what is the proper way to do coolant flush?

[TC4Rnr]

the coolant flush is long over due(120k miles), so I went ahead bought
two jugs of pink Toyota OEM longlife coolant. they are pre-mixed it says on the label "pre-diluted, do not add water".

if I just drain the radiator, there is still plenty of old coolant in the engine block. my question is, how do I get them out?

normally I would just be sticking a water hose in the radiator to flush out them out and put new fluid in. but with the Toyota OEM longlife coolant, there's no way i could do it without further dilute the pre-diluted coolant.

is there an engine block drain hole?

 

[kimboy]

Park on a decline.

Use an empty gallon milk jug and buy some 1/4" tubing from the hardware store.

Attach tubing to the drain valve at the edge of the radiator, and open. (Might want to dip one end of the tubing in warm water for a few seconds to allow for easy fit on the drain valve)

Remove 1 gallon of old coolant, and refill with one of the gallon coolant jugs you have.

Repeat the process the following weekend and you should be good for another 60K miles.

(assuming you have a '03+)

 

[jeober]

Here's a method: Drain the radiator (about 1 gallon); add 1 gallon fresh water, let it heat up and circulate; drain out another gallon.

Repeat this 3 or 4 times until you have mostly clear water in the system. Drain and the last 1 gallon fill should be 100% antifreeze. Since the system is approx 2 gallons, you'll end up with about a 50/50 mix.

You could drain fluid from each side of the block through drain plugs but this is real work.

 

[EH007]

You should never put plain tap water into your radiator because of the minerals present in it.

Since you already have the pre-mixed Toyota coolant, youl would have to drain and refill several times (after running the engine each time) to ensure that all of the "old" coolant was removed from the cooling system. If you bring your vehicle to the dealer, they'll use a machine that flushes the old stuff out quickly and very efficiently. Either way, it's up to you.

 

[Kmvreter]

Here's a method: Drain the radiator (about 1 gallon); add 1 gallon fresh water, let it heat up and circulate; drain out another gallon.

Repeat this 3 or 4 times until you have mostly clear water in the system. Drain and the last 1 gallon fill should be 100% antifreeze. Since the system is approx 2 gallons, you'll end up with about a 50/50 mix.

You could drain fluid from each side of the block through drain plugs but this is real work.

Beside the concern with using tap water, this method would actually further dilute the already 50/50 mix. I don't think you can get the OEM Super Long Life (SLL pink) as straight coolant, just premixed.
Do as others suggest with a partial change. Check your owner's manual for the actual volume depending on your engine (more than 2 gallons). I change out 1 jug per year as a refresh.

 

[TC4Rnr]

Problem is, when I bought it, owner's manual didn't come with it.

 

[jeober]

Tap water is OK in the radiator.

I don't want any replies to this - I have 28 years of automotive engineering experience, along with 30+ patents in the field -- just consider this as my advice.

 

[BlairB]

Tap water is OK in the radiator.

I don't want any replies to this - I have 28 years of automotive engineering experience, along with 30+ patents in the field -- just consider this as my advice.

:iagree:

 

[Ru44er20]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I was planning on doing a coolant flush on my 02 since I just bought it. But like the poster above said, if I run distilled water through the system until its only distilled water and then drain it, will there not be a gallon of distilled left in the system, if so I would be correct in only adding back a gallon of full concentrate toyota red correct?

 

[Morphyne]

Yes. That is whzt you sant to do. Except for the whole distilled water thing. That is just stupid. There is a reason thzt idiot got banned.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Best way to do it is to simply drain the radiator and the block, then add new coolant and burp the bubbles out.

There's no need to get it "Squeaky" clean as it's a closed system (unless you or the previous owner buggered that up and added anything other than SLLC).

The point here is to drain as much of the old coolant out and put fresh coolant in, it's not about getting every last drop out, but rather getting as much fresh coolant with fresh additives into the system. This is the same thing with transmission fluid, yes it's nice to have it all shiny and fresh, but the idea is to replenish the additives in the fluid which do the majority of the work rather than "clean it all out spotlessly."

There is some truth to avoiding distilled water these days, I am still not entirely convinced yet; but there's some data to show that with how very specific coolants are these days and how much stuff is missing from them on purpose (i.e. silicates bromines, ect) that distilled water flushing can cause an oddball metallurgical reaction that causes accelerated wear/damage if used for flushing in these systems.

 

[07V8]

Best way to do it is to simply drain the radiator and the block, then add new coolant and burp the bubbles out.

