Coolant flush (1 Viewer)

[brockdeck]

First time doing this, so after going through many posts I want to finally get some clarity. Doing a coolant flush and putting in Toyo Red to replace the Prestone Green thats currently in the system.

Can somebody explain to me how I ensure that I completely flush the system and both heater cores? I don't want any green and red gelling.

Is it worth it to have the dealer flush the system completely and do this? Or is it a waste of my money?

 

[bryson]

I do it this way - that doesn't mean it's right, but it's what I do:

Turn the heater selector in the cab to hot to open the heater control valve
Remove radiator cap
Drain radiator at drain cock - leave it open
Drain engine block via the plug on the left side of the engine block under the intake manifold (assuming 1FZ-FE) - leave it open
Remove the upper and lower radiator hose ends at the radiator
Unbolt the thermostat housing and remove the thermostat - then reinstall housing sans thermostat

At this point I'd take the rig outside and run the garden hose through the radiator until it runs clear. I'd then wedge the garden hose in the open end of the lower radiator hose with a rag or something to mostly seal it. Run the hose and force the water up through the engine to flush things until clear water runs out the end of the upper radiator hose (and block drain). I will then start the engine with the hose still running (mind the cooling fan!!!) and just let the water puke/dump/spray everywhere for a minute or two.

When done, allow all water to drain from everywhere, close all drains up, reattach all hoses, reinstall a new thermostat and o-ring, then fill with 50/50 mix of your favorite color coolant and distilled water.

Capture all coolant possible and dispose of properly.

Hopefully I didn't forget any important steps - I am assuming that step #6 was happening simultaneously with the above.

 

[ajax1]

Open rad drain
Open block plug located above starter to the left drain
Fill with water cycle system drain
Do water again till water come out clear
If I were you I'd stick with green and save money
Drain rad every two years refill

 

[Rifleman]

I for one would never use tap water to flush with, at a buck a gallon distilled water is cheap enough to use to flush your whole cooling system with. I buy 12 to 14 gallons of distilled water to use for my flush along with 2 gallons of green coolant. First step is to start the truck, turn both heaters on high, and run it till it gets up to operating temp, then stop the engine.

Then i open the block, and radiator drains, to allow as much of the old coolant as possible to drain out. Next i close both drains, and refill the system with distilled water. I then start the engine, reopen the drains and watch the coolant coming out till it runs clear, all the while I'm topping off the radiator with distilled water. Once I'm getting clear water coming out of both drains, i stop the motor.

I allow the water to keep draining out, till no more will drain. I then close both drains, refill the cooling system again, but this time with a 50/50 mix of green coolant and distilled water. Restart the engine with both heaters on high, and continue topping off the system till it's full. Don't forget to fill the overflow tank with a mixture of 50/50 coolant too. Over the next few days you'll want to keep an eye on the overflow tank, and keep adding coolant to it till it remains full over night.

 

[izzyandsue]

This is how i did mine, pics and videos. Start at post 116 on the top one, the second one is for heater flush.

Izzy's amateur hour

Heater Core Flushing - OWNED!

 

[steffan]

Did mine similar to above and found that after a week driving around there had still been red (went from red to green) trapped in the system somewhere. Ended up doing it again just to be sure.

 

[Dave 2000]

I had to change the rad, pulled the hoses, heater tap to hot (ign on), refilled with pre mix green, run engine 20 mins, drained refilled with green pre mix job done.

Don't get dragged into the green versus red BS.

Regards

Dave

 

[BILT4ME]

On my "final flush" I filled the system with distilled water and drove it to work for the day, then drained and refilled. I did this 6 times before it was clear enough. (I did the garden hose thing the first time to get the big stuff out.)

At the end I then put in (1) gallon of 100% coolant (I used Toyota Red then, but next time will go back to green due to availability and cost)
Then I mixed one gallon of 50/50 and poured it in. I kept doing that until it was full. I did this while the heater valve was OPEN, the front of the truck was up on ramps to get the nose up high. Then I started the truck with the radiator cap OFF until it came up to temp. Then I installed the cap.

