Hey guys, I plan on replacing my coolant this weekend and I went out to try and find the drain plug on my block but could not for the life of me locate the bolt/nipple. I know there are a few subtle differences between the 96 and all other 3rd gens and maybe it's located in a different location? I'm currently looking on the passenger side between the exhaust manifold and ac compressor but don't see anything. There's quite a bit of rust build up in my coolant system and i'm not sure when the PO last had it changed.

If I am unable to locate it is their an alternate method I can use to get most of the old coolant out? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

When I exchanged the radiator, coolant, t-stat and hoses on my new to me 97 3.4, after draining the radiator(heaters all open, of course) I next went to change out the thermostat. When I pulled the cover off of the thermostat---it's located down low on the engine so I should have been prepared for this--- a huge flood of coolant came gushing out. Luckily, the bucket caught all of it. When I checked the measurement marks on the bucket, very nearly the entire 9.5 quart capacity of the system was now in the bucket. I cancelled plans to fill and refill with distilled water, and refilled with my final coolant mix. Hope this helps.

 

Well if its a 2.7 3RZ then the coolant drain plug is on the passenger side of the cyldiner block right below the oil pressure switch.

The 3.4 5VZ coolant drain plug is on the passenger side of the cyldiner block as well right in front of the engine mount.

 

 

Glad you found it.

 

Looks like you're missing a head there ...

 

Haha yeah, I found the pic on the t4r.org, I think the guy was doing his head gaskets.