i wanted to flush my coolant but couldnt find the drain plug?! anyone know where it is? and please pics would really really help!

 

Passenger side front/bottom (trying to find pics)

 

There are a ton o threads on this, but you'll find it easier to not mess with that drain plug. Instead remove the air box and then drain via the lower radiator hose.

 

yeah just pull the upper and lower hose off and run a garden hose through the engine and through the radiator... then replace the thermostat, put the hoses back on and replace with 50/50 antifreeze/water

 

yea i would love some pics pointin this out!

 

I found it easiest to remove the whole front grille assy. Take off the center grille and the outer headlamp buckets. There are a series of 13mm (IIRC) nuts located around the perimeter and 5 on top under the hood. You can detach the wiring harness or just lay the assy on the ground to one side. As you face the radiator, the plug will be on the passenger side towards the bottom of the radiator. The plug aims towards the back of the car and is only about an inch from the radiator support. If you just open it and let it drain, it will make a large mess by dumping antifreeze all over the radiator support. Get a foot long section of 1/4" ID hose and you can route the AF to a bucket.

Be careful when opening the valve, it is plastic, can break, and if it does, will be difficult to fix if able. It helped to pull out on the valve while turning.

I thought about pulling the lower hose, and I agree it would mitigate the risk of damaging the radiator, but I had visions of AF flying everywhere (mainly on me) and chose a more controlled method of draining the engine.

 

Well, I tried to take a pic, but I would have to move some things out of the way, and I am not that committed to the pic

So, I will paint you a picture: We will treat this like a map. Lay on the ground with your head under the passenger side headlight, and your body going straight forward of the jeep, so your left is toward the driver side, right is toward the passenger side, north is toward the back of the jeep, and south is in front of the jeep and where you are. I will be saying north, south, left and right from now on, that is why positioning is important. If you look just to the passenger (your right) side of the frame rail, at the bottom corner of the radiator, the **** you turn to get the coolant flowing is on your right side, and hard to get to. It is facing the right, and parallel to the front bumper. The tube that the coolant comes out of when you turn that **** is facing "north" toward the jeep. This is just around the corner of the radiator from the ****.

I used this to drain mine, and you will be disappointed. It is faster, easier, and more thorough to pull the lower hose, as stated above. There is nothing good or convenient about the way the drain plug is set up on these radiators. Trust us

Pull the hose, and save the pain.

 

ok did it 2day and pulled the lower hose connecting to the engine block!

 

Hi Robert, I am trying to replace my raditor on '96 XJ Sport. I can't locate the engine coolant drain plug, and was came across your post above. Considering I am new to all this, can I check that if the thermostat is not removed and the raditor is completely removed from the vehicle, will the lower radiator hose drain the engine coolant block? In short, without removing the thermostat and completely removing the radiator from the vehicle, will that drain the engine block automatically?

Also, with the radiator remove, and a water hose connected to the top radiator hose, can I run the engine in idle to flush the engine coolant without having to worry about the Auto Transmission cooling hoses?

 

That's an old thread I think...
The radiator drain plug is usually located on the back of the radiator, lower left corner. But as said above if you can't hook up a tube to it(or just can't locate the plug) just disconnect the lower radiator hose at the water pump and dump the coolant into a bucket. Be prepared with rugs under the hose and bucket(s)... Some coolant will be left in the block but I wouldn't worry about that. I did it several ways like that and it is not an issue. If you want to drain everything then as explained hook up a hose to it and run the water until clear. You can unhook the lower hose, set up the flow into your bucket, then open the radiator cap, it will drain faster. Hope that helps.

 

So, did you get it done?

 

Yes mlepesant, I took the old radiator out and drained about 6+L coolant. And much to my surprise, the new radiator took nearly 9.7L of coolant. My old radiator had a drain plug, but I was looking for the drain plug on the engine. I could not get the engine block to drain as lower radiator hose was pointing up and I could not get to the water pump connection from below as I didn't wanted to remove the front protection cover. Anyways, job is done and it does not leaks anymore.

One question though, I could not get the Viscous Fan Shroud out without damaging the fins on the radiator. Not sure why? Have you come accross that problem? (Fan shroud, not the electrical fan).

Cheers.

 

Glad you did the job. Not really sure about the fins but I know it is a tight fit there so you can easily scratch them. If you do work on something that requires to remove the shroud and the efan for example just be careful when removing it but even more careful when actually working on pulleys, pumps etc. last time I placed a piece of cardboard of the dimension of the radiator right against it to protect it. But don't worry too much about scratching a few fins. Sme auto part stores actually sell a comb to help straightening back. Don't know how effective it is. Finally after some miles look at the front of your radiator and it will have a few dents due to rocks, etc...

 

Make sure that you remove the top radiator brace before working in there (it also has your hood latch on it) It's about 8 10mm bolts if I recall correctly. I had to do this to remove the shroud. And for draining coolant, the drain plug on the radiator is a joke. Lower hose is the way as everyone else stated. I found that a beer bong helps to keep coolant from splashing all over everything.