Don't forget to clean out the overflow / recovery tank and fill it accordingly with 50/50 when you get it all going. Check it when cool over the next few days (both the radiator and the tank) to make sure levels are being maintained.

 

[brockdeck]

Thanks for all the help guys. Want to save money and take care of my rig and your tips are extremely helpful

 

[Irish Reiver]

I started doing mine today and I planned to change out all the radiator hoses with the set I got from @NLXTACY . In my mind I was expecting a fairly simple job but no... My York compressor for my OBA and my trail oven from @yodaTEQ sure make for an awkward job. I ended up having to remove the OBS manifold and the air filter assembly just to get the bottom hoses off. At least it is [nearly] done and I should not have to worry about them again for another 20 odd years.

 

[SaturnAscends]

On my "final flush" I filled the system with distilled water and drove it to work for the day, then drained and refilled. I did this 6 times before it was clear enough. (I did the garden hose thing the first time to get the big stuff out.)

At the end I then put in (1) gallon of 100% coolant (I used Toyota Red then, but next time will go back to green due to availability and cost)
Then I mixed one gallon of 50/50 and poured it in. I kept doing that until it was full. I did this while the heater valve was OPEN, the front of the truck was up on ramps to get the nose up high. Then I started the truck with the radiator cap OFF until it came up to temp. Then I installed the cap.

Don't forget to clean out the overflow / recovery tank and fill it accordingly with 50/50 when you get it all going. Check it when cool over the next few days (both the radiator and the tank) to make sure levels are being maintained.

Did you drain from the rad and block all 6 times? And does that dirty water have to be disposed of at a parts store or is it diluted enough to go down the drain?

Also, were you able to catch all the coolant out of the block drain without it making a mess all over the axles and frame? I'm trying not to turn my apartment parking lot into a superfund site lol.

The summer heat is finally here to stay and I'm fixing to finally get this done on my truck.

Thanks

 

[BILT4ME]

Did you drain from the rad and block all 6 times? And does that dirty water have to be disposed of at a parts store or is it diluted enough to go down the drain?

Also, were you able to catch all the coolant out of the block drain without it making a mess all over the axles and frame? I'm trying not to turn my apartment parking lot into a superfund site lol.

The summer heat is finally here to stay and I'm fixing to finally get this done on my truck

Thanks

I captured all of the coolant I could on my initial drain.

Yes I pulled the block plug every time.

On the distilled water flushes, I dumped to the driveway and rinsed the drive with a garden hose.
In our state it is not REQUIRED to hazmat dispose of coolant, but it is recommended. Yes, I still have the jugs of old coolant in my garage and will take to the disposal site when I have time. Our FLAPS do not take coolant to recycle.

Look up your local laws to make sure you are following it legally. Yes, I am concerned for the environment and am aware that all the ends up in streams rivers and water supply. The amount of actual coolant present in the flushes is minimal. The water is discolored due to a tiny amount of coolant as well as minerals and other things in the system.

 

[SaturnAscends]

I captured all of the coolant I could on my initial drain.

Yes I pulled the block plug every time.

On the distilled water flushes, I dumped to the driveway and rinsed the drive with a garden hose.
In our state it is not REQUIRED to hazmat dispose of coolant, but it is recommended. Yes, I still have the jugs of old coolant in my garage and will take to the disposal site when I have time. Our FLAPS do not take coolant to recycle.

Look up your local laws to make sure you are following it legally. Yes, I am concerned for the environment and am aware that all the ends up in streams rivers and water supply. The amount of actual coolant present in the flushes is minimal. The water is discolored due to a tiny amount of coolant as well as minerals and other things in the system.

Thanks. I might try to remove as much as I can from the rad and firewall heater hose so i can fit a 5/8" hose on the block drain to direct it into a canister.

