Draining 2001 SRX Coolant

[d4laseck]

I am replacing the top end on my 2001 SRX and wanted to know if there anywhere on the engine that i could drain the coolant without making a mess or do i just have to pull the hose off.
Thanks

 

[staggs65]

theres a drain bolt on the water pump cover in the front under the pipes. it's got a copper washer under it

 

[mattlumley]

i use my dirty old shop vac. pull the foot well hose and suck with the vac.

 

[bluemonster1]

best trick for no mess is take a smaller diameter hose and shove it into the coolant bottle and out down thru the coolant hose.I then siphoned the coolant out,shoving the smaller hose as far down as it will go thru the coolant hose.This gets basically most of the coolant out from the engine area.Also have done this when I had to replace my thermostate,place a few rags around the area and presto the coolant level is down enough for me not to make a mess switching thermostate..
Doing it from the drain bolt in front is messy..ok if you are outside with it and gonna wash the sled off later

 

[fourbarrel]

A little trick I picked up a few years ago from another member,not sure who,was to use the small black hose that goes from the front of the water pump housing up to the underside of the water rail by the thermostat housing.First thing to do is remove the exhaust if it isn't already off,turn off the coolant rail to minimize the loss of coolant,pinch the small black hose off and pull it off the spigot.Now there is a couple of different ways to drain the coolant from this point I feed the hose out through the frame by the recoil and out the hole in the bellypan for the exhaust outlet into a jug.The other way you can do it is to feed the hose out through the rubber steering rod boot and into a jug,either way you will drain enough coolant out to do just about any job.

 

[jabber800]

I use that hose aswell but I add a T into the line with a 12 to 16 " length of tubing coming off the T. I then add a very small ball valve to the end of the line and route it somewhere I can access it in the bellypan. Always secure the valve so it cant open unless you want it to!!!! First time is a bit of work but after that it makes draining the coolant down a breeze.