Hi all, Did a search, didn't see anything for a Mondial. Trying to drain, refill with fresh coolant. From what I can see from the parts diagram, there is a drain on the radiator, bottom on the driver's side. Is that correct? If so, turn the heater on, open reservoir cap, drain from radiator, drain from the block, refill with 50/50 distilled and Prestone green, bleed at radiator and thermostat. That'd be the plan. Correct? Also, anyone have a picture of the drain on the radiator? Kinda hard to see it.
One bolt (12mm I think) on the radiator at the bottom/back left of the rad, easy to get at, just a bit hiddden by a frame member. Just put a big splash pan under there, and let er drain. Not as messy as some claim, just need a good sized drip pan, it spews out and runs down the frame rail. This system is hard to fully drain, I wouldn't bother with the block drain unless the coolant is really old or discoloured, so just get a good amount out, I can drain about 3/4 of the volume through the rad plug, and refill, I use Mercedes Benz OEM fluid, its amber in colour, costs just a bit more than the Prestone, which I understand is also fine. Use deionized rather than distilled water, for reasons which appear in various threads, but I am not exactly sure why distilled is not the best. Will need to bleed a number of times, hot, cold, etc. to get all air out. Repeated bleeding at the rad seems to be most effective, the thermostat housing will probably only need to be bled once.
Thanks! In my search here, I've found some posts which say specifically NOT to use the MB coolant, for some reason or another (can't find it again right now for some reason). Something about it having some unusual quality that isn't really right for our cars. I'll do a search for deionized water instead of distilled. Hadn't heard about that one! Thanks again.
Moysiuan must be a better mechanic than I am. Yes, there is a drain on the radiator, but I had a difficult time getting the right extension /wrench that would fit between the fiberglass belly pan and the radiator. The radiator then drained into the fiberglass panel and ran laterally to dump everywhere but the 24" diameter pan I had under it. Note that I was working under the car slightly jacked up, if it had been on a lift access would have been much better and perhaps it would have drained cleanly. Good luck.
There are a lot of threads in a lot of places re distilled/deionized/tap water. Frankly, I have never been able to find a single REAL and scientific test; only claims that: "Deionized water will kill your engine," or Distilled water will kill your engine," or "tap water will kill your engine." But I have never seen an engine "killed" by any of them. I have disassembled engines that have used nothing but tap water/antifreeze for 20+ years and there was no particular build up or rust in the system. The key is to ensure the antifreeze or whatever additive is used contains the proper anti-corrosives/lubricants and is periodically renewed. Interestingly, the Prestone website shows water being added to the system with a water hose. One Ferrari shop I visited used distilled water; another used tap water. I can't find anything in the Ferrari manuals that suggest anything about this. Other shop manuals on cars I have owned just said "water." You pays your money and you takes your choice...
