AU I6 motor general servicing questions

[Fairlane Al]

Hi Folks,

I have been trying to do a full service on my AU Fairlane. Oil and filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, leads, coolant and thermostat.

There are two things I'm not too sure about how to get done.

Firstly, the ignition leads. I figure the coil pack is somewhere under that inlet manifold, but I can't reach it well enough to actually be able to change the leads. I daresay there's some trick to gain access, so what's the consensus on the most efficient way to change the leads?

Also what's the most efficient way to drain all the coolant from the radiator, motor, and heater core? I would like to do a full replacement of the coolant as I don't trust the coolant it's currently running not as far as I can throw it. Will I get most of the coolant out[like as in 90% or more] by just draining out of the bottom hose, or do I need to do further to get all coolant out?

Thanks, Alex.

[Spurious]

There's no easy way to change leads. Remove & replace them one at a time (to avoid confusion) by reaching underneath the inlet. There's 3 bolts, 7mm I think, that hold coil in place. You can remove the coil to fit the leads to it, but still have to refit the coil & feed the leads through the inlet !!!
1 bolt at the rear of the coil, access it with socket extensions directly down between the inlet/head gaps.
2 bolts at the front should be easily accessible with a socket or ring spanner. Noise suppressor is under 1 front bolt.

Dropping the lowest hose is about the only way to drain most of the coolant.
If you get 90%, where's the problem with that?
If you want to be that fussy, drain & refill, run the engine/heater, then drain & fill again.

[Fairlane Al]

If dropping the hose gets most of the coolant except for a few drops that's good for me. So Falcon I6 motors are not like Commodore V6's where about 3 or 4 litres of coolant actually sits inside the engine block below where the radiator hose connects-eg it's very difficult to completely drain one?

I had a good reach around under that inlet manifold to see where that coil is, I can't even feel the ignition leads and can barely see where they are. Not overly happy to be honest, I have to ask how many AU Falcons are still running old ignition leads with an out of sight, out of mind type approach...

[Jack91]

Most AU's dont get maintenance unless theyre broken. Theyre au's. and its not that hard from underneath to pull the coil pack

[Maka]

Hi there, the airbox assembly can come out to give you more access to the coilpack. Good luck!

cheer's, Maka

[Davehoos]

ser 1 has different coil and leads to the 2 and 3.
It has different bolts to hold it to the engine mount, use a long 1/4 drive socket.
last time I had removed the throttle body to clean it and swapped a fuel rail and found the coil easy to replace from up top.
often the manifold gasket can need replacing and that allow a good time to replace all the coolant hoses and the gasket on the thermostat housing.

Use a BF thermostat [waxtat] and remove the radiator so you can check the lower parts of the radiator tanks and seal. don't leave empty.

get prices from ford dealer or the online ford parts disposal. find the stock parts give less trouble for most operators.