Is this the coolant drain on my CRD's radiator? (Sorry you have to click on the links below) It's on the rear driver side of the radiator. If so, that's a much smaller diameter hole than I was expecting.

What tool is recommended to squeeze in there to open it?

I'm hoping that a flush and coolant change will help fix a couple issues I'm having. First issue is that the engine starts to overheat (or run hotter than normal) if I'm driving over 60 mph for a prolonged period. I mostly use this vehicle for short commutes so I only discovered this issue recently. Second issue is that the interior heater doesn't get warm enough to flow warm air into the cabin.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6e8ptxb2ue089 ... 4.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fx62jtqfslstj ... 9.jpg?dl=0

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

Yes it's at the bottom same side as the bleeder and a PITA to get to, I just shove a 3/8 " hose in the bleeder opening and siphon.

_________________
2006 LTD Bright Silver loaded with all the needed mods, CCV intact.
Proudly supporting CRD vendors, and their development of quality parts and accessories.
Equipped with HDS thermostat, plenty of heat, faster warm-ups, increased fuel mileage.

So the plug is in the back and the bottom "nipple" is the bleeder opening? I'm guessing you loosen the plug then siphon out the bleeder nipple with a hose?

I seem to remember someone saying they used a cut off allen wrench and open ended wrench to loosen the plug. Sound right?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but the last vehicle I did this on was a Ford pickup and it was a million times easier than this.

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

Flman is correct, the drain is a pain to deal with. He is also correct in the location of the drain plug... it is under the passenger side of the radiator, directly under the cooling system bleeder plug at the top of the radiator. How is it that your drain plug is on the driver's side... is this an offshore market vehicle?

Siphoning from the bleeder plug does work as an alternative to using the drain plug, but siphoning will not remove all of the coolant. You will have to open up the drain plug or remove the bottom radiator hose to get all of the coolant out.

Both the drain plug and the bleeder plug do not use normal threading to open up and close down... it is some weird pin that follow a path; kind of like a Dzus fastener. You have to be gentle with these when you crack them loose, and as you gently turn these plugs they will pull themselves up, (or out, as the case may be). Closing them down is exactly the opposite.

Oops, you're right. My mistake. It's on the passenger side of the radiator. I can see the plug from the under the hood as well as under the vehicle. What tool do I need to open it?

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

Found this in a PDF by "papaindigo":



Sound about right?

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

I use a 15mm open end wrench as I find it to be the best fit, and then flip the wrench after I complete every little turn to take advantage of the 15 degree offset of the wrench. Papaindigo may have found a better way to do this, however, as no normal wrench seems to fit properly.

Thanks!

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

squeeto's allen key trick is best.

_________________
Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Well that was 5 hours of my life I'll never get back...

Getting a wrench on that drain plug was darn near impossible. I finally gave up on the 15mm wrench and tried a 5/8" wrench (which was an inch longer) and that was just enough to loosen the plug. I backed it all the way out and no coolant drained. So I twisted it back in and out a second time. Nothing. I was about to give up when I remembered I have a cheap hand vacuum pump. I put a 20 inch vacuum on the drain using a piece of tubing. After a couple minutes it started to drain. Not a gusher, but a steady flow. The coolant had some creamy looking gunk in it. I don't think this radiator has ever been serviced. After all my efforts all I was able to drain was about 1.5 -2.0 gallons. So I decided that was good enough for now. I refilled with fresh coolant ran the engine a bit, opened the bleeder valve (heard a bit of hissing but no coolant) and gave the jeep a test drive.

I'm not real happy with the outcome on this job. The heater still doesn't get hot enough and I bet I still have a lot of gunk in the system. I may do it again in a few days (after the fresh coolant has had a chance to mix with the old).

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

I would highly suggest running some of the Prestone Radiator flush through the engine for a few days. I used 2 bottles and ran it for a day or 2 of normal daily driving and then drain. If I recall correctly you are supposed to flush it with distilled water, drain that, and refill with some G-05 coolant. By time you are done you will have a garage full of coolant and contaiminated distilled water. Its great.

