This is the way I'll do it:

Remove thermostat and reinstall thermostat housing (it is a good time to replace thermostat anyways).

Remove radiator cap.
Remove lower radiator hose to drain as much as possible.
Reinstall lower radiator hose.
Remove upper radiator hose from radiator.
Keep upper radiator hose lower than top of radiator.
Pour recommended amount of antifreeze, watch water flowing out of the upper radiator hose, it should be clear all the way until you finish pouring antifreeze. If for any reason water starts looking like antifreeze (it shouldn't), stop pouring, reinstall upper radiator hose and pour the remaining antifreeze. If you still have some antifreeze left, start the engine and add whatever is left. Stop the engine.

At this point, reinstall thermostat, start the engine and add distilled water as needed.

Good luck!

It was easy, doesn't it? :happy1:

 

Ordinarily, after several drains, say 4 drains, there will be less than a quart of the old "antifreeze" left in remaining coolant. Filling up with straight antifreeze, will bring the system up to beyond what's needed for the standard 50/50 concentration in my experience, something like -43 C/-45F or colder. Why are you going stronger than 50/50 mix which is good for -37C/-34F?

If you need to drain out coolant ever, you can use a $5.00 squeeze bulb siphon pump per https://www.ebay.com/itm/Squeeze-Siphon-Liquid-Pump-/221574571385

Note: Also keep in mind that you will likely be topping up the system a couple of times as the air bubbles out. At each of these times you may be able to test the freezing point strength, with a hydrometer, to determine what strength of coolant to add to the reservoir. Leave the reservoir for last.

 

We are taking a 3 month road trip through the mountains from Michigan to Washington state from Dec to Mar and some of those temps can get real low sometimes. Zerex says 50 percent mix will get me to -34, so I figured just to play it safe I would go with 60 percent mix since it is pretty much just 1 extra quart.

Here is the pump I bought to empty the reservoir...https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use-transfer-pump-63144.html

Thanks for tips!

 

Careful, as too much antifreeze decreases the 'cooling' capacity of the cooling system, as water has a higher heat capacity than antifreeze.

A trick I learned when traveling was to face the front of your car close to the building/motel you are staying at. Front windows don't frost as much, and as such, the heat from the building keeps your car/engine warmer.

 

Maybe this video helps done on caravan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVj2COXk6g8

 

Too much talk, I think.

Then, allow the engine to warm up to activate water pump?

Never heard that before.

Water pump is always working, it is the thermostat that prevents coolant to reach radiator, but water pump is still moving coolant.

 

50% AF is the max you need.

 

Pull the block drain plugs. You may need to stick in a screwdriver to break up rust clumps. That is good to flush rust out too. If you haven't de-rusted, I would run it w/ water & citric acid (or wimpier Prestone flushes today) for a day and reflush w/ water. If that opens pinholes in the radiator or heater, they were ready to fail. Use air to blow the heater core dry. I thoroughly dried my 2002 3.8L, replaced all hoses w/ silicone, and refilled w/ Evans Waterless Coolant. Mine also has the rear heat. If a V-6, there is a drain plug on each side of the block, about the same place as any old Chrysler V-8 (Google Images).

 

The coolant and air conditioning system have been there for some 15 years now in my 2002 GC. I did replace the rear heater octopus pipes, return pipe to water pump (large and small), thermostat and radiator hoses. Not bad for a rust belt marine environment and no garaging.

I don't get excited about coolant system flushes either. Three drains and refills using the bottom radiator hose does it for me.

 

I finished my flush and made the trip from Michigan to Washington State. I started doing the flush using the little red radiator drain plug, but that drained really slow and didn’t get out more than 6 quarts. To get to 60% mix (good for -54 degreees) I needed to put almost 10 quarts back in. So I did 2 additional things. I pumped out the over flow tank and filled that with 100% antifreeze. I have a water cooled oil adapter on the oil filter fixture that has a real easy to get at water hose, that is a great way for draining more water. If you have the oil cooler option or tow package option, this is an easy and great way to drain and flush the water. I ended up putting about 9 quarts of antifreeze back in by the time I was done.

Now that I am in Washington I noticed a stain on a driveway that turned out to be a slow leak of antifreeze. I tracked the leak down to be coming from the red plastic radiator drain plug. I tried to tighten it but it is still leaking. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on it since it is plastic. It is a slow leak that only leaks when I run the vehicle, but not when it is just sitting parked for some time.

I need to go back to Michigan at the end of February and am looking for suggestions on how to fix this. Has anyone every pulled this type of red plastic radiator drain plug out and completely replace it? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

I need to go back to Michigan at the end of February and am looking for suggestions on how to fix this. Has anyone every pulled this type of red plastic radiator drain plug out and completely replace it? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Red petcock probably means you have an '05-'07 van, yes? Check this link for that petcock. Screw-in (not twist-lock) with two O-rings, $11.

And welcome to the Evergeen State! Okay, it's mostly gray and wet right now.. but that's pretty much every month of the year here. :eekkkk:

 

There should be a rubber oring (maybe 2) inside the drain plug (aka peacock). Possible it failed given it's age.

When changing the coolant on my 2010, I was able to pull it out by first turning it to loosen it, then inside it there's a cut out down the middle, so if you squeeze it will come out. Looks something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...HCG8J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=b5f15889-c3ce-5e37-9936-be7ab2ea24e3&pf_rd_i=15725411

One more thing, the link is for a Mercedes, not a Caravan, but that was the best example I could find with a picture. The one on my 2010 looks very similar as well. Yours shouldn't be much different.

One word of warning, when you pull it out, coolant will start draining out of your rad, so have something to catch it. Once its out check to see if it's cracked. Or better yet, just buy a new one. The example I showed is only $8.35 and that's for a Mercedes, Caravan parts are probably cheaper.

 

There should be a rubber oring (maybe 2) inside the drain plug (aka peacock)...

Peacock? I think you meant petcock.

 

I just wanted to provide an update and add some lessons learned that might help someone else.

In prior post I was looking for suggestions regarding small leak coming from red plastic radiator drain plug. I got a lot of good help and suggestions from forum members… thank you!

The first thing I tried was to unscrew the drain plug and drained a small amount of antifreeze out to see if that would clear any debris out so o-rings might seal the leak. I then rotated the plug it in and out in hopes that the 2 small o-rings would clean up a bit and maybe seat and seal again. I tightened the plug and took it out for test run. Nothing worked… result was it was now leaking more to the point I couldn’t drive it anymore.

So I figured I would order new plug and replace old plug. It would take up to 10 days to order part from internet so I called local dealer and I got part for $12.75 plus $1.11 sales tax, which was pretty close to best prices on internet. I installed new part and took it out for ride. So right now there is still a very small leak even after installing new factory part from dealer. What I am hoping now is that small leak will stop after the 2 o-rings can maybe seat in a little better. At least it is driveable now.

Lesson learned. The red plastic plug is a piece of junk and poor engineering to have 2 small o-rings seal hot water that is under pressure. Also, never use that drain plug to flush antifreeze. There are lots of posts pretty much saying that in this forum, but I didn’t read them until I already had a problem.

Next time I do a flush I will disconnect the small heater size hose that is down by oil filter (“water cooled oil adapter” on tow package or “oil cooler” option). That dumps a lot of water real fast and is really easy to get to. The other thing I will try is to use my compressor to blow air into the oil cooler hose to push all the water out of cooling/heating system using real low air pressure (I got that idea because that is how I blow my water pipes in my cottage for winter close down). That will get all of the old antifreeze out and will eliminate having to do multiple flushes to try and get all old antifreeze out. Let me know what you think.