Carisma coolant

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Mon 25 Nov 2002 12:32
Carisma coolant - Peter
I am about to do a service on my 1997 1.6 Carisma and will change the coolant. I cannot locate any maintenance manuals for this car.

Can anyone tell me how to drain the system, are there drain plugs on the engine block & if so where. Same goes for the radiator and expansion bottle.

For refilling, are there any bleed points etc or any special method of replenishing.

Many thanks in advance.

For what its worth, Homebase sell Holts Coolant 5ltrs for £6.99 in Swindon.
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Mon 25 Nov 2002 20:38
Carisma coolant - Dizzy {P}
I am prepared to be shot down on this but I would say that you needn't worry about draining every drop of the old coolant.

If you can't find the cylinder block and radiator drain points you could just undo the radiator bottom hose so that the bulk of the coolant drains out. So long as you make sure you add the specified amount of new coolant concentrate everything should be fine.

You do, of course, need to make sure that there is room for the new coolant and I think this can be added in one go, not pre-mixed with water, as it will soon mix anyway once the engine is running.

Any different opinions, anyone?
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Mon 25 Nov 2002 20:58
Carisma coolant - John Davis
No different opinion, just an added comment. I feel that the removal of the radiator bottom hose is always the best method. Any drain plugs are usually tiny and tend not to allow accumulated debris & sludge to get drained out. The vehicle is five years old and this would be a good time to use a hose, through the radiator, to get rid of any sludge etc. Some of these modern cooling systems seem to suffer from air locks on re-filling. I find that a very slow fill, say as long as five minutes, usually allows the trapped air to be pushed out. The thermostat will be cold, with it's valve closed, so a slow fill helps the coolant flow through the thermostat "jiggle" valve.
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Mon 25 Nov 2002 21:23
Carisma coolant - Dizzy {P}
John, I agree with everything you've said. In fact, flushing the whole system, not just the radiator, will wash out just about all of the old coolant as well, especially if the heater is turned full on first.
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Thu 3 Jan 2013 20:30
Carisma coolant - mark193

Hi Peter

I own 'one' of these car's, and the answer to your question is, looking from the front of the car there is a plastic wing nut. bottom right, undo this and let the coolant flow out

Flush the rad - with a hosepipe at a lowish pressure - replace the wing nut

With regard to the expansion bottle I just remove it and give it a good clean out !!

According to my local Mitsubishi dealer, you can drain the engine block of coolant but he said they never do (usually because if it hasn't be remove before it's a sod of a job)

As to your final question as far a I'm aware, there is no special method of replenishing the system, just turn the heater control to hot and just keep squeezing the hoses - when the system is replenished with coolant

I've found this method has worked for over 20 years !!!

Mark 193

PS How have you found the car in general ??

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