Engine Coolant Drain Plugs - Anti-Seize? Torque?

[Col Bennett]

Hi everyone

It's been a while. Hope you're all doing great.

What would you all recommend applying to the engine coolant drain plugs to avoid the metal plug and aluminum block corroding together with the presence of all that coolant. I was just going to slap on some copper paste and reduce the 15 ft lbs book torque value by 20-30% to account for the paste lubrication - but then I stumbled upon some articles mentioning that aluminum + copper paste + coolant could effectively promote galvanic corrosion.

Now I'm all confused. I want to make sure I get it right so your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Col

[82DMC12]

Hi everyone

It's been a while. Hope you're all doing great.

What would you all recommend applying to the engine coolant drain plugs to avoid the metal plug and aluminum block corroding together with the presence of all that coolant. I was just going to slap on some copper paste and reduce the 15 ft lbs book torque value by 20-30% to account for the paste lubrication - but then I stumbled upon some articles mentioning that aluminum + copper paste + coolant could effectively promote galvanic corrosion.

Now I'm all confused. I want to make sure I get it right so your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Col

I put anti-seize on my coolant drain plugs 15 years ago and probably didn't use a torque wrench on them - just a new copper washer. They came out no problem last year and looked fine. I would not worry about this. The plugs should honestly be pulled out every few years so you can flush out the junk that collects in those corners.

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[Col Bennett]

The plugs should honestly be pulled out every few years so you can flush out the junk that collects in those corners.

Totally. I last had mine out 5 years ago to drain the block and stupidly forgot to apply anti-seize when popping them back in. The plugs required too much torque (in my opinion) to remove today and kinda freaked me out. They came out fine, but I don't want to go through that again and want to make sure they're a breeze next time.

[mark w]

Silver type paste (not the copper) and about 15ftlbs. just enough to seat/crush the copper sealing washer.

[Col Bennett]

Silver type paste (not the copper) and about 15ftlbs. just enough to seat/crush the copper sealing washer.

Thanks Mark. Yeah it looks like silver anti-seize is the way to go. The stuff I've ordered especially calls-out having no copper to avoid galvanic corrosion. Hopefully they're a breeze to remove next time around.