Flushing Radiator\Soft plug on block??

[daugherty83]

Took my truck into the shop today to get one more transmission flush, and told the shop owner that I'm going to flush my radiator at home because I can't see any point in paying for a rad flush there only to have to flush again after driving it awhile and circulating the rest of the old milkshake through. My question is is it necessary to open a plug on the block (if T4R's even have one) to get a complete flush/drain? Or will filling, running, and draining be enough if it is done multiple times? The engine and new radiator were flushed when the initial milkshake mess happened , but I am still getting milkshake traces in overflow bottle and want to make sure everything is as clean as possile. Thanks guys

 

[Patrick4R]

I have the exact same problem. I flushed the engine after replacing the radiator by replacing the thermostat. I thought that I got everything, but after firing it up...I had a little bit of oil still rising to the surface. I think that it's just that though...going for the highest points in the system. I've been using a medicine dropped to remove what's at the top of the radiator and flushing the overflow here and there. The 3rd gen 4runners do have a block plug...but I don't know if it would do you much good to do it that way. I have a feeling that this oil will take quite a while to flush from our systems.

 

[brian2sun]

Pull the block plug on the passenger side and remove the thermostat (it serves as the plug for the driver's side).

 

[daugherty83]

I have not yet pulled the block plug or the thermostat, but drained my rad tonight and pulled the overflow tank and cleaned it. I will refill rad tomorrow with distilled water, start and run to normal operating temp with heat turned on. I will then drain again, and repeat once or twice more after that before refilling with 50/50 antifreeze for good. I took a good look at my antifreeze I drained tonight and it didn't look too bad. A thin layer on top as expected but the initial flush with flushing agents when it first happened a month or so ago did seem to help