How to Drain the Radiator on a Jeep Grand Cherokee

Do not drain the coolant from your Jeep Grand Cherokee until the engine and coolant have cooled down. This is not something you should attempt to perform after taking a trip to the parts store to get more coolant to replace or any other errands. This should be done only before the Grand Cherokee has been started for the day. Open the hood to allow light down into the engine compartment.

Put on your safety glasses and crawl under the Jeep on a creeper to locate the radiator drain plug. On a 4.0 liter engine, it will be on the right (passenger side) side of the inside of the radiator and on a 4.7 liter engine, it will be on the left (driver's side) side of the inside of the radiator. Once you've located the drain plug, loosen it slightly to manipulate with your fingers only. Move out of the way and place the drain bucket strategically beneath the drain plug and carefully open it until it begins to trickle into the bucket. Open the drain plug wider and adjust the bucket as you need to in order to prevent major spillage.

While that is draining into the bucket, crawl back out from under the Grand Cherokee and remove the radiator cap from the radiator. This will create an air vent and allow the coolant to purge more quickly from the drain plug. Be quick and agile so you can adjust the drain bucket again if need be.

Allow the radiator coolant and overflow reservoir coolant to drain thoroughly before tightening the drain plug.

Replace the antifreeze into the radiator when you're done using the same antifreeze from the drain bucket or a 50-percent mixed antifreeze recommended for your year Jeep Grand Cherokee. You will need to start the engine and allow it to warm up with the radiator cap off. Let it burp and purge air from the system. This should be done on at least three warm up/cool down cycles to ensure you've replaced enough antifreeze in the system. Lastly, replace the radiator cap.