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Doing a fall season change of coolant on my 1954 Packard Clipper Super 327ci L-8. The owners manual says, in addition to draining the radiator fluid through the radiator stop cock valve, that I should "remove the plug from the cylinder block near the starter." Do they mean the aft of several large pressed-in plugs along the cylinder block wall, or is there one specific threaded plug they are talking about? The only 'plugs' (freeze plugs?) I see appear to be the ones pressed into the cylinder block wall on the driver's side of the engine block. Please advise. Thanks again for all your help.

I believe they are referring to the aft freeze plug, which is necessary to drain all the fluid if the engine is to be left without any fluid that may freeze, e.g., long term storage.

To just change fluid, drain the radiator and flush the system with a flush kit that attaches a garden hose to your heater hose. Then drain and refill with coolant, either premix or concentrate diluted with distilled water.

You don't want to mess with the freeze plug.

That seems to make sense. The fluid I drained seem to be clean and rust-free and my freeze plugs are dry with no corrosion and painted to match my engine block so I will leave them alone. Common sense I suppose, but first time changing the fluid. Thanks.

I seem to recall this plug was a drain but perhaps it wasn't present on some engines or yours was changed to a different type and is not as noticeable.

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Dear Steve:

It's also a good idea to cover the starter, distributor, and dip stick with plastic to defelct the coolant. The dran plug only need be tightened to say 7ftlbs using a small wrench and thread sealer.

You DO NOT remove a core or freeze plug, there is a block drain at the very bottom of the water jacket, near the starter motor and almost above the dip stick. Take a closer look, it's pretty obvious, as pictured in HH56's photo attachment.

There should be a small threaded pipe plug in the location shown, you can buy a small valve to put in its place, many cars have already had one added. It is like the drain valve on the bottom of the rad, auto parts stores sell them.

If you do not drain the engine water can remain in the coolant passages, freeze and crack the block. Even though you have drained the radiator.

If you remove the plug and nothing comes out poke around with a screwdriver or wire, sometimes the hole is plugged with dirt and rust.

Gentlemen...thanks again for all that knowledge. Sure, there was the nut, right in front of the starter as shown in the picture you sent..and quite a bit of fluid drained out, too. Most of it crystal clear except for a slight tan residue at the end of the draining. Really appreciate all your help!

On my '54 there is a drain petcock at that location. This make it very easy to drain the water jacket. Not sure if this left the factory this way, or someone later changed from the pipe plug to the drain petcock. I've seen a few other 51-54s with the exact same style petcock. You can see it here in this picture of my engine on the far right.

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