scottonfire

So right under the coolant reservoir there is a T hose and the hose is leaking. If I take that hose off, the coolant in the reservoir is gonna spill everywhere. So what to do? Take a turkey baster and remove all from reservoir? If so, can I re-use it? Should I just have auto shop do it ($185 including parts)?

samaritrey

How old is your coolant?
Turkey baster should get most of it out
How much are the parts you need replaced?

scottonfire

I did a coolant drain and refill about a year ago. The auto guy said the part, the T hose, would run me $55. I assume MB would charge me $30-$35.

I'm hesitant to do it myself b/c I replaced the top coolant pipe which broke and it took me 3 hours and it was hell. Meanwhile, auto guy would've charged me $120.

samaritrey

Okay so you have new coolant then as long as you collected it in a clean container you could reuse it no problem. The turkey baster would work well as would a length of hose and let gravity do it for you. Then once you get it as low as possible you could mess with the hoses the only problem is you will probably loose some and make a mess as if anything is higher then the point you open it up it will come flying out (had a bad experience don't forget about the heater core lol) If I was doing the repair I would want to drain the whole system from the bottom drain just to be sure I wouldn't end up with a huge mess.

If you have already had bad luck with the plastic parts under the hood then maybe $185 isn't so bad.

slammer111

Just make a poor man's coolant extractor. A jar (container must be rigid - no milk jugs) with 2 holes drilled into the lid, with a hose sticking into each hose. Put the jar somewhere lower than the bottom of the reservoir. Stick one hose into the reservoir, and just manually suck some air out with the other hose. Once the thing starts moving, the entire reservoir will drain itself.

If the coolant is still good, why not reuse. What's the service life for the coolant anyways? (it's around 10 or so years iirc)