How To: Coolant Flush - PICTURES!

[ramonortiz55]

This is my write-up version of doing a coolant flush on my 2001 4runner Limited.

Picked up 3 gallons of anti-freeze, a radiator funnel perfect for the task, a bucket, and a few gallons of DISTILLED water.








Some people only do Toyota Red, I really don't care as long as it is Red.




First thing first, make sure vehicle is cool and parked at a small incline where the front end is higher than the rear. This ensures that the vehicle is burped properly, all water bubbles are out of the coolant system.

Pop the radiator cap off:




Remove any skid plates in the way and locate the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator. Keep in mind that the drain plug will back out all the way if turned out enough.



Drain the coolant. Yes, it was green. That's the reason I decided to convert to red.
If you have any pets, make sure that they stay away from the vehicle. The radiator fluid smells/tastes sweet to them and if they drink it, they die.

If any of it spills, immediately rinse it away.




Remember the specialty funnel?

This comes with various adapters for the radiator cap, locate the one that fits and put the funnel together. This is pretty much straight-forward:





Once the radiator has been drained, close the drain plug. Clean up any mess and scare off any wandering pets.

Fill up the radiator with distilled water:



You'll see some gurgling action as the water funnels into the radiator:

 

[ramonortiz55]

Once the radiator is "full", add more water until the funnel is about 3/4 full and turn on the vehicle:



Ensure the AC/heater is off and watch the temperature climb, on the gauge pictured - 123*



As the water pump cycles, you will see bubbles rising thru the water in the funnel and the water level start to drop. This is good. All air bubbles must be out. It might help a little to give the engine a bit gas..

Keep an eye on the water level, if it gets down too low, add more.



Once the engine starts warming up to about 190*ish..




Crank the heater to max, this ensures that the distilled water flushes thru the system.




If you have a rear heater, crank this up to max as well.




Leave the engine running with heater full blast for a good 15 - 20 minutes, sometimes longer. It all depends if you no longer see air bubbles come up at the funnel.

Once you believe that all the air bubbles are out, flush the water.




Depending on how clean you want your coolant system, you may want to repeat this cycle 2 or 3 times. Since I wanted to make sure I removed as much green coolant as possible, I did 4 cycles.

You will notice the water/coolant come out cleaner and cleaner after each cycle. It will be your call to determine when you are "satisfied"





Don't forget to drain your reservoir!




Once you are satisfied with the flushing of the radiator, do the final cycle:



1. Add red coolant until the radiator is full.
2. Once full, fill the funnel until it is about 1/2 full.
3. Start the truck and burp it to remove all the air bubbles as instructed above.

Once all the air bubbles are out, fill the reservoir to the cold/max level and you are good to go.

After a few days of driving, check the reservoir and radiator levels. Top off if needed.

***Caution, do not open the radiator when it is hot***

 

[ramonortiz55]

[MENTION=139892]FrenchToasty[/MENTION] - The inspector wasn't allowed to be in the area for this project!

 

[FrenchToasty]

[MENTION=139892]FrenchToasty[/MENTION] - The inspector wasn't allowed to be in the area for this project!

Your such a good cat dad! I'm sure he was patiently waiting in the window or raining havock on the other fur ball!
I almost took a pic and tagged you in it the other morning; woke up and started making my lunch, noticed big boy dug his face into the produce bag of tomatoes.......lil jerk ate half of a tomatoe!!!

Another nice write up!

 

[Wedgy]

Thanks ! I'm saving this for when I change my radiator, timing belt, etc.

 

[catrains]

a very good post on the flush and tools .

Just to others about this changing of the coolant to another type YOU BETTER MAKE SURE ALL THAT OLD COOLANT IS GONE !
MIXING COOLANTS IS DISASTER..

 

[thegipper]

Nice write up.

I essentially did exactly what you did except on my second flush or water, I added a bottle of prestone cooling system flush. My radiator which was only a couple years old, had some serious sludgy crap going on. The coolant flush stuff definitely helped remove all of that junk.

I think I ended up flushing mine 5 times total until the water was essentially clear.

 

[ramonortiz55]

Your such a good cat dad! I'm sure he was patiently waiting in the window or raining havock on the other fur ball!
I almost took a pic and tagged you in it the other morning; woke up and started making my lunch, noticed big boy dug his face into the produce bag of tomatoes.......lil jerk ate half of a tomatoe!!!

Another nice write up!

HALF a tomato? LOL

 

[JohnOfTheJungle]

Thanks for the write up. One question - where you say “Once you believe all the air bubbles are out, flush the water” is that done with a hose or just pulling the plug and letting it drain?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sambishop]

When draining the coolant/water, it's not too difficult to get the coolant drain port that's located on the passenger side of the engine block. Doing this might help out a bit with the amount of flushes it takes to clear the system of the old coolant.

 

[Kanoe]

When draining the coolant/water, it's not too difficult to get the coolant drain port that's located on the passenger side of the engine block. Doing this might help out a bit with the amount of flushes it takes to clear the system of the old coolant.

It for sure does. On the 3rz and Corolla 7AFE quite a bit of liquid and sediment is trapped in this low point. I would recommend pulling the plug if you are trying to do a proper flush.

For future drain and fills with the same coolant I do not intend to pull it again.

 

[Wedgy]

I'm new to 4runners so if anyone has time to post a picture of the coolant drain port that's located on engine block I would appreciate it.
I just read the thread about the guy changing his motor oil but drained the tranny instead....

 

[ramonortiz55]

Thanks for the write up. One question - where you say “Once you believe all the air bubbles are out, flush the water” is that done with a hose or just pulling the plug and letting it drain?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You drain the water the same way the coolant was drained initially, but turning the radiator plug to drain.

