jdkimmel

Hi All,

I'm brand new here so let me first apologize. I am probably not doing this right so I appreciate your patience and understanding. I recently replaced the radiator reservoir on my 132K mile car and thought a radiator flush might be a good thing. I thought I did my homework but right off the bat, I couldn't figure out how to drain it from the petcock. I assume the petcock is closed at it's horizontal position. It turns easy enough 90 degrees and also locks in the vertical position but nothing comes out. Then I researched that it might be necessary to pull it out once in the vertical position. It doesn't come out. Naturally I'm a little nervous about pulling on it too hard as I've read that if you break off the valve, the only solution is to replace the radiator. It's not the "red knob" style I've seen in all my research. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

bbirdwell

IIRC, you just unscrew it.

jdkimmel

You might well be right but perhaps with a lot of force. The petcock turns very easily by hand just 90 degrees. It also feels like it has a very hard stop at both sides.

tlambert

Jimmy Kimmel live? And from NV? Lol.

tw2

Yep it is a simple round threaded valve. I gently used rounded pliers to get it going since it is quite tight. It is located bottom left of the car. Connect a hose to it to collect the fluid. Edit the photo finally loaded, that looks different to mine.

drothgeb

Are you the same guy on Facebook that asked this a while ago lol? Don't pull, keep twisting. It's not a 90* turn open you have to turn it a bit. Imine felt real clu my like it should stop but nothing came out, kept turning and it pushed outward a little and started draining. It will not break if you turn too far the entire thing will come out and it will be messy but you can just out it back in.