I need to drain the coolant from the engine but I can't work out which hose to remove. The one I thought it was, on closer inspection appears to be attached to the oil fiter so I'm reluctant to remove it.

I've ordered a workshop manual CD off ebay but I could do with doing this today so if anyone can tell me which one it is, it'd be much appreciated.

Cheers

the bottom hose on the rad, just look on the rad and remove the lower of the 2 hoses, dont forget to bleed the system when you fill it up again, if you remove the hose that goes to the oil filter you will lose alot of oil.

Thanks for that Bandido.... next question is where are the bleeding points?

Ta!

there is one on the radiator (its a little tap on the top left corner) and there is another screw in the rubber hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the heater.

is that top-left looking at it from the front of the car or from the windscreen?

And is it on the bumper or engine side of the radiator?

Cheers

top left when you standing in front of the car so it will be on the driver's side it is on the engine side of the car if you havent removed the black bit of plastic that is bolted onto the slam panel and has a pipe goint to the air filter you will need to do so.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!

OK, done the one on top of the radiator, but not sure where the thermostat housing is... is it easy to describe?

Cheers

Thermostat housing is the bit with all the pipes coming out of it on the right of the engine (your "right" when you stand infront of the car looking at the engine i.e. passenger side)

look at a smaller diameter black rubber hose coming from this side of the engine which turns downwards and then goes rearwards towards the enginecompartment/passenger compartment bulkhead. Just as the pipe leaves the thermostat house there is a small black plastic wheel which you unscrew a bit to release trapped air.

Do the bleeding process initially with the engine off and the coolant bottle cap removed.

Did you already drain your coolant? Why? If you were changing it you should have flushed it out aswell, by pouring gallons of clean water into the coolant expansion bottle. You should also have done this with the heater set to HOT and started the car for a few minutes before starting the coolant draining procedure. And during "flushing" ensuring that most of the water being flushed is coming out of the bottom of the rad.

Personally I prefer to remove the rad top hose where it enters the thermostat housing, for the flushing procedure.

Then you have to fill it up again, use undiluted antifreeze 2.5 - 3 lters, then top up with clean water.

Thermostat housing is the bit with all the pipes coming out of it on the right of the engine (your "right" when you stand infront of the car looking at the engine i.e. passenger side)

look at a smaller diameter black rubber hose coming from this side of the engine which turns downwards and then goes rearwards towards the enginecompartment/passenger compartment bulkhead. Just as the pipe leaves the thermostat house there is a small black plastic wheel which you unscrew a bit to release trapped air.

Click to expand...

OK, I'm a bit lost here... I've attached a couple of photos of the right of the engine. Can someone point out where the thermostat house and small black plastic bleeding wheel are on them?

Thanks

Can anyone help me with this? I really need to get this sorted. If anyone can point it out, or even just in the general area on the photo if it's not visible, then it'd be much appreciated.

I've got hold of the workshop manual cd but I can't find anything specific in there. It just refers to pages that either don't exist or are incedibly vague.

If you follow the top hose from your rad it will lead to the thermostat housing, as for the bleed screw its the one that is in the square in the photo

Brilliant, thanks! I thought it might be but I wanted to check in case it was oil or something else.

Cheers