There's no need to get it "Squeaky" clean as it's a closed system (unless you or the previous owner buggered that up and added anything other than SLLC).

The point here is to drain as much of the old coolant out and put fresh coolant in, it's not about getting every last drop out, but rather getting as much fresh coolant with fresh additives into the system. This is the same thing with transmission fluid, yes it's nice to have it all shiny and fresh, but the idea is to replenish the additives in the fluid which do the majority of the work rather than "clean it all out spotlessly."

There is some truth to avoiding distilled water these days, I am still not entirely convinced yet; but there's some data to show that with how very specific coolants are these days and how much stuff is missing from them on purpose (i.e. silicates bromines, ect) that distilled water flushing can cause an oddball metallurgical reaction that causes accelerated wear/damage if used for flushing in these systems.

How easy are the block valves on the V8 to get to? Any special adapters needed or will a regular wrench/socket get to them?

 

[jfry008]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I was planning on doing a coolant flush on my 02 since I just bought it. But like the poster above said, if I run distilled water through the system until its only distilled water and then drain it, will there not be a gallon of distilled left in the system, if so I would be correct in only adding back a gallon of full concentrate toyota red correct?

You can probably get better feedback in the 3rd gen forum

 

[BlackWorksInc]

How easy are the block valves on the V8 to get to? Any special adapters needed or will a regular wrench/socket get to them?

Shouldn't be too bad to get to, you should be able to access them from the sides if you turn the wheel and pull the rubber splash shields out of the way.

They take a 10mm socket or wrench to loosen (you'll see a spigot looking fixture with a nut on top, you only need to loosen not remove to get it flowing) and a small hose to lead the coolant to a drain pan.

They look like this:

That one is on the Passenger side, the other one will be around the same spot on the driver's side. You can see the hose I have connected to it to help guide the coolant.

 

[jamesewells]

I'm ok with refilling the radiator, but where does the overflow tank fit into the process? Do you fill the overflow container after you have re-filled the radiator? Sorry if this is s dumb question. Gonna change my radiator this weekend...

 

[radlynx]

I'm ok with refilling the radiator, but where does the overflow tank fit into the process? Do you fill the overflow container after you have re-filled the radiator? Sorry if this is s dumb question. Gonna change my radiator this weekend...

yes, overflow tank is there to catch the fluid when its hot and suck fluid in when needed.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[4runherpow]

Hi, hate to bring up an old thread. Could really use some words of wisdom though.

I did something stupid today - I noticed my coolant reservoir was low so I went rummaging through my fluid cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Dexcool (Orange). Without thinking (was tired I guess) I topped off with about .75 qt and closed her up.

On my way home tonight I realized that was totally stupid so I went to look up the repercussions and great, it actually can be pretty bad to mix the pink with dexcool. Dammit :sobbing:

Can someone please help tell me what to do? I only drove about 10 miles. Any shot I can just take a turkey baster and suck the reservoir? To be safe I probably should flush it though huh?

Can someone tell me what they would do? Like how many flushes with water before refilling with pink, etc. maybe [MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] could chime in.

I never flushed my 4runner before so not sure all the right steps for 06 V8. Did I really screw things up?? I need this truck to last and I just read horror stories about mixing dexcool and blown head gaskets!!

Thanks in advance

 

[AuSeeker]

Suck out as much as you can, drain the radiator if you're capable of doing that, then refill with pink coolant, then do a flush as soon as you can, I doubt that the small amount you put in the reservoir would do much if any harm since you haven't continued driving it.

 

[4runherpow]

Thanks [MENTION=149207]AuSeeker[/MENTION]

I can suck it out and get to the dealership. Hate doing that but I’m low on time.

Do you think their “flush” is enough to get that crap out of the system? Sometimes these flushes seem like less than comprehensive. Never done a coolant one at a Toyota dealership though…

Thanks again

 

[AuSeeker]

Thanks [MENTION=149207]AuSeeker[/MENTION]

I can suck it out and get to the dealership. Hate doing that but I’m low on time.

Do you think their “flush” is enough to get that crap out of the system? Sometimes these flushes seem like less than comprehensive. Never done a coolant one at a Toyota dealership though…

Thanks again

Since you're doing the flush soon, just refill the reservoir with distill water, no reason to waste any pink coolant.

I'ts hard to say about the dealership's flush but it should, in my experience some dealerships (even Toyota) are very good and some aren't, after all they are just a "Branded" garage, some are not as good as a good independent garage and some are or better, just be clear to them as to why you're doing the flush and you want all the old coolant removed before the new coolant is added.