Locating solenoid switch on 1999 esteem. Drained radiator last night to fill with antifreeze, then car would not start! Had no problems before. wondering if maybe we pulled a wire loose some where?

Very simple locate the radiator on the car and at the bottom/underneath of the car there will be a drain plug either on the far left or far right of the car's radiator. Just unscrew it and catch the old antifreeze and dispose of it appropriately. Once drained, simply refill the radiator and let it burp a few times then put the cap back on and continue to fill the overflow reservoir to full cold level line. Then start the car and let it run for about 10-15mins continually watching/filling the reservoir until the car is warm and it doesn't seem to be removing any more antifreeze from the reservoir. FINALLY let the car cool completely about an hour or so. And check the coolant one last time, the overflow reservoir that is, make sure it is filled to the full cold level line. NOTE: BE SURE NOT TO OVERFILL OR IT MAY LEAK OUT WHILE CAR IS RUNNING. Hope this helps

There could be many causes for a small leak, including foreign debris, small crack or loose hose. Using just water with no antifreeze can damage your radiator in sub 32 temps so always mix with coolant/antifreeze. One temp solution is buying stop leak from a auto part store, another remedy I've heard work is putting black pepper (finely ground) in your system to stop small leaks and it actually works. Good luck.

look close on the top of the radiator they crack there. and the other thing you can do is put a piece of card board under the front and run the car and see where it leaks

Hello again Vicki, you can read my first post to you on type. Now for where and how. Put suitable container under radiator drain valve. Start to drain old antifreeze, you can also loosen radiator cap for faster drain, but make sure antifreeze doesn't start to spill all over your driveway or garage floor. When radiator and engine are mostly drained, I would recommend to change the thermostat. Follow the top radiator hose down to the engine. This is where you'll find the thermostat. Remove the attaching bolts and remove thermostat.If you wish to flush your engine,you can put water down the thermostat hole as well as the radiator cap hole, or you can do a fancy flush. Shut drain below, reinstall thermostat housing without thermostat, fill radiator with fancy flush cleaning solution and water replace radiator cap ,run for time stated on can of flush. Now you go back to where I began and start the draining again. Dispose off antifreeze correctly it is dangerous to animals if they ingest. Close drain,and fill engine with antifreeze thru thermostat housing, when almost to top install new thermostat and gasket. fill radiator almost to top, start engine, open inside heater and let engine warm to operating temperature. At this time the antifreeze level will drop, because thermostat will open, and you can fill some more .This should eliminate any possible air bubbles. Fill your coolant tank. I would like to know how you make out. GOOD LUCK.

To drain your radiator, you will want the engine to be cold so you do not burn yourself. You will start by locating the pep-**** valve on the lower portion of the radiator. This may resemble a knob, or screw of some sort. You will then place a container under that area to catch the fluid/antifreeze that will come out of the radiator. Then you will take the radiator cap off (some models have the cap on the reservoir). Next you will loosen the pep-**** valve, and the fluid will then begin to drain. Once the fluid has drained, you will tighten the pep-**** valve, and then refill the system with the correct mixture of antifreeze and water. Remember that water is the catalyst that makes the antifreeze work, so make sure you use a 50/50 blend, and make sure that you use the recommended type of coolant, some models require that you use dex-cool, which is a synthetic coolant. To ensure that you have properly filled the cooling system to its correct capacity, you will want to start the car, turn on the heater, and add coolant until the system is full while remembering that the reservoir needs to be filled as well.

You may need to "burp" the system and get the air out. When car has completely cooled, take radiator a off, start car, let it warm up (but not overheat) and see if level drops. Add coolant/water mix to top it off. Never run straight antifreeze. At most a 50/50 mix of distilled water and antifreeze.
Air can get trapped in areas of the system when its been drained. Just monitor that temp and don't risk damaging the engine by overheating.

At the bottom of the radiator there is a plastic knob this is the petcock drain plug it can be hard to see and turn so you may need to jack up the front of the car a little to crawl under the front and look at the bottom of the radiator but if you can reach it from the top and turn it with a pair of pliers do so that way this will allow you to drain the radiator, remove the radiator cap if it has one to allow air to pass through radiator, if it has no radiator cap remove the cap on the radiator expansion reserve tank, after all antifreeze is drained turn petcock drain plug back in till tight then refill raidiator with 50% water 50% anti freeze mixture, start car and top off antifreeze run the car or drive for ten minutes then top off antifreeze.

for a major fill- fill radiator not on hot eng let cool fille rad & & open vent valves on engine

i had the same problem until i changed my water pump,so you might want to get that checked out