Coolant flush

[Bill Weston]

I have a 2003 Baja with 30K miles. The scheduled maintainance chart says  I need to replace the coolant.  I don't see any petcock at the bottom of the radiator. Is the recommended way to remove the lower radiator hose? To do that I need to remove the plastic shield. I removed the three bolts in front and two in back, but it looks like the front of the shield is still clipped in. Is there a trick to removing it?<br><br>Would a better approach be to splice a T into the heater return line and back flush the system? <br><br>Thanks for any info,<br>Bill

[mbaksic]

I just followed the owners manual info for flushing the coolant. You are just changing it out, not really flushing it. If I remember correctly, the shield clips in at the front, and takes a bit of wigglin and jigglin to get it loose. Also, check the sides, I think that there is a screw on each side that holds it in. If you don't have the owners manual, look under the Baja library, and look up the info in the online manual.  It posted here on this site. Makes it alot easier to find things out, instead of digging through the glove box  to find the manual.  Have fun, it is pretty easy to do this.  Mike

[Bill Weston]

I read the owner's manual and figured it out. I removed the plug with the front of the car a little lower than the back and I think I got almost all the coolant out.  The total coolant capacity is stated as 1.5 gallon and I had about 1.25 gallons in my drain pan plus a little spillage.<br><br>

[mbaksic]

Sounds about right, Bill. Thats about all that I got out of mine when I did it. Not much in there, compared to ye olde V-8s!!!  Mike