Hello!

I've had this used Sebring for about 4 months. Roughly a month ago, I began having serious issues with coolant. First, it was a slow, managable leak that could be maintained with regular checking. Then, it quickly became a larger issue, as the hose connected to the reservoir came loose and shot coolant everywhere under the hood.

I had the reservoir replaced, only to have coolant suddenly hemorridging from the car 2 days later. I was unable to fill the new reservoir, as it kept draining into... somewhere haha. The leak was found to be coming from the water pump weep hole, so I had the expensive task of having the water pump replaced.

Now, about a week later, I parked, smelled coolant and opened my hood to see a small stream shooting from a hole (presumably from dry rot) in the upper radiator hose. I have sealed the hole temporarily, but am looking for advice on draining the coolant so that I may replace the hose.

How much coolant/water is needed for a flush? Where the hell is my radiator cap? Haha, the manual eludes to it being the reservoir cap in the 2.7L engine, which I find hard to believe. I am also having trouble locating the petcock and am wondering if detaching the lower hose for drainage would be easier?

As a side note, I checked the reservoir today. It is at a decent level, but there is a lot of debris floating around in it. Why/how could this be, after having the system flushed recently?

Thank you for your time, guys, anything would be helpful. I am up to my eyeballs in trying to keep coolant in this car, haha.

Chrislee

 

Your 15 year-old hoses are probably deteriorating from old age. This would be a good time to replace all of them. Before replacing the water pump would have been a good time to flush the entire system. If you buy one of those flush kits that tap into a heater hose to connect a garden hose and city water, be very careful when you turn on the garden hose because city water pressure is several times more pressure than the system is designed to handle.

The radiator cap is on the reservoir. If you look at it you'll see it's a regular pressure cap.

When filling the system DO NOT TOUCH THE BLEED SCREW ON TOP OF THE ENGINE! After all these years the threads on the screw will have seized and turning the screw will result in turning the seat that it screws in to. This will strip out the plastic and a leak will occur at that point. Either remove the topmost hose on that fitting as you fill with coolant to allow air to escape, or just fill it and let the air work its way out over several driving cycles where the car warms up and cools down. Then top off the coolant.

The drain **** is at the bottom rear of the radiator on the right side of the car. It's probably easier to remove the hose near there and drain it that way. The drain **** is plastic so it's also probably better not to fool with it lest it break.

 

I agree with dcotter that it's easier to remove the bottom radiator hose than it is to open the petcock. If you can I would shoot a garden hose through the radiator from both directions to flush it out if you are still seeing debris in the coolant. If the water is not coming out as fast as it goes in then you have a clogged radiator. Replacing the bottom radiator hose is a pain but I recommend doing both while you are at it. If after all this you still have coolant shooting out then most likely the head gasket blew or the head warped due to overheating caused by the bad water pump. Hopefully that's not the case.

John