If your really feeling frisky, throw some Redline Diesel water wetter in there.

_________________
2006 CRD - GTB2056 turbo by Dieselguy86, Eco Trans Tune, Lift Pump, Week's, HDS Tstat, Racor Filter, ARP's, OME 790's+Top Plate, JBA 2.5", JBA UCA, Moab's+265/75R16, ARB Bull Bar, 4.10's, TrueTracs

That's exactly what I plan on doing. Thanks!

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

My exposure to Water Wetter is limited, but IIRC it is intended to be used only with water, and generally short term, such as racing applications where antifreeze inhibits the cooling capacity of high thermal output, relatively low duration (racing) engines, and as such, are frequently torn down and rebuilt. Again, IIRC, it has little to no corrosion inhibitors (for alumin(i)um, iron, or brass) or component lubricators (needed for your water pump).

If I am wrong, or if things have change since my last involvement in such things, please correct me.

_________________
'06 Lbrty Sprt CRD 150K

Sasquatch
DSS Turbo
CAT-elimntr
Weeks Stg1&2 EGRfix
PV-200
BLING
vent gauges

IDParts
head
cams
rockers
Timing set
ARP studs
eTn1 GX2123 5v GPs

YETI Custom Tune
Flowmaster 8325508
Carter P76611M
GM 12611872
Hayden 2986
GM 15976889
PATC Custom Billet
2010 Ram Hemi Trans
Sonnax 44957
Transgo kit
Cooper 51770

Sorry, bigkahuna... I have been so busy that I have been unable to send you that detailed e-mail I promised you. I will modify my answer and post my details here as you already have discovered some things about your particular problem.

It looks like you are going to solve your overheat issue as it indeed looks like the problem is a clogged up radiator. I also think that the Prestone Radiator flush is a good idea. When you are finally finished flushing out your cooling system and if you are purchasing full strength engine coolant that you have to mix, make your ratio 60% engine coolant to 40% distilled water. I have not tried a wetting agent, and am unsure of the benefits.

Also something to consider for the future... when you change out your timing belt, consider changing and upgrading your water pump at the same time.

As mentioned by papaindigo, it is really looking like the allen key trick is the best for opening up the drain plug.

Regarding your interior heat problem... give the radiator flush some time to clean out your entire cooling system. and then check cabin heat again. Remember that the O.E. temperature gauge is neither accurate or linear, so do not implicitly trust what you are seeing on the gauge. There is a photo floating around on this forum that shows actual engine temperature readings pasted in needle positions of the O.E. gauge. It clearly shows the gauge jumping about 30 degrees in one needle width of increase, and about 3 degrees in a needle width of increase on another part of the gauge.

To accurately test your engine's operating temperature, measure it with an OBDII reader. To test that the temperature sending unit is good, (they have been known to fail), double check the engine's operating temperature by shooting a temperature gun laser beam on the top of your thermostat assembly as a cross reference. If the two measurements are the same temperature or close to the same temperature then your O.E. temperature sending unit is good. If they are significantly different, (probably 10 degrees Fahrenheit or more), then you have a faulty TSU.

If your engine's operating temperature is running anything lower than 180 degrees Fahrenheit, you are not getting the full efficiency and power your engine is capable of producing, and you are not getting the decent cabin heat for cold weather driving. Seriously consider an upgrade to the poorly made and ill-conceived O.E. thermostat assembly.

Are you the only owner of your CRD? There may have been modifications to the cooling system of your CRD that can also cause or contribute to overheat issues. Do you have an in-hose thermostat valve installed in your upper radiator hose as a method of increasing the operating temperature of the engine? If so, REMOVE IT. The in-hose, (inline), thermostat valve is a backyard fix for the low operating temperature issue that all North American Liberty CRDs have because of the NOX emission standards they have to comply with. The in-line thermostat valve is smaller than the O.E. valve, and represents a restriction in the cooling system that can cause cooling system overheat occurrences in high demand situations. The inline valve is also represents a major modification to the cooling system that was never intended by the engineers that designed this cooling system. Use of an inline thermostat valve in conjunction with a failed O.E. thermostat assembly will create situations where there is little or no coolant circulating in the engine during times when that inline valve is closed. This can lead to head gasket failures.

