Question about engine coolent?

[TenaciousD]

I had to go get an oil change the other day(did'nt have time to do it myself)
and they said that I should get the coolent changed as it was murky brown instag of green, it was $59.99 and they would flush it out. my question is, is this somthing I can do my self i.e. is the a drain plug I can unscrew, flush it out w/ a hose and go to pep boys to get coolent my self. thanks for any help.
99GT

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Yes, you can do this yourself www.bullittarchive.com has instructions. However, depending on how much your time is worth $59 is not a bad price to be done with it...

 

[TenaciousD]

Thanks. after doing a more detailed search it seems alot of people think an engine flush is a bad idea. pretty much I just want to replace the brown murky fluid w/ somthin a little cleaner

 

[streetstang03]

drain the old coolant out of the bottom of the coolant tank by removing the plug (its on the bottom right side of the tank if you're laying on your back with your feet sticking out from the front bumper. you dont even need to jack the car up). just stick your hose in there and run water through it while the engine is on until its clean. after the water draining out of the bottom of the coolant tank has been clear for a while, take the hose out, plug the drain and refill with the right coolant/water ratio. should take no more than 20min.

 

[TenaciousD]

thanks for the advice, I will need a ramp or jack as I cant fir under there w/ the roush front end and springs but i'll give it a look

 

[streetstang03]

didnt see that you have the stage III bumper in that case, yes you will need to jack it up

 

[twogts4us]

drain the old coolant out of the bottom of the coolant tank by removing the plug (its on the bottom right side of the tank if you're laying on your back with your feet sticking out from the front bumper. you dont even need to jack the car up). just stick your hose in there and run water through it while the engine is on until its clean. after the water draining out of the bottom of the coolant tank has been clear for a while, take the hose out, plug the drain and refill with the right coolant/water ratio. should take no more than 20min.

But that doesn't drain nearly all the coolant as the block will still be full of crud. And I'm surprised the bullitt archive article (as Kilgore noted above) doesn't address the drain plugs in the block. To really do it properly, you'd want to remove these screw in plugs (and I'm not talking 'freeze' plugs) and flush the block.
The Haynes manual goes into more detail. To me, it's a pain to get to these plugs, and if the shop is doing it this way for $59, that's a pretty good deal.