2000 Accord coolant drain plug

Does anyone know where the engine coolant drain plug is located? The picture in the owner's manual is not very clear. I crawled under and found a bolt head with a washer under it located about six inches to the driver side of the oil filter. It's right next to the VIN number plate.
I expected to find it at the bottom of the engine but this bolt head is higher up, about even with the lower edge of the oil filter. Is this the coolant drain plug?

I couldn't wait for response to my initial post and removed the suspected bolt. All I got for my trouble was a mitt full of oil. Wrong bolt.

So this morning I visited my local Honda dealer and asked the service/parts guy to locate the coolant drain plug. At first he didn't know there was one. That gave me confidence in him. Then he pulled out a thick book showing an exploded view of the engine block. There it was hanging in mid-air referenced to the back side of the view where you couldn't see its exact location. I asked him to talk with a mechanic which he did. The mechanic said it's under the oil filter, has a large allen head. I recalled seeing one like that so my next report will detail what happens when I remove it.

u should of found out what oil came out of the other one =).

Hi Accordztech, it looked like engine oil, smelled like engine oil and quacked like engine oil, so I guess it was engine oil :)

Well, this evening I removed the plug that the Honda man told me was the right one. The large allen head under the oil filter, turned out to be a 10mm. You guessed it. This time engine oil ran all the way down my arm.

I'm not giving up. I'm going back to the Honda dealer tomorrow for more good advice.

Stay tuned.:licker:

if you look above the oil filte you will see the big coolant tube that runs from the back of the w/p housing to the thermostt housing , behind it on the block is the plug should be a 19mm but the only problem is you have to have the tube out to get it

Lets do this the easy way shall we?

Look on the bottom side of your radiator, undo that plug (be sure car is cool before doing such)..

Once drained or while draining, go to the hose on the back side of the block, and disconnect it, then go to the top hose on the radiator and disconnect it from the engine head and put a water hose to it and turn it on, this should flush the system just fine..

Do this to the radiator as well. Once done replace hoses and cap and fill with whatever mixture you use..

Once full; turn on the car and let run for a minute or two, then turn off car, and wait for it to cool again..

Remove radiator cap and continue to fill.. Then cap it and your done..

I probably didnt make a lick of sense but my effort was there.. Not sure exactly what you were trying to do, but this should atleast help you a little bit...

Thanks, lorunner and wagsaccordsir for your posts. All I want to do is drain the old coolant from both the engine (4 cyl F23A1) and radiator. The radiator is not a problem but the engine is a different story.

I previously asked two local Honda dealers, "where is the engine drain plug located?" Neither knew the exact location and both responded "we don't drain the engine, just the radiator and refill with new coolant leaving old coolant in the engine." No help!

At lorunner's suggestion I found a 19mm bolt head just above and left of the oil filter. It's slightly below the metal coolant tube that runs from the coolant pump housing to the thermostat housing. It is barely visible but accessible. It's torqued very tight. I couldn't get it loose with my ratchet, even with an extension on the wrench handle.

I did notice a rubber hose (smaller than the metal coolant tube) coming off the metal coolant tube, toward the rear, by way of a tee fitting. I wonder if I could drain the engine simply by disconnectiong the rubber hose? Anyone ever try this? Would the coolant drain through the pump from the engine block?

yeah it will drain through the pump and by taking the hose off it should drain the majority of coolant. As you said that 19mm plug is very tight the last time I did an engine on a 98 accord I couldn't get it out either.

YES! Success at last. :flash:

After draining the radiator I pulled the small rubber hose off the metal tube located at the rear of the engine. This drained both the engine and heater core.

Thanks to lorunner for pointing me in this direction. With the front up on ramps it's easy to roll under the car on a mechanics dolly but it's very awkward reaching the hose and I got an arm full of coolant.

I retrieved about 1.3 gal of old coolant and probably spilled the other .1 gal. According to the owners manual the system holds 1.4 gal.

Thanks to all who responded.

I'm glad I did not have to "reinvent" the wheel. This weekend I relied upon your experience to change the coolant fluid. Just wanted to say thanks, I will be visiting here more often!

Patrick Bonnot
Fulton, MO

I have a 2004 Accord manual lx with 4cyl engine. The engine block coolant drain plug is located in what looks like a protruding pipe about 1" or less right above the oil filter. It took a 10mm allen wrench 3/8" drive. It takes about 4" of extention to clear the oil filter. I drained the radiator of fluid from the spot right under in the hole cut out for service, then drained from the engine block. Not all the fluid comes out, only about a gallon and the specs says it holds about 2 gallons. After flushing with water and draining again you still have about a gallon of water appr. in there. I used one bottle of straight antifreeze, not 50/50 because then you'd be further diluting it.

Before posting look at the date: this thread is SIX YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anybody take pictures of that bolt please. Or email it to jorge_gutierrez1961@yahoo.com