Water is a much better coolant than coolant is but the surface tension reduces its ability to pull the heat off the wall of the passages and give off heat to the radiator. Water wetter is most effective when used with distilled water because its basically a soap which breaks up the surface tension of the water, allowing it to make better contact with the metals(the engine and radiator) and remove heat. The coolant already has a lower surface tension so water wetter is less effective, but it does still make a small difference.

As far as additives go, the Redline Diesel Water Wetter does not have any anti-corrosive specifically because it is intended to be used in an engine that has corrosion inhibitors already. The normal Water Wetter does have inhibitors so it can be used with distilled water.

_________________
2006 CRD - GTB2056 turbo by Dieselguy86, Eco Trans Tune, Lift Pump, Week's, HDS Tstat, Racor Filter, ARP's, OME 790's+Top Plate, JBA 2.5", JBA UCA, Moab's+265/75R16, ARB Bull Bar, 4.10's, TrueTracs

All the above is correct. However...

I’ve used both water wetter and purple ice in my CRD and have not noticed any benefits.
I’m sure it’s great at the racetrack where slippery coolant isn’t allowed (water only) but you can’t go wrong with a proper 50/50 mix of the proper coolant year round.

_________________
U.S. Army Retired

Nothing on this Jeep is easy.

I drained the coolant and filled with 2 bottles of Prestone radiator flush and distilled water. Drove the vehicle for about 1.5 hours, got it good and warm and then stopped. Let it cool and opened the drain. Nothing came out. Not a drop. Used a hand vacuum pump and pulled 25 in/Hg and still nothing. It's getting late and the temps are going below freezing tonight. Fudge.

I keep this jeep in the garage so will run the engine a couple times tonight to keep it from freezing. No idea what I'll do tomorrow. I was hoping this was going to be a 1 or 2 hour job. I've got 2 full days into it and I'm no closer to being finished than when I started.

I'm more than half tempted to sell it.

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).

Just a silly question. Do you have the radiator cap off or cracked the upper radiator hose?

Just to state the obvious in case it's being overlooked. In order to drain the coolant:
1. engine must be cool.
2. open radiator cap; effectively the cap on the coolant bottle on the firewall. System won't drain if this is not open.
3. open drain on bottom left (be gentle as it's plastic), viewed from front, of radiator. Should drain fine and pull coolant from coolant bottle.
4. when coolant bottle is empty crack bleeder on top left of radiator. If turned to 4 o:clock and pulled straight up it will come out. Once done system will drain pretty quickly.
5. NOTE the lowest point in the system is BELOW the drain and IIRC even pulling lower radiator hose won't drain block.
6. reverse to fill.

If you do a flush and/or are not certain what coolant is in there based on my and my son's experience you need to do several (5 or so) fill and drain cycles with brief drives in between to get most all the "stuff" out of the system. Decriminalized water is fine.

On final fill
1. vent open and drain closed fill at coolant tank until coolant reaches top of vent
2. burp upper radiator hose; add coolant as needed.
3. reinsert vent if pulled; push down and turn to close.
4. continue fill at coolant tank until level is ca. 1" above midline.
5. do several cold to hot drive cycles to purge air in system; check coolant level which should drop to midpont; add coolant if need, was not needed for us.

_________________
Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

- reservoir cap is off
- radiator top vent is open
- I pulled the top radiator hose (green coolant came flowing out, which is weird because I've been using the recommended gold colored coolant).
- I pulled a vacuum on the bottom drain and still nothing. Not a drop is coming out of the drain.

Is there a preferred way of getting at the bottom radiator hose? I used channel locks for the top hose but I don't have clearance for the bottom hose. Do I have to remove the fuse box? Is there a way to -suck- the coolant out of the engine block?

_________________
2005 Jeep CRD - Completely stock with 100K miles (new turbo and timing belt 5/16).