Cooling system down

[Shora]

I am in trouble. I was in a hurry to change my radiator fluid today before dinner with my family and I broke the draincock. Yes, it is made out of plastic but the fault lays only with me. After all of the fluid drained I hand tightened the draincock and then used my socket wrench and socket for one last turn in hopes of fully tightening it. To make a long story short, I heard a crack and when I removed the socket the head of the draincock came out with it.

Lucky for me, I was able to stick an alien key inside of what remained of the drain **** and lossen it so that it is not stuck inside. To my surprise and horror I noticed that the drain **** does not fully come out. No matter how much I turn and turn the remains of the draincock fails to fully remove. It is almost as if it is not designed to be fully removed.

This is what scares me the most. What are my options? Can I buy just one little drain **** from the dealer?

If yes, how do I remove the remains of the broken driancock? Should I just attempt to brake it off in order to remove it? I am afraid that a small piece might get into the cooling system and brake a pump or what not.

Anyways, I know that I am the only one here who can make such a ____ mistake but the only thing keeping me from going crazy is that I know that many of you are going to head me into the right direction so that a bad day could be over as soon as possible.

Best

[fastblackmerc]

I think you need a new radiator.

[JMan]

I think you need a new radiator.

X2***














J/K
You should be able to buy just the petcock (Draincock) at any auto parts store or at the dealer. It has an expansion head like a wall anchor but should pull right out with a little persuasion and a twisting motion. Now have your brother send me a bundle of those killer "ceegars" for my advice!

Best Luck,

J

[RF Overlord]

I know the petcock does only unscrew just so far, so that much is normal, but I don't know if it can be purchased separately. The only advice I can offer here is to take the car to a good radiator shop and ask them about it...I'm sure they'll have seen this problem before on other cars...

FWIW, I stripped the plastic one on my T-bird and replaced it with a brass NPT pipe plug...worked fine.

[Shora]

I think you need a new radiator.

Well, I could kiss sleeping goodbye if I am forced to buy a whole new radiator because of a broken plastic draincock.

Scary news in this thread so far.

[Shora]

FWIW, I stripped the plastic one on my T-bird and replaced it with a brass NPT pipe plug...worked fine.

So they are replacable?

So far, Advanced Auto Parts said that they don't carry and cannot order me a draincock and have no idea how to remove it.

[RF Overlord]

So far, Advanced Auto Parts said that they don't carry and cannot order me a draincock and have no idea how to remove it.

As I suggested^^^, you need to go to a good radiator shop. Parts stores just look things up in catalogues, they generally don't have a lot of mechanical knowledge.

[JohnE]

Get a replacement plastic plug from the parts store. After you see what it looks like, then you'll understand what you're looking at. Good chance that you can pull it out with a pair of needle nose pliers.

[Shora]

Get a replacement plastic plug from the parts store. After you see what it looks like, then you'll understand what you're looking at. Good chance that you can pull it out with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Thank you.

That is exactly what I am going to do today. I figured they sell the darn draincock separately so why would it not be replaceable?

[Shora]

Went to Autozone and bought a new drain **** (part #61127) that works for F/L/M from 1984 and up.

Best part is that this drain **** is designed to be opened and closed by hand so that you will not break it with a wrench. Yup, a large and easy to use grip that one would really have to try in order to break. IMO it this part/ design is mush better than stock.

To all those who helped-THANK YOU!

[Blackened300a]

Glad to hear your problems are solved

[69cobra]

ok, now you have me scared. don't want to crack this piece, does anyone know if the plastic piece unscrews counter clockwise like normal to open and drain? i know the older cars it was usually the opposite. its suppose to turn by hand? have a project this weekend to change the antifreeze

[Shora]

ok, now you have me scared. don't want to crack this piece, does anyone know if the plastic piece unscrews counter clockwise like normal to open and drain? i know the older cars it was usually the opposite. its suppose to turn by hand? have a project this weekend to change the antifreeze

If I remember correctly, it is indeed counter clockwise to open.

Note that the plug has tabs on the back of it so it doesn't remove completely. Just loosen it until you have a nice healthy stream of coolant draining.

Also, do not over tighten it. I think that is how I broke mine. Somehow, I was still able to remove the rest of it and replaced it with an after market one that has special tabs on the front of it so that you easily turn it by hand without the need for a wrench. It gives me a better indication of when it's nice and tight without being too tight.

Don't be scared. "I" just goofed up.