I'm installing the EGR delete kit for my girlfriend's new to her 06 Liberty CRD ad I'm to the point where it requires the radiator to be drained of ~1 gallon of coolant. I can get a box wrench around the drain cock plastic hex head and turn it about 1/3 of a rotation but nothing comes out. I opened the main coolant cap and also the upper passenger side vent which then leaks.

Any ideas how to get the radiator drain to actually drain?

1/3rd of a turn is not enough and no wrench really fits although if you work at it long enough with an open end wrench you can get it open. Download my tech tips PDF at http://colorado4wheel.com/manuals/Jeep/KJ/ and scroll down to the bookmark for ORM thermostat replacement per squeeto for a tip on how to open the drain.

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Thanks. 5/8" box wrench fits well but I was not wanting to turn that plastic nut harder. Another full turn got it. I did do the allen wrench section though which made it easier.

The drain plug is so dumb. Why they put the little hump on one side of the hex is beyond me


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I think its for two reasons, one to show that it is aligned when its closed(the mark does lineup with another). And second to keep you from putting a wrench on and over torqueing the plastic and breaking it.

I bet if a wrench fit right on it we would have heard stories of someone breaking a radiator that way by now.

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I agree with all of the posters here, the radiator drain plug is a royal pain in the booty. The drain plug has the same mechanism as the radiator/cooling system bleeder on the top of the rad. You have to be careful and gentle with these things, or you will break them.

I tend to agree with the cynical posters here... I think these things are designed to keep people from doing the work themselves, so they can take them into the stealership for outrageously expensive service. There is no reason in the world why these things do not have a normal drain plug or a bleeder screw with a sealing washer.

The drain plug and the bleeder screw remind me of a dzus fastener. They are not the same, but they both have a type of shaft or hole where there is a pin that follows a path, (as best as I can describe it). The following is an excerpt from the installation instructions of Hot Diesel Solutions Model 001 engine thermostat assembly...

"DRAIN THE ENGINE COOLANT. WITH A COLD ENGINE, REMOVE THE PRESSURIZED CAP FROM THE COOLANT OVERFLOW BOTTLE TO AID DRAINING. LOCATE THE DRAIN PETCOCK ON THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE BOTTOM OF THE RADIATOR. ATTACH A SNUG FITTING CLEAR VINYL HOSE ONTO THE OUTLET BARB OF THE PETCOCK, AND HAVE THE OTHER END IN A CLEAN BUCKET TO CATCH THE COOLANT AS IT IS DRAINING. THIS PETCOCK IS ONE OF THOSE STRANGE PARTS I SINCERELY BELIEVE WAS DELIBERATELY DESIGNED TO BREAK IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL WITH IT, (CO-INCIDENTALLY, SO IS THE BLEED VALVE ON TOP OF THE RADIATOR CLOSE TO THE UPPER RADIATOR HOSE). GENTLY WORK IT LOOSE WITH A, (15MM?), COMBINATION WRENCH, USING THE OPEN END AND FLIPPING THE WRENCH FROM SIDE-TO-SIDE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE 15 DEGREE OFFSET OF THE OPEN END. ONCE IT IS FREED UP YOU WILL SEE IT “PULL ITSELF OUT” AND THE COOLANT WILL START TO FLOW. LET IT DRAIN COMPLETELY TO THE POINT THAT IT STOPS FLOWING. AT THIS POINT ENOUGH COOLANT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DRAINED OUT OF THE COOLING SYSTEM THAT YOU CAN NOW REMOVE THE OLD O.E. THERMOSTAT ASSEMBLY. REVERSE ALL OF THESE STEPS TO CLOSE OFF THE PETCOCK. CLOSE OFF THE PETCOCK NOW SO YOU AVOID FORGETTING TO DO IT LATER."

When preparing to replace head gasket on a crd I loosened the drain petcock too far because it never started draining. I knew it was a peculiar setup. I ended up putting pressure toward the radiator using something like a screwdriver against something nearby while I turned it with wrench and got the groove /slot to line up and it finally started threading back in. I had visions of sealing the drain with something and having to drain via lower radiator hose or elsewhere.

Turns out the prior owner had put something like bard stop leak in it with the grayish fibers and they had clogged up the drain so it couldn't drain at all. I flushed it as best I could and I applied some compressed air and water hose to the drain and it started working .


It was also apparently a salvaged radiator due to yellow crayon type writing on it. So I assume he had a leak elsewhere like the head and though it was radiator and changed it to later find it wasn't fixed. Then he parked it due to overheating and coolant loss.

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