 

[ramonortiz55]

When draining the coolant/water, it's not too difficult to get the coolant drain port that's located on the passenger side of the engine block. Doing this might help out a bit with the amount of flushes it takes to clear the system of the old coolant.

This. I was too lazy so I just ran multiple cycles.

 

[infamousRNR]

if you want to watch a video in case you have any questions and wanna watch instead of read i have the ANSWER FOR YOU!

https://youtu.be/oQsxmi-CNng

We use that same Lisle radiator funnel too!

 

[Hoye0017]

When draining the coolant/water, it's not too difficult to get the coolant drain port that's located on the passenger side of the engine block. Doing this might help out a bit with the amount of flushes it takes to clear the system of the old coolant.

The other benefit to doing this is that it keeps your mixture ratio correct when you finally fill it with 50/50.

There's still plenty of water left in the block when you just drain at the radiator. Even though you got the green out, the remaining clean water will further dilute the mix. I've heard that maintaining the mix ratio is important for the life of the cooling system parts but I'm not sure why or if that's true.

 

[ramonortiz55]

if you want to watch a video in case you have any questions and wanna watch instead of read i have the ANSWER FOR YOU!

https://youtu.be/oQsxmi-CNng

We use that same Lisle radiator funnel too!

this is a great video, i used this it as a reference while doing this project. For those that like getting into the nitty gritty, these videos are gold.

this writeup is intended for those that prefer reading instead of watching the videos

 

[mtbtim]

The other benefit to doing this is that it keeps your mixture ratio correct when you finally fill it with 50/50.

There's still plenty of water left in the block when you just drain at the radiator. Even though you got the green out, the remaining clean water will further dilute the mix. I've heard that maintaining the mix ratio is important for the life of the cooling system parts but I'm not sure why or if that's true.

Ok, you've drained the .5-1 pint of water out of the engine block. A guy posted a picture of what he got out of the engine block and it looked like no more than 1 pint. What about the left-over water in the heater core, heater core lines and the lines that run to the rear heater?

There's a way to figure out how much water is left in the engine block, heater core, heater core lines and rear heater lines. In the back of you owners manual, it tells you the capacity of your cooling system. There's the capacity numbers for rigs with the rear heater and without the rear heater. On your last flush, drain the radiator and measure how much you removed. Subtract what you removed from what the cooling system capacity is and you've figured out what's left over. Now take the same amount of antifreeze concentrate and add that in first which will make what's left in the engine, heater core, heater core lines and rear heater lines a 50/50 mix. Finish up with filling the system with 50/50 mix, burp the system, and you're good to go.

 

[silverturbo]

Ok, you've drained the .5-1 pint of water out of the engine block. A guy posted a picture of what he got out of the engine block and it looked like no more than 1 pint. What about the left-over water in the heater core, heater core lines and the lines that run to the rear heater?

There's a way to figure out how much water is left in the engine block, heater core, heater core lines and rear heater lines. In the back of you owners manual, it tells you the capacity of your cooling system. There's the capacity numbers for rigs with the rear heater and without the rear heater. On your last flush, drain the radiator and measure how much you removed. Subtract what you removed from what the cooling system capacity is and you've figured out what's left over. Now take the same amount of antifreeze concentrate and add that in first which will make what's left in the engine, heater core, heater core lines and rear heater lines a 50/50 mix. Finish up with filling the system with 50/50 mix, burp the system, and you're good to go.

Tim,

First of all, I want to say Thank You for all your videos.

I've been reading several forums regarding the 50/50 mix being the number to obtain. I'm planning to use Zerex 50/50 mix. They don't have a 100% concentrate to add for the remaining water left behind after a flush.

Please let me know what you think about the following information and verify my math.

Total coolant amount = 9.5 quarts.

Water flushed out = 8 quarts.
Water remaining = 1.5.

Add 8 quarts of 50/50 coolant = 4 qt. concentrate/4 qt. water.

4 qt. coolant divided by 9.5 qt. = 42% coolant.
5.5 qt. water divided by 9.5 qt. = 58% coolant.

Now, I understand that this isn't a 50/50 mix, but as per Valvoline coolant chart, this is a acceptable percentage.

Do you agree?

Thank you.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

[mtbtim]

Tim,

First of all, I want to say Thank You for all your videos.

I've been reading several forums regarding the 50/50 mix being the number to obtain. I'm planning to use Zerex 50/50 mix. They don't have a 100% concentrate to add for the remaining water left behind after a flush.

Please let me know what you think about the following information and verify my math.

Total coolant amount = 9.5 quarts.

Water flushed out = 8 quarts.
Water remaining = 1.5.

Add 8 quarts of 50/50 coolant = 4 qt. concentrate/4 qt. water.

4 qt. coolant divided by 9.5 qt. = 42% coolant.
5.5 qt. water divided by 9.5 qt. = 58% coolant.

Now, I understand that this isn't a 50/50 mix, but as per Valvoline coolant chart, this is a acceptable percentage.

Do you agree?

Thank you.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Hey Luis, you'll be fine. As long as you don't live or visit an area with sub-zero temperatures, you'll be golden. The next time you renew your coolant, a full flush isn't necessary. Just do a drain and refill of the radiator. Full flushes are for people who have either let their coolant get in really bad shape or you are switching from one brand of coolant to another and you need to fully flush out the other brand first.

When a shop does a flush for you, do you think they are doing the math we're doing to make sure there's a 50/50 mix left in the system when they're all done? I seriously doubt it. They're going to perform the flush and then top off the system with a 50/50 mix and call it good.