WARNING: Be careful with radiator drain plugs lol

[rayner22]

Funny ( well not funny at the time) thing happened today, decided to change the radiator coolant before a trip to the Gold Coast next week.
Everything went well, UNTILL, when I was tightening the radiator's drain plug it decided to tear itself in half... YEp gotta love rubber drain pugs :gren: . Its sheared off right at the end of its thread. Luckilly its watertight and not leaking a drop. Just gotta wait till Tuesday to get the plug bored out n a new sucker in there.

I'd like to thank the missus for her jinxxing me by saying "Don't break anything we go away in 6 days" comment prior to starting.... :yeees:
Sure enough my mates at the local Ford dealer were rolling on the floor in tears when i rang em up n told em......

Seems the "new for AU and BA" rubber plugs arent as strong as the old plastic ones on E-series etc.

[Fairlane]

Thanks for the heads up, personally i try to avoid using drain plugs were possible, always better to undo the bottom Radiator hose. Crummy plastic/rubber is not cool.

[Mechan1k]

That's what I did last time ... dropped the lower radiator hose (also changed my hoses to cos they looked crap around the ends of them too)

[galaxy xr8]

Yes but it's not that easy to just drop the hoses on the AU's with the special bolt they use to put them on to start with, I dropped the drain plug on mine but you just have to be carefull.

[The Dok]

Originally Posted by galaxy xr8

Yes but it's not that easy to just drop the hoses on the AU's with the special bolt they use to put them on to start with, I dropped the drain plug on mine but you just have to be carefull.

The "special bolt" your referring to, are you sure it's not just the cover they put over the hose clamps from new, IIRC mine had the same, they just "flick" off, giving access to the actual screw. Please correct me if I'm wrong. :voldar02:

[Fairlane]

???? Special Bolt.

All i do is remove the splash guard and there you have it right there the bottom radiator hose on the left hand side of the radiator, with a standard worm drive hose clamp with a dust cap which can be undone with a phillips head screwdriver.

[galaxy xr8]

I thought they were a special designed head on them, not the ussual phillip's head screw, mine is anyway, and I'm not sure if they are just a dust cap or not, as I removed the drain plug not the hose for this reason.

[Fairlane]

They look odd but there just a dust cap, have a look at your top radiator hose, and it should come off with a moderate amount of force.

[GK]

I'd go the lower hose myself as well, but the drain plug shouldn't be rubber. That's poor form I reckon, could you replace it with a plastic one?

GK

[galaxy xr8]

I'm sure mine's a plastic drain plug???.

[outback_ute]

The cover on the hose clamp is what they use to do them up in the factory, it shears off when it reaches the right torque

[xd5.8l]

I don't want to offend but you really need to be a tool to snap it. It has got a phillips head end on it so knuckle heads can't sheer it off.

[GK]

Originally Posted by xd5.8l

you really need to be a tool to snap it. It has got a phillips head end on it

Either that or using the wrong tool to try to take it off! LOL!

GK

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by outback_ute

The cover on the hose clamp is what they use to do them up in the factory, it shears off when it reaches the right torque

Yeah that's what I thought and what I was trying to say.

[bodes-sh]

Originally Posted by xd5.8l

I don't want to offend but you really need to be a tool to snap it. It has got a phillips head end on it so knuckle heads can't sheer it off.

he didnt shear the hose clamp off, the rubber drain plug broke off

[rayner22]

Im not a knucklehead mate, they are a strengthened type of rubber, BUT after about 2-3yrs the heat of the engine bay starts the rubber rotting inside, then when it rots enough the next time it shears in half.