I am replacing my thermostat, and flushing my cooling system. I know I need to pull the block drain plugs but I am unableto locate them. Could someone please point out where they are? It is a 4wd v6. Thanks

 

They are #21 in this illustration.


[IMG]local://upfiles/4800/E7BF724474464FD7B5263880C60F5606.gif[/IMG]

 

thanks for your help. I can see the one on the driver side, but not on the passenger side. It must be hiden. Looks like a bitch to get to. Do I have to pull those to replace the thermostat? Or can i just drain the radiator like I've done? Once again thanks a ton.

 

This shows both both plugs, but you do not have to use them just to replace a thermostat. Do a radiator drain.


[IMG]local://upfiles/4800/6B3A3660BEA448099086C4F039FDC84D.gif[/IMG]

 

The passenger side drain is a pain to get to. The driver's side isn't much easier, but the pictures show their location pretty darn well.

 

I never knew that there were drain plugs on this engine block. You learn something new every day on this forum.

Despite the relative pain to get to these plugs, I'm assuming that to get a really thorough engine flush, these plugs should be removed and with the engine running keep filling the radiator with a garden hose to completely flush out the block and everything else for that matter. Having recently replaced the intake manifold gaskets, I did notice a rather large accumulation of gunk that had collected in the blocked holes of the intake manifold (each side).

Is it worth the effort to get to these plugs to drain the block, or is draining the radiator sufficient? Some of the gunk did fall back into the block during the cleaning process of the intake surfaces (unavoidable).

 

You don't run the engine with these plugs out. You just flush down through the hole where the t-stat goes to get it all cleaned out. The plugs are the lowest point in the engine block.

 

Did anyone do this. I'm also replacing my T-Stat as it seams that my truck only warms up to a quarter of the temp gauge. Is this normal? I want to do a flush right away and I tried looking for these block drainplugs, but am unsucessful on both of them! Anyone with more info?