Cracked Cylinder Repair: Drain the Coolant

Video Transcript

"DOUG JENKINS: Hi. I'm Doug. I work with 20 great guys in St. Louis at Doug Jenkins Custom Hot Rods, and we're going to do some work for you today on Expert Village. I told you about all that coolant that would be dribbling out at inopportune times. Dan doesn't feel like dealing with that, so he has found an Allen wrench to fit one of the coolant drain passages. They build these passages in there to get the sand out when they build an engine block and to allow you to drain the coolant. So he's picked what he's hoped is kind of a low point in the coolant passages there, so that as we move the engine in and out of things, we don't end up making a big mess. If you can't tell by looking at Dan's work area, he's kind of a neat guy. So be cool when you're pulling your motor out. Find a way to drain as much coolant out as you can. Oh, he's poking around in there with a screwdriver, knock loose a little bit of silicon or rust or something. Now he looks even smarter. Coolant passages are notoriously filthy. There's no way to really maintain them, keep them clean. Even on a fresh motor like this one, there was probably a little chunk of silicon or something there that was stuck in the drain hole. Even though this defies logic, this is the other side of the engine. You can tell by the angle, the thing is hanging on the hoist that this side of the engine is higher. I can't explain why the coolant doesn't drain out the other side, so poke around and find as many little places to drain it from as you can. The machine shop will like you; your friend that you borrow a pickup from to haul the motor to the machine shop, he'll like you. You won't make as big a mess on the floor. This is a great thing to do that Dan has chosen on this. So he has loosened up the main radiator hose in front and pointed it towards the coolant pan there. He's going to pull the water pump off here shortly, and they'll probably still get some water dribbling out of there but not near as much as if he hadn't done this careful draining of the block."