draining coolant on 580k

[funkinalive]

Hi everybody, we are getting ready to winterize the 580k and drained the coolant from the radiator, i was just wondering how to drain coolant from the block?

 

[alrman]

Pretty sure the 4-390 cummins does not have a drain in the block - so just pull the hoses & drain.

 

[tonka]

Pretty sure the 4-390 cummins does not have a drain in the block - so just pull the hoses & drain.

^^^ this^^^

 

[bowen]

I used some Zerex coolant system cleaner. Inside the block was some real nasty stuff in mine so I filled it with water one time just to try to dilute the crud. Next add more water with the jug of cleaner.
The instructions say to let the thing run 3-6 hours with this cleaner then drain. Next you have to fill with clean water at least two more times, each time letting the engine cool and adding clean water.
The idea is to finally get ALL the cleaner out before the final fill with the antifreeze mixture. The 580Se uses 18 quarts of fluid, I am not sure about the 580K.
Taking the lower radiator hose off will get more dirty fluid out than just the drain petcock, but my hose is pretty hard to take off.
Not much fluid moves until the thermostat opens and this take a fairly long time in cold weather especially.
You can flush the system out quicker with a water hose if you remove the thermostat, plus the top & bottom hoses.
The radiator repair shops want you to do this vs running crud from the engine back into the radiator, as this can stop up some of the radiator flues.

 

[tdkreg]

That's good to know, we have a 580 K also.

 

[alrman]

I shy away from chemical cleaners - every time I have ever used them, an expansion plug starts leaking somewhere or a thermostat housing......... another 2c worth

 

[willie59]

I agree, chemical cleaners tend to clean more than just the crud.

 

[Kobe130]

Used a chemical cleaner on my Kubota powered Thomas skid this fall - seemed to pull out lots of sediment - no problems after. My thought is that if the cleaner causes a frost plug or something else to leak then its given you excellent advance warning of an imminent failure and you can deal with that at a time when you're working on it anyway. I try to replace both rad hoses and heater hoses as well as the cleanout/antifreeze change out all at the same time. Nothing worse than having something screwup when you have just done a bunch of work on that particular system. Recored the rad, changed all coolant hoses and fresh antifreeze on my 580k 10 years ago and it's still performing like a trooper. Preventative maintenance does give you a more reliable machine.

 

[funkinalive]

OK i will pull the hoses, hopefully nothing will stay in there over the winter.

 

[Tinkerer]

It appears # 21 is the block drain in the picture.

 

[alrman]

It appears # 21 is the block drain in the picture.

It does look like a drain plug Tinkerer, but the description of it makes it an oil gallery plug.

 

[bowen]

I did not leave the cleaner in but about 1 hour. I had an oil leak that interrupted my flush.
However after running only 40 minutes I got a LOAd of crap out of the engine. And the radiator was flushed already!
This crap came only from the block. Someone had put stop leak in the radiator years ago and I wanted to get all of this out.
I hope it does not cause me a problem later. I did refill and drain 4 times with water before adding the 50/50 mixture.
All new hoses, and it takes forever to heat the engine up now. No joke that after 30 minutes running I could touch the muffler and not get burned, Amazing how well a all clean radiator cools.

 

[Tinkerer]

It does look like a drain plug Tinkerer, but the description of it makes it an oil gallery plug.

I definitely agree that it is probably an oil gallery plug. I just thought I would post the picture so that anyone reading this thread and are unfamiliar with draining engine blocks would know what kind of plug to look for.

 

[funkinalive]

oil gallery plug? like a breather for when you change your oil?

 

[Tinkerer]

funkinalive, When a new engine block is being machined prior to having any parts installed it has to have oil passages drilled through it. Pipe plugs and expansion plugs are commonly used to plug the exterior holes when the machining operation is done. The pipe style plugs are also used to plug the hole that enables a person to completely drain the coolant from block. On a "V" style block there would normally be a drain plug on each side.

 

[funkinalive]

aha! so it sorta doubles as a coolant drain bolt for the block then?

 

[bowen]

On a 4-390 engine does the water flow in the top and out the bottom?
I think the water goes from the engine thru the lower hose then back to the engine thru the upper hose/thermostat.
This is reverse to what I 1st thought was logical. If so and the level is low in the radiator, the pump has to push the water to the top hose.

 

[Tinkerer]

aha! so it sorta doubles as a coolant drain bolt for the block then?

What I meant was, that the pipe plug is used in both situations. For plugging oil gallery passages and as a plug for the coolant drain hole. It is not uncommon for petcocks to be in the coolant drain hole also.

 

[alrman]

On a 4-390 engine does the water flow in the top and out the bottom?
I think the water goes from the engine thru the lower hose then back to the engine thru the upper hose/thermostat.
This is reverse to what I 1st thought was logical. If so and the level is low in the radiator, the pump has to push the water to the top hose.

All engines that have a vetically mounted radiator, use gravity to assist coolant flow - so engines draw/suck cooled coolant from bottom & deliver hotter coolant to the top of radiator.

 

[funkinalive]

yes thanks, i took the bolt out but no water came out, i guess it all drained when i pulled the hose...