I have followed the manual to drain the coolant but have only managed to drain about 5 litres obviously there is another 6/7 litres to go.

Any one any idea where those litres may be?
I don't think the drain tap itself is blocked but can it block in the radiator and if so how do I clear it.

I tried removing the bleed screw and applying a little pressure but just got some gurgling.

Thanks Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged 2006
Ford Focus EcoBoost 1.5 2017
MG TF 2003

Previous Cars of note
Land Rover Discovery 2
Jaguar Mk2 3.8 - Company car
MG Midget 1974 - Concours

Top it off with water and then run it for a while until the thermostat opens. That will mix the coolant let in the system with the water. Then drain it again. You may have to repeat that a few times until you see it draining clear water. Then refill it with coolant. Just be aware that (at least on my 2009 4.2) I created a nasty airlock that tooks some time and effort (and air pressure and engine revs) to get rid of. It was a PITA. Perhaps waiting until the system cools and the thermostat closes (which I didn't do) will help avoid that, but I'm not sure. 2009 L322 SC

the easiest way i found was to get under neath and pop the quick release pipes off at the lowest points.

also they will be an absolute paint to bleed back up if its been totally emptied.

oen of many ways i found was -

start by filling on the expansion bottle, then take the return pipe off the supercahrger radiator doesnt matter which one. at tsame time make sure the bleed screw for the SC pump is open so you know when its coming out of there.

when starting it up make sure all vents are set to hot (this is quite important) and make sure to set that before start up.

then turn key to igntion on but not started so that the SC pump starts to prime the whole system for you (also make sure the bleed screw on expansion tank is open)

then fire it up and get to temp on drive cosntantly checking the expansion tank and topping up as required

then when your feeling brave go for a short drive and take coolant with you to top up when out and about and just keep checking i ended up bleeding ours about 5 times in total and that was after the first time of been recovered on the aa wagon and i thought i had bleed it properly then.

Matt If In Doubt Give It A Clout

Previous Vehicles:
Land Rover 110 3.5 V8 (is my dads though)
1.9TD Seat Toledo
1.4 Rover 214 (dont ask)
2.0 Nissan Primera SLX (i want it back)
1.4 Seat Ibiza
996cc Toyota Aygo (I miss this car???)

04 TD5 Discovery 2 (my Current Car)
07 4.2 SC FF (wifes car)

Agreed, Matt. I worked on that stupid airlock for a couple of hours, looking for another bleed screw that doesn't exist. The small one on the SC pump and the main one on the expansion tank are of limited value. I finally got my neighbor who is a 20+year Toyota master tech to help me. We took turns holding an air hose from my compressor in the expansion tank (we did this just creating a seal with our hands, but it could be done much more easily with the adapter that screws onto the tank.) and the other running the engine at 3000-4000 RPM to increase the pump pressure and pull the coolant into the system and the air out. Obviously making sure that the expansion tank had coolant in it so it wasn't pulling in more air. It still took 20 minutes to be reasonably sure we had all the air out. Not a job I'm looking forward to repeating in a couple of years. 2009 L322 SC

yeah it wasnt fun for me, but i like your idea will be stealing that in the future.

im slightly lucky as we have the coolant pipes for a gas conversion kit still hanging around so i was able to also bleed through them,

Matt If In Doubt Give It A Clout

Previous Vehicles:
Land Rover 110 3.5 V8 (is my dads though)
1.9TD Seat Toledo
1.4 Rover 214 (dont ask)
2.0 Nissan Primera SLX (i want it back)
1.4 Seat Ibiza
996cc Toyota Aygo (I miss this car???)

04 TD5 Discovery 2 (my Current Car)
07 4.2 SC FF (wifes car)

Thanks for all the advice, just given up for today, its too hot!

But I had no luck getting it drained properly, so as matthughes said I'll pop one of the pipes off tomorrow, mind you as you all know there is precious little space under there. I can only just get my fingers on the drain cock.

The flow is very slow from the drain cock is that normal?
How long should it take to drain down?

I can then look forward to the bleeding! Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged 2006
Ford Focus EcoBoost 1.5 2017
MG TF 2003

Previous Cars of note
Land Rover Discovery 2
Jaguar Mk2 3.8 - Company car
MG Midget 1974 - Concours

My drain petcock let fluid flow out quite quickly. It seemed to flow as I'd expect from a hole that size. Perhaps keep loosing it after it starts draining. It is a bit "long-threaded". I agree on the difficult of getting enough space to remove the lower hoses. That and the fact that I'm probably overparanoid about breaking something else while trying to do a basic maintenance task. At the end of the job (after three cycles of water/fun/drain) I managed to get about 10 liters or so of new coolant back into the system. But the concentration seems to be enough to make the sensors happy. 2009 L322 SC

so i had tjhe un der tray off wehn i did mine so had loads of room.

as for slow flow i had quite nice flow throuhg the tap, but if its slow just us an air line and blow back in could be so me gunk in the way

Matt If In Doubt Give It A Clout

Previous Vehicles:
Land Rover 110 3.5 V8 (is my dads though)
1.9TD Seat Toledo
1.4 Rover 214 (dont ask)
2.0 Nissan Primera SLX (i want it back)
1.4 Seat Ibiza
996cc Toyota Aygo (I miss this car???)

04 TD5 Discovery 2 (my Current Car)
07 4.2 SC FF (wifes car)

I am now pretty sure that my drain is blocked and has got worse each time I attempt to drain the system. The drain cock looks like this...

Airlocks are a nightmare, I spent hours trying to get mine out after replacing the alternator. The first clue was that the heater stayed cold and the temperature gauge stayed where it started!  Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

I feel bad that I feel good about not being the only one that had this problem. 2009 L322 SC

first top tip let the engine cool first no burning of hands.

there is a hose that is also a little lower,

two the right of you arrow there is a pruple block with red hoses, pop one of them as well..

ultimately though, drop the under tray so you can look up with out any issues, then take off all the lowest pipes, they all have the quick release type connector, this will drain the system right down.

Matt If In Doubt Give It A Clout

Previous Vehicles:
Land Rover 110 3.5 V8 (is my dads though)
1.9TD Seat Toledo
1.4 Rover 214 (dont ask)
2.0 Nissan Primera SLX (i want it back)
1.4 Seat Ibiza
996cc Toyota Aygo (I miss this car???)

04 TD5 Discovery 2 (my Current Car)
07 4.2 SC FF (wifes car)

The latest update..

I disconnected the two lower hoses and roughly a litre of coolant came out, I was expecting rather a lot more, but assumed that my system was empty.

On refilling I only got 5 litres of neat coolant into the car. So somehow I am still missing around 7 litres.
I've bled the system but I am sure there is more air there as many of you have said. But the car runs at the right temperature with no sign of overheating.

I intend to leave it at that for now, however when I change the primary and secondary belts I may drain down again and remove the thermostat to see if that helps but I think the thermostat is ok as the main fan kicks in at the correct temperature which I monitored via the dash and my icarsoft .

I knew these cars can be a pain to fill but to empty that's been a surprise. Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged 2006
Ford Focus EcoBoost 1.5 2017
MG TF 2003

Previous Cars of note
Land Rover Discovery 2
Jaguar Mk2 3.8 - Company car
MG Midget 1974 - Concours