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[tunnie]

WARNING: Any spilt antifreeze must be caught and disposed off where possible. And spillage needs to be mopped up as much as possible, and the area thoroughly washed. Antifreeze is dangerous to anyone/anything that may ingest it.

Coolant Flush & Change – All Models

Car Featured

2000 Facelift 2.2 CD Petrol

Tools needed:

Empty Drinks bottle (or empty anti-freeze bottle)
Water supply

Preparation:

Car on a level surface is best, although not important. This is to get an accurate level of the coolant.

First Check your coolant.

The coolant bottle is on the drivers side of the engine bay, circled here:



There are 2 types of GM coolant, Blue & Red. Red is the new stuff, Vauxhall say you can mix them, but to be honest its best to do a complete change and its very simple. Red is said to last 5 years, but i change mine every 2.

This is a photo of my coolant before the change:



As you can see its blue and quite low, it should be level with that ridge when the engine is cold.

To drain the system, unscrew the cap to the coolant bottle (warning – the system is pressurised do not unscrew this if the engine is hot, wait until the engine is cold) – Once the cap is off its best to check its rubber seal is in good condition.

Once the coolant bottle’s cap is removed you need to loosen the radiator bleed valve, this is located under the passenger side of the front bumper. It’s the red valve pictured below:



Once your under the passenger side of the front bumper you will soon spot it, loosen if off, it won’t come out. Just unscrew it until the fluid is pouring out. These can stick if its not been used, bit of cloth and pliers can help free it off.

As you can see here, water with a blue tint is drained out:



Next, close the radiator tap and re-fill the coolant system with water:



Put the cap back on the coolant bottle and start the engine, put the heaters to full power and full fan speed. This helps to move the coolant around, leave the engine running for a few mins, you will see that the coolant tank will go slightly blue again. This is because the radiator tap does not drain all of the coolant, most of it remains in the heater matrix.

Once the engine has been running for a few mins, turn it off. Unscrew the coolant bottle cap, and release the radiator bleed valve. The fluid that comes out should be more clear:



Now I did the above twice more, re-filling with water, running the engine and draining again. This was to make sure I only had fresh water running in the system.

Now its time to add the new red coolant, its best to use an old coolant bottle. If you don't have one pour off half into another container, but which ever container you use you must destroy it afterwards. If anti freeze is ingested it can KILL, so please dispose of any container you use.



Once mixed add to the coolant system via the coolant bottle, make sure the radiator bleed valve is done up!

The coolant system on the 2.2 / 2.0’s takes around 6 litres of coolant, V6 engines take around 9.

Once filled up, and with the coolant bottle cap on I ran the engine, i then again drained it. This not all of the coolant is removed during the drain, there is still fresh water in the matrix.

The water had a slight pink tinge to it:



I repeated the above twice more again, to make sure I had only 50/50 mix red coolant going around.

The finished result, fresh red coolant:

[TheBoy]

On V6, as you can only get 1/2 of coolant out at a time (without removing water pump), you may need to flush through a few more times, and also be aware you may end up with weak antifreeze mix so on last couple of fills/flushes use a stronger mix.

The 2.5TD diesel has a block drain plug, so you can drain the block conveniently...

[Jimbob]

An alternative filling arrangement is :-

Repeat flushing with water only, until the drained water is completely clear.

Now drain the system again, and then close the drain tap.

The car will now have about 1/2 the required fluid (Water) in it.

Add neat antifreeze :-
for a V6 which hold 9 litres, add 4.5 litres of neat  antifreeze
for a 4 pot which holds 6 litres, add 3 litres of neat antifreeze.

You can now, top up to the correct level with water.

Run the car up to temperature, with heaters set to Hi, burping hoses to expel any air.  Topping up with water as necessary.

Any future top ups, use a 50/50 mix to maintain the concentration.