I am going to change the thermostat on my 2005 Cat D5G but when I went under the front of it to take off the plate to access the drain I saw that the front weight covers the access plate. My D4G didn't have this weight and it was no problem to drain the antifreeze. Do I have to take off a heater hose on the side of the engine? Might get messy this way. Also when I installed a circulating heater on my D4G I took a plug out of the block near the back on the left side. No problem. On this D5G I noticed there is something attached to this different type of plug and a wire connected to it. I looked in the parts book but could not find this thing. Anyone know what this is? D5G has RKG prefex. Thanks
Got it done. Closed the heater hose valve on the left side, took off the heater hose, installed another hose then opened the valve to drain it to a pail.
I was thinking about this and doesn't the D5G's have a spout at the bottom of the radiator?
Yes there is a spout with about 12 inches of hose attached. I was thinking of using a piece of pipe to slide into the end of the hose and to slide another hose onto that and maybe use the oil drain door but since I only needed to drain enough to get under the thermostat I used the heater hose.