WARNING:
• To avoid being scalded, never change engine coolant when the engine is hot.
• Wrap a thick cloth around radiator cap and carefully remove radiator cap. First, turn radiator cap a
quarter of a turn to release built-up pressure. Then turn radiator cap all the way.

TOOLS NEEDED

❑ Philips head screw driver

❑ Catch/drain pan or anything to catch the coolant in

❑ Socket set

❑ 9 liters of Use Genuine NISSAN Long Life Antifreeze/Coolant or
equivalent mixed with water (distilled or demineralized, you can mix it yourself or buy the premixed stuff)

❑ New radiator cap (optional)

❑ Coolant refill kit (optional - makes refilling and "burping" the system easier, I will be showing you the method through the kit not as per Factory Service Manual)






1 - Open your coolant cap.

2 - Disconnect all hoses and fasteners from the coolant reservoir. Drain and clean the reservoir and put it back in place attaching all fastners and hoses.



3 - Get under the car, get your drain pan ready and remove the radiator drain plug with your Philips head screwdriver, it will be located closer to the passenger side of your car. (you don't have to remove the splash guard, I was doing some other work under the car).

4 - Remove the radiator air relief plug with your philips head screw driver.

5 - Reinstall the radiator drain plug with your Philips head screwdriver back underneath your vehicle.

6 - Attach your coolant refill kit to were the radiator cap screws on.

7 - Fill it up until you see fluid coming out of the radiator air relief plug, then screw your plug back on.

8 - Refill your coolant reservoir. (the same thing we disconnected,cleaned and put back in)

9 - Get inside the car and turn it on and crank your heat to max and fan to max.

10 - Continue adding coolant into the refill kit make sure you keep the coolant kit reservoir half full watch all the air bubbles escape rev the car up to 1.5-2K rpms to speed up the "burping" process.

11- Install your new radiator cap, pat yourself on the back and go buy yourself some sways with all the money you just saved.

NOTE- if you want to Flush the system just follow all steps above but instead of using 50/50 coolant/water mix use 100% distilled water then run the car, drain and repeat until you see clear water coming out and then drain and fill it back up with 50/50 mix.

If you would like to follow the FSM then turn to page MA-12 and follow all instructions

If Ive missed anything please comment below.

 

thanks for the awesome write-up!

 

need to make sure that the thermostat opens, at least twice just to be safe - I would recommend keeping the heater fan speed at a minimum to prevent too much heat to be drawn from the coolant.

 

also, some models don't have the air relief plug - no suggestion as to what is to be done on those - just do without it I suppose.

 

The lisle kit picture above is great. Makes the job a whole lot easier.

Several notes about flushing. I'd be weary of adding cold water to a hot engine block. Best is to remove the tstat prior to refilling with distilled water. At the end, you say add 50/50 mix. That will ultimately yield you a less than 50/50 mix by total volume as draining the radiator doesn't drain the whole system.

I'm not really sure how you'd add the proper amount once you have nothing but distilled water in the system.

My plan is to just do a drain/fill every 2-3 years. Maybe change the tstat/cap every other change.

 

If I'm not mistaken the coolant system with the reservoir holds about ~9.8 liters would double check the fsm but just minus that with the total amount of water that was drained..
~9.8 - amount of water drained= how much distilled water needs to be treated with 100% coolant

 

Great write up. Somebody give this man a cheeseburger.

 

If you don't burp all the air out will the air be release over time? From my understanding if air gets trapped in the engine block burping it can be hard or take a few cool-heat cycles.

My buddy and I changed the coolant in his G, burped it and we checked coolant levels a few days later and the reservoir went from the 'Max' line to the 'Min'. I could only assume there was still some air in the system that exchanged for coolant? Levels have been consistent since so it wasn't a leak and car has been running great.

Can anyone confirm if its a myth that air will be bleed out over time or why this happens?

 

These days, the shops put a vacuum on the system to draw in coolant so no air pockets develop.

Did you use that yellow lisle tool to burp the system? I've had pretty good luck with those. It is possible there might of been some air in the system, but more likely, the coolant was in an expanded state/hot when you were filling/burping it. When it cooled down, it contracted and drew in additional fluid from the reservoir.

Since your levels have remained consistent, I'd just top it off to the full mark and leave it be.

 

unless the amount of coolant is excessive you shouldn't have any problems with the air pockets bleeding out over time during heating and cooling cycles, that's actually how infiniti recommends doing it until the system is stabilized.

 

Thanks for the responses. We didn't use the lisle when burping the car and we burped the car about 2 times.

Should the reservoir be max when the engine is cold or hot?

To clarify will air bubbles be pushed out over time if they do exist in the system?

 

Reservoir should be at max when the engine is cold. Usually air pockets will eventually clear itself out. I would check the radiator every time you warm up the engine to see if the coolant level went down. Wait until the engine cools down before you check.

 

I would highly recommend purchasing the refill kit, not only does it save time but it also saves you from cleaning up a big mess. Lisle 24680 Spill-free Funnel

 

thanks for sharing

 

I drain about 1 gal. every year and add fresh antifreez. Never had any issues with this.