What is this (circled in red) and what is it for. My turbo is hitting it and I was wondering if i can remove it or replace it with something else that doesnt stick out?? Help would be appreciated. thanks

 

looks like the freeze plug to me... that is the plug you remove to drain all the coolant from the actuall block...

you should be able to replace it if you can find a bolt with the same thread size but a smaller head...

 

Don't count on it. Yes that is the coolant drain plug, but it has an extremely large thread diameter (40+ mm) and it's hollow, from what I remember. You'll just have to tweak those turbo parts to put some clearance in there.

 

Yep, it is hollow with a very large diameter as you say. I can't imagine finding something to match which doesn't stick out as much. Maybe he could get a machine shop to make something with a recessed square 1/2" drive hole, like the drain bolt on the transmission.

I'm surprised people don't know more about this; we're all supposed to remove this plug every time we change our engine coolant, every 2 years (or 5 years if you use the nice orange Dex-cool stuff). A lot of coolant comes out that otherwise wouldn't.

 

i would give an advanced auto a try maybe or a local hardware store for a more flush bolt...is there any way to shave it????

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dwolsten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm surprised people don't know more about this; we're all supposed to remove this plug every time we change our engine coolant, every 2 years (or 5 years if you use the nice orange Dex-cool stuff). A lot of coolant comes out that otherwise wouldn't.
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Right, but don't ever use that Dex-cool crap in a Honda radiator, though. Your radiator will hate you if you do.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Right, but don't ever use that Dex-cool crap in a Honda radiator, though. Your radiator will hate you if you do.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why do you say that? I've been using it for about 10 years now and it works great. It's the same stuff that Acura says to use.

Honda cooling systems require that your coolant not have any borates, silicates, or phosphates, ingredients that are commonly added to coolant for "corrosion protection" or some such crap. These things were probably a good idea in the old days with cast iron engine blocks, but since smarter manufacturers have abandoned cast iron for the last 20 years or so, these additives are no longer required. Worse, they cause problems such as pitting corrosion in the aluminum blocks and heads, and seal deterioration.

The Dex-cool-compliant coolant is orange, lasts for 5 years, and specifically does NOT have these additives. It's perfectly safe for Hondas and Acuras.

 

Just ran a quick search on Dex-cool and found TONS of reports of angry consumers and class-action lawsuits against GM for use of the Dex-Cool stuff, claiming 5 year/150K mile intervals, with lots of problems with corrosion in the engine and radiator.

BTW I remember you selling those rear wiper controllers several years ago, and I was going to pick one up but then you said you had stopped making them. Are you selling them again?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just ran a quick search on Dex-cool and found TONS of reports of angry consumers and class-action lawsuits against GM for use of the Dex-Cool stuff, claiming 5 year/150K mile intervals, with lots of problems with corrosion in the engine and radiator.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I just Googled that and found it too. The problem isn't the coolant, most likely, it's that their cars are made by GM. Those things just aren't engineered to last very long. I know a guy at work who got a Cadillac Caterra, I think, several years ago, and has spent $13,000 fixing it.

Dex-cool isn't made by GM. It's just a specification. The last one I bought (pretty recently, as I had to change my ancient radiator hoses after 13 years because one was bulging) was by Prestone. I think they call it "Extended Life 5/100" or something like that, and it has a little "meets Dex-cool requirements" logo on the bottle. The coolant that came out looked very good, but it had been in there for several years. It was probably Prestone too; I don't remember. I haven't had any problems with seals leaking since switching to the orange stuff, except for that one radiator hose that went bad.

However, I should also note that I'm not using the OEM radiator. That thing broke about 6 years ago (the top plastic reservoir cracked--they all do this after a while), so I replaced it with an all-aluminum Fluidyne.

(Edit I wonder if all these GM owners complaining about corrosion had cast iron engines? Although every other automaker has long since moved to aluminum, I know GM stuck with cast iron for a long, long time. I imagine Dex-cool, since it doesn't have borates, silicates, and phosphates to inhibit cast iron corrosion, probably doesn't work that well in those engines. Leaving the same stuff in there for 5 years probably makes it much worse.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW I remember you selling those rear wiper controllers several years ago, and I was going to pick one up but then you said you had stopped making them. Are you selling them again?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I don't know what happened back then, but I've had a couple for sale for several years now, waiting for a buyer. I can make more if I need to, but after the first 8 sales, there wasn't any more interest, but I still have two left if you want one.

 

its a freeze plug. u can do what i did . theres a hardware store where im at called hilco they have those plugs with the hex head on it. so basically once the plug is on its pretty flat to block. try looking up places where they specialize in bolts and nuts