steps for replacing coolant on tdi?

[attila_tdi]

Well after another very cold night i cant risk it anymore by having too much water in antifreeze....

Going to chsnge the whole lot today with halfords advanced stuff.


Could anyone guide me to some steps on changing coolant for a tdi 1.9 2003 reg please? Is it relatively straight forward?

[snapdragon]

This is what I do one mine...

Go for a drive so it is warm ~60-70˚c.

Get home.

Turn the heater to full and leave the ignition on.

Remove reservoir cap.

Unscrew the plastic tap on the bottom passenger side of radiator to drain it. (access via lower grille/foglight cover.

Get a bucket of piping hot water, as adding cold water to warm engine is bad. As a guide, 60˚c is nice and hot 70˚c is just about the ouch! temperature.

Screw in the drain **** on the radiator and refill the system via the reservoir.

Run the engine with the cap off and add more hot was if needed.

After a few minutes, stop engine, and drain again.

Repeat until just plain water comes out and then drain for the last time.

Now you have just plain water in places which can't be drained.

Leave for a while to cool, and then add 66% of the total capacity of the system as neat antifreeze, and then top up with water. This will give the 66% mix required.

Leave the cap off with the engine running so air can expand and bubble out of crevices in the engine.

Leave the heater on and feel that it is hot.

[attila_tdi]

Blimey thanks very much. Glad i asked as i was just going to drain it cold from the lowest point and fill with halfords ready mix. I'll have a go thanks very much

[snapdragon]

Good luck, you can find the coolant capacity here...
http://www.castrol.com/castrol/ifram...tentId=7044829

[attila_tdi]

Bloody radiator plug! The most arkward toughest thing ever. I must have spinned it open for 20 min of agony only for it to trickle out only. Left for ages then an absolute bugger to tighten again.....

Is the plug meant to come off completely? How long is the thread?

[creedxup]

It only undoes a turn or 2 but then you have to pull it out for the coolant to drain, same with screwing it back in, you have to push and hold it in while screwing it up tight.

[caldirun]

Bloody radiator plug! The most arkward toughest thing ever. I must have spinned it open for 20 min of agony only for it to trickle out only. Left for ages then an absolute bugger to tighten again.....

Is the plug meant to come off completely? How long is the thread?

"It only undoes a turn or 2 but then you have to pull it out for the coolant to drain, same with screwing it back in, you have to push and hold it in while screwing it up tight" a later post

Poor atilla, he asked us for advice and snappy gave a good reply, we could have saved him some effort by telling him about the bloody plug before he found this out himself