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DIY 7th Gen Diesel: Coolant Change

apintofmild

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Yorkshire
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Golf GTD
My car, now seven years old, should have had a coolant change at five years. I've no idea if the previous owner did this, or for that matter if they just filled it with lemonade. As I've just hit 60K miles, and the cold weather is just around the corner I thought it wise to change the coolant.

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Before I started the job, I wanted to know what to do with the old coolant. A fair bit of Googling didn't really give a definitive answer. Most people agree that it shouldn't go into a surface water drain or just be poured into the ground. Ethylene glycol degrades relatively quickly, but (being fairly toxic) until this has happened it poses ecological dangers.

Some sources say providing it's well diluted it's ok to pour it into a sewer (i.e. flush it down the toilet) as the treatment works will to ensure it's dealt with by the time it's discharged into the environment. I disagree. I wouldn't pour half a tin of unwanted gloss paint down the toilet, and I don't intend to do the same with antifreeze!

My local tip has no facilities to deal with miscellaneous chemicals, and so I emailed waste management services at the local council for advice. Their response was, to my surprise, both quick and helpful! All I need do is supply my name, address, nature & quantity of chemical and they'll collect it free of charge when their van next does a round and dispose of it in the most appropriate manner. Sorted.

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The next step was to collect together what I'd need for the job. Apparently ready to use 'Pro Honda All season anti-freeze Genuine Coolant type 2' is available in 5 litre bottles for about £18 (part number 08CLAG011810 ?), but nobody I contacted stocked it. To that end I had to settle for seven 1 litre bottles :eek: . In addition I obtained a new o-ring for the expansion tank bleeder plug (19012671300) and a sealing washer for the engine block drain plug (9410914000 -same as the oil sump washer).

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What follows is more or less verbatim from the owner's manual:

Make sure the engine is cool before releasing any caps, plugs etc so you don't get a scalding surprise.

Switch on the ignition and set the heater's DUAL setting to 'off' and increase the temperature to 'HI'. Switch off the ignition off again.

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Chock the rear wheels and raise the front of the car on axle stands. No need to remove the engine under cover.

Under the bonnet, remove the four dome head nuts (10mm socket) and remove the engine cover. Remove the expansion tank filler cap, and the expansion tank bleeder plug (3/8" square key). Locate the the bleed bolt behind the EGR valve ***embly, and crack it open half a turn (12mm socket).

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Under the car locate the white plastic drain plug on the bottom of the radiator.

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With a container at the ready, unscrew the drain plug about two turns, until fluid begins to flow. It should be little more than finger tight. Don't undo it all the way and remove it, or you'll have coolant all over the place!

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Put the kettle on. The fluid drains very slowly, though in an well controlled manner. You'll get over six litres out so make sure your container is big enough.

When the flow has stopped, you can (optionally) turn your attention to the last half litre or so of coolant trapped in the engine block.

Crawl further under the car, armed with a 17mm deep socket, a fine ratchet, an old washing up bowl, safety goggles and a lot of patience. This is really tricky, and something I doubt I'll attempt next time :( .

Lying on your back, look up through the rear of the engine, in the area where the drive shaft, exhaust and turbo all sit. You're after the bolt head sat in a recess in the casting that you can barely see, let alone get a spanner on.

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Crack the drain plug with the deep socket. Balance the washing up bowl on your chest and proceed to undo the plug with your finger tips, taking care not to let it come all the way out. Eventually the point where fluid can escape will be reached. With luck some will find its way into the bowl, the rest will run down your arm and soak into your t-shirt. When all the fluid is gone, refit the plug with a new 14mm plug washer. It's meant to be torqued in to 39Nm, but there's not a cat-in-hells-chance of getting my torque wrench in there without first stripping of a load of other stuff -so I just guessed.

Re-tighten the white plastic radiator drain plug finger tight.

Lower the car.

Start re-filing the system. The first six bottles can be poured in as fast as they'll go.

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Towards the end of bottle six, or the start of bottle seven keep an eye on the bleeder bolt on top of the engine. When fluid starts to escape from here, stop pouring and nip up the bolt (to 9.8Nm).

If you've added less than 6.3 litres (partial change) or 6.8 litres (total change) yet the expansion tank seems full at this stage you probably have a gob of air in the system somewhere. Keep the remaining fluid handy, the air will work itself out after a few of warm up / cool down cycles and will need topping up.

Fit a new o-ring to the plastic expansion tank bleed plug and refit to 2.0Nm (little more than finger tight).

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Loosely fit the metal expansion tank cap and start the engine.

The book says to let the engine warm up until the radiator fan has run at least twice (air-con off) to allow any air pockets to be purged. On mine, the temperature gauge rose to its normal running position after about 10 minutes or so, but even after three quarters of an hour of idling the fan still hadn't come on!

Don't forget to fully fit the expansion tank cap when you've finished.

Re-fit the engine cover.

Run the car for a couple of days, watching the fluid level after each journey, and keeping an eye out for leaks. You may get a small level drop as any remaining air in the system works its way out.

That should be it for three years or 37500 miles.

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Postscript: Once I'd packed everything away and started writing this post, I realised the white plastic radiator drain plug has the same o-ring as the expansion tank plug (19012671300). If I'd known I'd have ordered two and replaced the radiator one too.
 
