Radiator bleed plug

[Sagen]

Anyone ever have issues removing the brass radiator bleed plug from their radiator? 

I seem to have stripped mine when I tried to open it.  Used a 3/16th allen wrench and without much force and bits of brass flaked out.  It also appears that there might have been some sort of Loctite on the threads between the aluminum and brass. 

Anyone have a similar experience or have an idea to extract the plug without harming the system?

Sagen

[bolus]

I tried removing it once (cant remember why) and I torqued as hard as I could on the allen wrench and could not get it to budge.  I did not go further after that

[wisp]

[quote="Sagen"]
Anyone ever have issues removing the brass radiator bleed plug from their radiator? 

I seem to have stripped mine when I tried to open it.  Used a 3/16th allen wrench and without much force and bits of brass flaked out.  It also appears that there might have been some sort of Loctite on the threads between the aluminum and brass. 

Anyone have a similar experience or have an idea to extract the plug without harming the system?

Sagen
[/quote]

A bad mixture of metals. That should never have been allowed during manufacture and needs to be changed immediately. Especially in a radiator that contains water.

Any moisture other than distilled water can be considered an electrolyte that will induce corrosion between galvanically dissimilar metals. Aluminum has been proven to be galvanically too aggressive to be placed in direct contact with copper or brass.

[benyeats]

[quote="wisp"]
[quote="Sagen"]
Anyone ever have issues removing the brass radiator bleed plug from their radiator? 

I seem to have stripped mine when I tried to open it.  Used a 3/16th allen wrench and without much force and bits of brass flaked out.  It also appears that there might have been some sort of Loctite on the threads between the aluminum and brass. 

Anyone have a similar experience or have an idea to extract the plug without harming the system?

Sagen
[/quote]

A bad mixture of metals. That should never have been allowed during manufacture and needs to be changed immediately. Especially in a radiator that contains water.

Any moisture other than distilled water can be considered an electrolyte that will induce corrosion between galvanically dissimilar metals. Aluminum has been proven to be galvanically too aggressive to be placed in direct contact with copper or brass.

[/quote]

I think the plug is plastic on my car.

Ben

[sportyking]

My plug is Brass (9/16 or 14mm head) but my radiator isn't aluminium, that's an upgrade part isn't it?  Or is it standard on American cars?
Mine started leaking when I recently changed the coolant, replaced the rather hard copper washer with a nice fibre one and very gently nipped it up with next to no torque, problem solved.

[Sagen]

I believe that I have the standard (or at least standard at the time) US part.

If I really can't remove it, any alternate ideas for getting the air bled out of the system?  Follow a similar procedure as the manual but jack up the rear to make the reservoir the highest point? 

Remove the radiator and take it to a machine shop?

Drill a new hole and patch it with duct tape? 

[silver]

Sagen, what was your goal in removing the plug in the first place?  Were you running in to problems?

I had to buy a new radiator because my car was hit in a parking lot, it runs about $675 if I remember correctly just so you know.

[Sagen]

I replaced the reservoir with the new part and need to get coolant replaced.  I'm afraid that air in the line between the reservoir and the block won't be able to make it around the air intake and therefore was planning on following the bleed procedure.

The first step of the bleed procedure is "Remove the [immovable] plug".

[silver]

ohh gotcha, makes perfect sense.

[wisp]

[quote="Sagen"]
I believe that I have the standard (or at least standard at the time) US part.

If I really can't remove it, any alternate ideas for getting the air bled out of the system?  Follow a similar procedure as the manual but jack up the rear to make the reservoir the highest point? 

Remove the radiator and take it to a machine shop?

Drill a new hole and patch it with duct tape? 
[/quote]

Sagen, I would get that plug drilled out and replaced. You may even have to have the thread tapped again or a heli-coil fitted.

Unfortunately it will be the aluminum that gets eaten away, not the brass.

I think it would be better to get rid of the brass plug now before you end up needing to do a more extensive repair to the radiator.

[Sagen]

Well I broke off an extractor trying to remove it so the radiator is now
detached from the car and I'll be taking it somewhere to try and get
this sorted out.

Hopefully not all of the US Atoms will have to go through this.  It's taken
a lot more time than it should have and already a couple of sunny days
have slipped past (those are a scarce commodity here in the Northwest).



-Sagen

[Sagen]

Just wanted to follow up on this.

I had to pull the radiator and take it to a machine shop to get the brass plug removed.
The drilled it out and replaced it with a nice valve.  This has helped with the bleed
procedure and I actually got the Atom out this weekend and enjoyed some of the
fine Seattle weather.



So the lesson is, check you plug and as required replace it.

- Sagen

[Lane]

I had to order some stuff from Summit Racing recently so I picked up these in aluminum. 



Judging by the looks of my plug once I got it out, it would have presented problems eventually if I ever needed to remove it.  These were $5 here.  I applied some anti-seize for extra insurance.

[dp]

i had to drill mine out and replace it with an anodized aluminum one.

[FourFather]

Mine was surely going to strip out the internal hex on the bleed plug if I just used a steady pull on a hand-held allen wrench. But with a small electric impact wrench set on low, it shocked it enough to spin it out.

Worth a try before you have to remove the radiator-

Wrapping the new plug with teflon plumbing tape would probably be a good idea.

Eddie