Changing Coolant in '03 H6 is a PITA

[Chip Hedrick]

My wife's '03 3.0 H6 sedan just hit 30k mi. The stealership wanted $350.00 to do the 30k mi maintenance, so that affirmed my conviction to do it myself.

 

Here's a problem I ran into. Flushing the cooling system is more difficult than on my '98 EJ 2.5.

 

1st It appears to be impossible to remove the coolant overflow tank w/o removing one of the electric radiator fans. I had to syphon the overflow tank w/ a gasoline syphon.

 

2nd I could not easily locate the drain plugs on the bottom of the engine. There is an aerodynamic shield that covers the front underside of the engine bay. It appears that the entire shield (not just the small panel that gives access to the oil filter) would have to be removed to access the bottom of the engine.

 

3rd There is no bleeder valve at the top of the radiator.

 

So I just drained and flushed the radiator using the radiator drain cock. I know I didn't drain all the coolant in the engine. I don't like to do things in a half-hearted way like this. At least I replaced a good portion of the coolant.

 

Has anyone else run into the same problems or have a better way to flush and drain the cooling system in this engine??

[Setright]

You could repeat the process. First time you probably replaced about 50%, so second time round it will be 75% new.

 

Subaru have done away with the radiator bleeder screw by clever design. The little bulge that the radiator cap mounts on will collect passing air bubble because its the highest point in the system. Or, that's the theory anyway!