhow, it tells me how low the temp. can go (in my heated garage) . If
all of the little balls (4) go up to 60 deg's below Zero, I know I am
safe in Seattle ( where it only goes below 32 deg.F, for about 10 days
out of the year.

I hope you take all of this in fun, Yes, I do know how to mix 50 / 50
antifreeze "<G>"

Bruce RED '91 (I checked today, I still have "Protection")
<g>

[mang...@gmail.com]

So, really old thread, but over the years I've learned a few things about my '91 - take with a grain of salt because I have a water cooled turbocharger hanging on the side of the engine.

When I drain my '91, I get almost 6 quarts out the radiator drain plug, as far as I can tell, if you don't tilt up the front of the car too much, the heater core, block, and everything else seems to mostly drain out the radiator drain plug. I'm sure there's some residual in there, but not great quantities.

The fun part comes when you fill it - only about 3-3.5 quarts goes back in. I start the engine and let it idle for ~5 minutes, then, when the thermostat opens, there's a giant sucking sound as the rest of the system fills up - I stand at the ready with additional fluids to put back the remaining 2.5-3 quarts when this happens.

I also have a stock '99 1.8 that doesn't seem to work this way, it more or less fills up first try.

YMMV