Fantastic write up mate, and good stuff on the correct disposal of the old coolant :)
 
Nice guide mate, thanks for putting up. +1 for correct disposal of old fluids.
 
In the 6th gen petrol, they say to run the engine at 3000rpm until the fans came on at least two times.
Did that on mine a while ago and it took about 10/15minutes.
 
I thought people who want to do this, this website seems cheap enough for the gear needed

http://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-coolant-5-litre-pre-mixed-p-475.html
 
Great write up this will help lots of members.
 
im about to do this and i have come accross this 5ltr coolant, is this the right stuff? on the pic it looks like it says type 2 all seasons...

http://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-coolant-5-litre-pre-mixed-p-990.html
 
im about to do this and i have come accross this 5ltr coolant, is this the right stuff? on the pic it looks like it says type 2 all seasons...

http://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-coolant-5-litre-pre-mixed-p-990.html


Yeah, that should be it, although the last one I bought (in Portugal) was a white bottle.
 
It seems some of my pictures have gone off-line. The perils of free hosting I guess :(

I have a PDF version of this DIY (with all pictures present and correct), if anyone wants it just drop me a PM.
 
It seems some of my pictures have gone off-line. The perils of free hosting I guess :(

I have a PDF version of this DIY (with all pictures present and correct), if anyone wants it just drop me a PM.
Try using photobucket and upload the pictures?

Send me the PDF version and I'll upload it onto the site :)
 
im going to do this tomorrow but could someone just clarify 1 part for me please....???

" Switch on the ignition and set the heater's DUAL setting to 'off' and increase the temperature to 'HI'. "

do i press the OFF button on the dash to turn the fans off and turn the temp right up or just make sure that both sides of the car are on Hi? sorry if this seems a daft question but i just want it to go as smooth as poss....
 
im going to do this tomorrow but could someone just clarify 1 part for me please....???

" Switch on the ignition and set the heater's DUAL setting to 'off' and increase the temperature to 'HI'. "

do i press the OFF button on the dash to turn the fans off and turn the temp right up or just make sure that both sides of the car are on Hi? sorry if this seems a daft question but i just want it to go as smooth as poss....

It's been a while, so bare with me, and I'm not sure how much difference it actually makes. Set the air-con to single control mode (rather than dual where driver and passenger set their own temp) and set the temp to high. I think the idea is it opens the valve to the cabin and allows more fluid to drain out.
 
i did the partial change today on my accord following this guide. i did however find that my header tank was full before i got coolant coming out of the bleed bolt next to the EGR valve........ i carried on until i saw coolant settling at the top of the bolt and replaced the expansion tank bleeder plug and placed the cap on loose as described. the car was then ran for at least 45 mins and as stated by others my fans didnt kick in! i did however notice quite a bit of coolant being drained from the overfill pipe on the neck of the expansion tank. ive took it out for a 10 minute drive and am just letting it cool before checking again. i guess its possible i have an air lock that needs to be released but if not should i just let it drain itself until it levels out or should i try to remove some coolant? can it harm anything if over full?

just been out to check the level and it seems to have leveled out very well and its now sat just below the max line. :)
 
Great stuff, I usually dispose of coolant by spelling it all over myself and the drive, then keeping the remaining litre in a bottle in the corner of the garage forever.
 
Owing to recent changes in Photobucket’s image hosting service some of the information contained in this thread may have been lost.

Until I’ve found a suitable alternative image hosting service, and the time to re-write the post I have uploaded the original as a PDF here:

http://jmp.sh/SGnnNzQ

Note that this is also uses a free hosting service, which may change its T&Cs in time, or go off line entirely. Until then though, it may help someone…
 
Restarting this thread since I appear to have sorted out the two leaks in the Tourer cooling system, with a bonus that I've also started to get warm air in the cabin ;) (warm, not hot and on passenger side only), which leads to the question on flushing before refilling.

I'm still getting a slight rust tinge to the drained liquid, this is after about six total losses and 30 or so miles of driving in the past fortnight, so there is still crud settled in there.
Probably sediment right at the bottom of the engine but I doubt that finding and loosening that elusive bolt at the rear would clear it , much less be an easy task (or one I would want to do) after taking skin off my arms yesterday.

So, I'm going to drain the system once more after the next free period, once I've dreven around for a bit to get up to temperature, leave for a few hours until stone cold and then start the engine for a short while in the hope the water pump scavenges out more waste water than gravity alone (parked on a downhill slope). I've done similar plenty of times with oil in motorcycle engines, which empties the pump and does no harm if only for a few seconds of turning (though I usually remove the spark plugs to stop it running).

Question- Does anyone here know if sediment in the cooling system can end up as an impervious sludge layer in the block of the I-CTDI, I am tempted to add a small amount of detergent in with the last top up to aid removal before flushing, a teaspoons worth should be more than enough on a 7litre system.

When I first bought her five years ago I did the standard 5 litre flush and the bright orange colour was apparent for at least four years, it is only on the past few months that this disappeared and the corrosion in the small diamteter pipes has been an issue, so the sediment build up might be on all the iron parts, meaning this could be the last chance saloon for her.

btw I bought another two litres of the rated coolant so I now have enough to fill a completely dry engine.
 
Brainwave - a half pint of screenwash will probably be better.

Same low end temperature characteristics as coolant, designed to clean road dirt and other stuff from glass.

Will report back later.
 
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