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When I put the block heater in and flushed the coolant system, I also put in a "winter thermostat" that opens 10 deg hotter. Should help keep me a bit warmer. I got some crappy heated seat pads from amazon for $20/each and my next project before it gets too cold is to wire them up to 12V...

@Marcus: When doing my research for this project, I ran across many other commentors who sing the praises of block heaters. Last winter in Chicago was somewhat mild (for Chicago), but despite a few below-zero (Fahrenheit) days my M1009 never faltered. I still want to have some insurance...

Thanks all. Here's what I ended up doing yesterday (it rained for 3 days so I had to wait). Bent the crap out of the aluminum rod I'd bought for this purpose. Pro tip: Use steel!!! Hunted for some kind of steel rod I could use and found the crank that goes with the truck's hydraulic jack...

I was using a screwdriver and coming up from underneath... hitting not the edge-edge, but the edge of the center indentation, and the screwdriver went right through it without the plug budging. I'll try something longer so I can get a better hammer swing at it.

Thanks Wayne, will try this tonite. Hoping for another nice afternoon. Hadda wake up at 5 and take the bus/subway 1.5 hrs to work today (groan). It's a 20 min trip in the M1009.

OK, I just got around to finishing this project (since it's starting to get cold). Radiator flushed, winter thermostat installed, but I've run into some problems with the freeze plug. I was hammering away at it with a screwdriver, punched a hole in it, drained all the remaining coolanty...

Hmm... it occurred to me that if I knock out one of those freeze plugs to install the block heater, I'll probably have 3 gallons of coolant all over the ground. Maybe I'll park down the street and do it there... :-/ (I'm an environmentalist and a chemist... if I spill any coolant I'll...

Well, here's what I did and what happened. Connected a hose (3/8" fuel hose, to be exact) to the radiator petcock. This hose was slightly too large and leaked, but only very slowly (drip.... drip... drip...). Drained the radiator and ended up with ~3 gallons of coolant. I replaced the...

So, can I get most or all of the coolant out by draining from the radiator? That'd be great if its that easy...

Need to replace my coolant hoses (because they're rubber...) but haven't been able to locate the drain petcock on the engine itself. I know the radiator one is on the drivers side at the bottom corner. My scan of the TM-20 hasn't helped, nor have any of the searches I've tried. Is there one...