[Jordan31]

Hi, I'm sure some of you have had this problem, but I was trying to remove the radiator drain plug, and it snapped, what would be the best way to remove this?

Any help would be awesome.

(not urgent) do you have to remove the bottom splash guard to drain the coolant?

 

[Squishy]

You will need a 5/16" hex key to remove the last bit; you should see a hole allowing a hex tool to fit in. I don't remove any splash guards to drain the coolant, and I've also broken my share of Ford drain plugs (hand-loosening and hand-tightening, even!).

 

[Jordan31]

so your saying that the threads that are still inside my radiator will have room for a hex key?

 

[Squishy]

Didn't the head of the drain plug have a hex-shaped hole through the centre of it?

 

[Jordan31]

probably, to be honest I didn't really look, I had the socket on there and then I heard a snap, got mad, and went inside.

the head of the plug was the part that broke off.

I'll go out and take a look in a few minutes

 

[Squishy]

Most of the time, enough of the hex channel remains inside the radiator to use a hex key to extract. You may have to press hard against the broken plug to prevent stripping it further.

 

[Jordan31]

Thanks for the advice, im going out right now to take a peek, but there is almost no way to fit my head in there to even see the threads from the bottom.

 

[Squishy]

I do it from the top. There is just enough room to fit your arm and a small flashlight in.

 

[Jordan31]

I thought the coolant would leak all over the bottom plastic guard, so I took a few screws out (and broke one) and tried from the bottom. I also noticed that the radiator drain has a angled spout, is that where the coolant flows from?

 

[Squishy]

Mostly from the angled spout, yes. Some coolant will drip out from around the drain plug threads as well.

The coolant does drain onto the splash guard, but I just position my drain pan to wherever it finally spills out from. Once it slows to the point of dripping, I set my air hose to 40 PSI and blow the rest through using the reservoir tank filler. I make a seal with my palm and stick my blow gun between my thumb and the base of my index finger.

 

[Jordan31]

Thanks for the tip, I'll use the same technique, only using water to flush everything through. I also have this coolant flush chemical I got from C-tire. I think my only hope for completing the flush tomorrow would be if canadian tire has the drain plug at the parts desk, otherwise I think everywhere else is closed..

thanks again

 

[Squishy]

They probably won't have one at the parts desk, the radiator drain plugs aren't cross-referenced with specific vehicles in their system. There should be a rack of red blister packs somewhere around the oil filters or sometimes near the tuner/trailer stuff, I think they say "HELP!" on the label and contain different things like plastic rivets, springs, and radiator drain plugs. You might find two different plugs for Ford - one with skinny threads and one with thicker ones; you want the thicker one. If you find more than just the two that I've seen, you can take the broken off bolt head to see what size threads you need.