Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:36:53 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Subject: Re: Another way to drain coolant : measurements for drilling
drain holes in the covers while on the vehicle
In-Reply-To: <ca6f512f0810172048j426a70d9q9076ac1c12038314@mail.gmail.co m>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Jeff: I am somewhat of a neatnick when it comes to cleaning out my
coolant, so rather than pull off my non rusty bolts etc, I bored
holes in the bottom of the covers where the drain plugs go. Maybe
someone on the list can give better measurements on where to place
the holes, but I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole exactly 4" from the block
out towards the valve cover and strangely enough it's also almost
exactly 4" from the outer lip of the valve cover in towards the
block. This measurement works for both sides of the engine. As far
as depth measurement goes, the driver's side I measured from the oil
filter(Mann brand if that matters) and the center of the hole is 6
1/4" towards the front of the vehicle. The passengers side is also 6
1/4 " towards the front, but I measured from the rear engine
mount. If you jack up the rear of the vehicle enough, you should be
able to actually drill the holes with the covers on the car. , but
I would use caution as you start breaking through the last layer of
metal, as you don't want to drill into the pushrod tubes you're
trying to protect in the first place. The pilot drill bit will miss
the pushrod tubes, but the hole saw will get the tubes if you are
too aggressive with the hole saw. The pushrod tubes are maybe 3/8"
above the cover. If you want to double check you measuring, the
outer edge of the hole saw teeth will take out almost all ofthe
center rib of the pushrod tube over and it will not be centered with
regards to the ribs. If you don't have a quality metal hole saw, buy
a good one from a hardware store like an Agressor or Blue
Moly. Covering up the holes is easy after you do the draining as
most hardware stores sell generic plastic or metal hole covers or
plugs. This would only be a guess, but if you didn't remove those
drain plugs every two years to do the coolant, when you really needed
to get them out, they may be as rusted in there as the muffler bolts
on the outside of the van. I would also find a longer 6mm allen head
shank for the socket to extend up into the cavity, as the short
6mm's that most tool places sell will dent the pushrod tube slightly
when you stick it up in there. I dented mine and there's been no
issues, but then the dent is maybe a 1/16-1-8" at most.
I guess you could put one of those back flushing T kits in a heater
hose line from Prestone, but even if you got away with that, you'd
still have to get the flush water out of the system before you added
the 50/50 mix in there. Our water in NE Iowa is pretty hard, so it's
distilled for me rather than trust the garden hose method. You'd be
surprised how much coolant comes out of those 6mm allen heads!! Good luck
DM&FS
At 10:48 PM 10/17/2008, Jeff Hartman wrote:
>Hi, I tried to send this message a few days ago, but didn't get a response.
>That is rare with this helpful group, so I thought I would try again.
>
>In attempting my first complete replacement of coolant for my 2.1 86
>vanagon, my Bentley points to the drain plugs between the pushrod tubes as
>the proper location to drain. These plugs are accessible after removing
>some type of shield or sheet metal covers. Two out of four hex head cap
>screws on each side are badly rusted. The hex nuts are so rusted there,
>that I bypassed replacing that part of the exhaust system a few years ago.
>Is there another way to drain the coolant?
>
>Thanks, Jeff
>Jeff Hartman
>Juneau, AK
>86 vanagon 2.1
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