 

[BILT4ME]

Thanks. I might try to remove as much as I can from the rad and firewall heater hose so i can fit a 5/8" hose on the block drain to direct it into a canister.

The block drain is not a petcock. It is a BPT plug that you're not going to find an adapter for easily.

I drained the radiator to get the majority of everything out the first time. It took a 5 gallon bucket and two oil pans to catch as much as possible while it splattered everywhere.

When I pulled the block plug it provides a nice stream that I captured in an ice cream bucket as it drained down, I just held the bucket under the stream as it moved toward the block.

I had the LF wheel off so I had clear access to that side because I was also doing the PHH.

You can dump oil dry under the engine area to create a dike to contain the coolant you miss. Do this before you start and pour it around your area in about a 3" tall mound so it contains it and soaks it up. Position your truck so your work area is uphill from where the coolant will run off to so you're not crawling through your mound of oil dry.

 

[Saito]

The block drain is not a petcock. It is a BPT plug that you're not going to find an adapter for easily.

I drained the radiator to get the majority of everything out the first time. It took a 5 gallon bucket and two oil pans to catch as much as possible while it splattered everywhere.

When I pulled the block plug it provides a nice stream that I captured in an ice cream bucket as it drained down, I just held the bucket under the stream as it moved toward the block.

I had the LF wheel off so I had clear access to that side because I was also doing the PHH.

You can dump oil dry under the engine area to create a dike to contain the coolant you miss. Do this before you start and pour it around your area in about a 3" tall mound so it contains it and soaks it up. Position your truck so your work area is uphill from where the coolant will run off to so you're not crawling through your mound of oil dry.

You can get a petcock for the block drain. I’ve got one waiting to go in. Want to say it came from Joey @ witsend. I’ll post a pic once I’m back home.

 

[Malleus]

On my to do list:

Absolute Wit's End block drain petcock. Now if @NLXTACY would just get the radiator petcock, with a similar drain tube, I could move on the updating the other systems on my 80s.

 

[BILT4ME]

My block drain while I'm trying to install the new upgrade shown above:

 

[Bambusiero]

You can think of a flush as a 2 part process.
1st part - dynamic washing - sweep away crumbs of crud out the dark corners it settles in - with fast moving hose water, from every flow direction you can arrange.
2nd part - purification - get rid of residual impure tap wash water - dilute with the pure stuff - distilled water..

 

[jpoole]

I'll add that when trying to get the tap water out I'll pull the upper rad hose (etc. as makes sense) and stick my shop vac line (set to blow) in there for a bit. This seems to help blow water out to some extent and you can blow in different directions/holes to get more water out than the draining alone does. Ideally you actually blow the water out, vs. evaporating it in the system where it will leave deposits as it evaporates.

The shop vac blowing can help get distilled water out also, for instance if you wanted to really nail the coolant to water ratio, though I don't think getting all the distilled out after draining matters too much.

Filling with distilled dilutes the remaining hard water and gets most of it out when you drain and is worth running for a period after tap water for this reason. That said, unless your tap water is super hard I wouldn't be that worried about the minerals from a little residual tap water in the system. That opinion's based on years of operating raw water cooled engines in salt water and seeing other abuse far worse than a few ounces of tap water left in a cooling system

While I'm not super picky about a little tap water getting left in the system I am very into keeping the coolant fresh and recommend that anyone with a liquid cooled engine that they like do the same for it. Towards that end I do a drain/refill every year to try to prevent electrolysis/corrosion in the system by keeping the coolant fresh so that it's corrosion inhibitors are effective. This over time also removes impurities/etc., like from the last tapwater flush I did years ago at this point, etc. I also wash out the overflow bottle, associated plumbing and radiator cap to keep them working well and every year enjoy removing the film/build up that I find in them.

Good luck getting your cooling system clean again, it's well worth the effort