Changing Coolant in a 99 Concorde

[John]

My first surprise with this car was the location of the battery...my
second surprise is the inaccessability of the radiator. Any
suggestions on how to drain and refill with new coolant?

Also there is a nipple at the front center of the engine which
occasionally weeps coolant. What is the purpose of the nipple? I
appreciate any help.

 

[Bill Putney]

My first surprise with this car was the location of the battery...my
second surprise is the inaccessability of the radiator. Any
suggestions on how to drain and refill with new coolant?

Also there is a nipple at the front center of the engine which
occasionally weeps coolant. What is the purpose of the nipple? I
appreciate any help.

I assume you have the 2.7L engine. Careful with that nipple - it breaks
easily (the seat is an insert molded into the plastic body, and it can
twist out), and the replacement of the part is expensive and labor
intensive. Only loosen and tighten it when necessary, and tighten only
enough to shut it off.

Mine has been weeping since I bought it three years ago, but is still OK
otherwise. The amount of fluid lost is insignificant - I've never had
to add any coolant since I've owned it - that's how small the leak is.
Normally I'm in favor of fixing problems like that, but in this case, no
- not until absolutely necessary - hopefully never. A dealer parts guy
told me that he has seen people purchase the new part, and the insert
for the nipple twist out of the plastic the first time they open it. He
also told me that if that happens, they don't provide you with a free
replacement - you have to buy another one. Some deal, eh?

To answer your question, that nipple is to inject fluids for flushing
and refilling, and for bleeding air out of the cooling system.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

[Bill Putney]

One other thing, John -

On my '99 Concorde, I recently put a hose clamp moderately tightly
around the plastic that the nipple and its seat are molded into.

The purpose was two-fold:
(1) To reduce the seapage even further. And the visible seapage
(residue from the dried coolant) is in fact less with the clamp on. BTW
- yours is probably like mine in that the seapage is greater in colder
weather (almost none in summer) due to the difference in thermal
coefficient of expansion of the metal of the nipple and its seat and the
plastic housing that they sit in.
(2) To hopefully greatly reduce the chances of the insert twisting out
when I change the coolant, hoses, and thermostat this Spring.

Oh - also - just so you are aware - even though that whole piece looks
like a thermostat housing, it's not. The thermostat is under a separate
cover on the driver's side of the engine (on the side of the block -
accessible from underneath).

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

[Bill Putney]

Also - you asked about draining the radiator. There is a petcock on the
lower right side of the radiator - made for opening by hand - no
wrenches. Pretty cramped quarters in front of the engine - probably
need to access that from underneath.

To drain the system, you open that and the coolant pressure bottle cap,
and the dreaded nipple that we talked about earlier.

There are also, according to the FSM, two block drain plugs - one on
each side underneath each exhaust manifold.

I haven't done this myself, but, as I said earlier, I plan to soon. I
don't know if those block plugs are really accessible or not. On
previous cars I've owned, the manuals always talked about block plugs,
and they did exist, but often they are totally inaccessible without
taking things like the exhaust manifold off, which isn't worth it - easy
for people to write into manuals, not always easy or possible to do.
Hopefull we can access ours with little trouble (not holding my breath
for that).

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

[John]

Bill---Great info, and I really appreciate it. Like yours, the weeping
is so insignificant that I won't worry about it...too much anyway!
This car ahs been so reliable that I haven't even bothered buying a
Haynes. I wonder if you would be so kind as to post a followup after
you do the drain and refill this spring...just to let us know of any
gremlins out there.

I can't believe that after 45 years of always doing my own work I'm
actually considering letting the dealer do this job!

Regards, John

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

This car ahs been so reliable that I haven't even bothered buying a
Haynes

Buying a Haynes (or Chilton) manual and using it as anything other than
amusement or toilet paper is a great way to make a car *less* reliable.
They are full of wrong information. The factory manual's the only way to
go.