Honda drain and fill

[Silver02ex]

This is on a 2002 Civic EX with 57,000 miles. I tried changing my coolant today draining the radiator and engine block. I've tried every to get the engine bolt to come off but it did not want to move. What I ended up doing was just drain the radiator, put new coolant in, run the car for around for about 10 mintues, drain the radiator again. I did this about 3 times. I wonder if this is good enough. I stuck with OEM Honda Type II fluid. The only difference is the stock coolant was green and the new is dark blue.

 

[wcbcruzer]

One drain and refill would've been fine too. Just do it on time, periodically, and use the correct coolant. No need to get anal over getting every last drop of coolant out of the engine. As long as you fill it up with fresh coolant you're adding fresh analytes to the water which helps prevent corrosion.

 

[Smoky14]

Ah the problem of only being able to get pre-mix,you can't flush then add because you always have water left and you can never get to a true 50/50 mix. PLUS you pay twice as much for coolant since you are paying way too much for WATER.

Rant off

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Yeah, this is a pet peeve of mine as well. I'd like to drain/fill my Maxima with the Toyota extra long life (pink) however it only comes premixed, so I had to settle for Toyota long life.

 

[Slick 55]

I do a drain/fill on my Civic every 4 years. I didn't worry about the block plug.

 

[benjamming]

Use the 'type I' fluid instead. It's not diluted. Can you still get that?

 

[wcbcruzer]

There's no need to get an exact 50/50 mix of water/antifreeze. It's actually better to have a higher water to antifreeze ratio because water has a higher specific heat. Don't do it if you live in extremely hot or cold climates though.

By the way, I hope you guys are using distilled water. I get mine in 1 gallon jugs from the store.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Don't sweat it. I don't buy the way Honda says to change the fluid in the manual as I have an '01 Civic and '05 CR-V. I worry about pump cavitation when you're removing all the liquid from the engine and radiator at the same time and the thermostat won't be open to put new fluid into the engine. I just drain the radiator, re-fill with distilled water, run, drain and fill, twice. Then I use the Peak Global Lifetime(undiluted) and fill the radiator with it and use the water mix in the rest of the system to balance it out. No issues to date.
I can't find undiluted Honda coolant, either. Tried even through their motorcycle network and they can't get it either.

 

[Dave Hess]

I use G-05 in our Hondas no problem.

A simple drain and refill every few years is just fine.