This radiator peacock is kicking my butt. Can someone enlighten me on how to unscrew the darn thing so I can drain and flush my radiator?

 

Sorry, its for the '00. 4.3L V6/4L60E/NP233. with oil and tranny cooler.

 

heh.. it's called a petcock and I believe it's just a wingnut kinda... and you just screw it in... but DON'T break it off.. if it's not goin'.. just remove the lower radiator line and let all the coolant drain out... that's usually what I do anyways... takes too long for me with the petcock.....

 

Ah yes, peTcock.

I too was looking for a wing nut, nope, not this one. I'm thinking a screwdriver fits in the end. The almighty question. Which way does it turn, in or out? Like you pointed out, breaking it is not an option. Next step would be removing the lower radiaotr hose, however it don't like its going to be much easier. Plus it sits a couple inches off the bottom of the tank. Ya know all the rumors of the Dex-Cool. I want to make sure I get all the old stuf out when I flush it. Its got 6 years on the old stuff now, and 121,000 miles.

 

is this the 2000?

 

yep

 

hmmm
I just looked at my Alldata and it doesn't show that... it shows an actual plastic wingbolt that spins out and lets the coolant come outta the tube....:/

 

you're not lookin' at the very bottom of the radiator are you???
because it shows the wingbolt on the back side of the radiator... like.. .facing the engine... there does look like somekind of nipple or something on the very bottom...but that's not it....:/

there's also some plugs on the side of the block you gotta pull or it says up to 40% of the coolant will stay in if you don't

if you want I can print this to a pdf file and just email it to ya....:P

 

Bottom of the radiator on the passenger side. Use a 1/4" rachet to open it. Put the square into the end of the petcock.

I pulled my inner fender when I did mine. But I also cleaned my overflow tank which required removing it. I put a short section of hose on the radiator drain tube, and opened up the petcock. Then pulled the lower rad hose and let it drain into a bucket.

Also, you do not need to remove any plugs on the sides of the block if you flush it out good with a garden hose. I ended up using a garden hose for about 45 minutes of flushing through the t-stat housing and out the lower rad hose. I then ran it with the old t-stat without the center section and just water in the engine. Repeated the proceedure for draining it. Then ran 6 gallons worth of distilled water through it, ran it up to operating temps, and drained it again. Then filled with 6qts of Prestone All Makes, All Models Extended Life antifreeze and topped off the radiator with distilled water. Filled the overflow with 50/50 mix antifreeze/distilled water. While I was flushing things, I flushed the heater core with the garden hose for about 2 minutes in each direction. Nothing but antifreeze, then water came out.

You should have seen my truck. I had the back end up on jackstands, the front wheels off and the front slammed down on the ground! Looked weird as hell, but it helped a ton in getting the coolant out.

 

Thanks guys.
1/4" rachet drive. I never would have guessed that. Its impossible to see inside that opening, at least for me.