Coolant Flush....

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p8nt

p8nt

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WOW....I just spent a hour reading up on a possible coolant flush and i might be more confused now than when i started! I just bought a 97 TLC with 152k. Coolant looks discusting, definetly needs a flush. Problem is I cant tell if its a dirty green or a dirty red. Am I safe if I just take it to the local Toyota dealership and tell them i need it flushed? im assuming they will use the toyota red, but im not sure if its red that would be coming out and I hear you dont want to go from green to red or vice verse. Im also assuming they posses the knowlegde to do the flush properly. Any thoughts?
 
As long as it is thorougly flushed with fresh water before the final refill with a fresh coolant/distilled water mixture, you can switch from green to red or vice versa. The main thing is to avoid mixing different types of coolant in the vehicle's cooling system. It's pretty much a one :banana: job if you choose to do it yourself.
 
ok, so if i opt for the DIY will just any "coolant flush kit" (seen at my local parts stor) work or is one approach better than another? All of this aside, it sounds like just taking it to the dealer will be the fastest solution.
 
Drain the system from the block drain (driver's side 14mm bolt) and the radiator petcock (driver's side near bottom of rad). Button up and re-fill slowly and completely with distilled water. Run at least 10 minutes after the thermostat opens with both heaters on. Drain and repeat until the drained fluid comes out clean and clear.

Then put in two gallons of your coolant of choice (I'm not gonna tell you what to use...that's a whole 'nuther thread), top off with distilled and your're good to go.

It took me 5 or 6 of those flushes to get my system cleaned out.

The dealer will not flush your system as well as you will.
 
ok, let me further cloud the waters. (no pun intended) If im not seeing any signs of overheating should i just leave it alone? The temp is ALLWAYS just under the half way point on the gauge. Am i creating a possible mess here by mixing things up?
 
p8nt said:
ok, let me further cloud the waters. (no pun intended) If im not seeing any signs of overheating should i just leave it alone? The temp is ALLWAYS just under the half way point on the gauge. Am i creating a possible mess here by mixing things up?
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Clean it up.

Whaddaya, just gonna leave it in there for as long as you own the rig??

Curtis
 
p8nt said:
ok, let me further cloud the waters. (no pun intended) If im not seeing any signs of overheating should i just leave it alone? The temp is ALLWAYS just under the half way point on the gauge. Am i creating a possible mess here by mixing things up?
Click to expand...
Flushing your cooling system is one of the best preventative measures you can do to prevent any serious problems when you least need them - don't mess with keeping your engine within a good temperature range.
 
Unless someone has some suggestions to get around this, I did this a few months back and it is THE MESSIEST job I have ever done! Laying in a puddle of coolant, coolant shooting out of the block on the DS all over the suspension and wheels, in my hair and face, running down my driveway, ruined clothes and towels, 10:00 at night...It was horrible. Ya'll most likely would have had a pretty good laugh had you been there. Does anyone know how to do this without causing a class 4 environmental hazard and taking a bath in the stuff?

I mean, I just opened up the petcock and it shot all over. Any tips for p8nt before he gets in to this?

Just for clarification, when tarbe says 'both heaters on', he's talking about the rear heater and the typical dash heater. A lot of people don't even realize they have a rear heater.
 
Get a bigger bucket. I actually use the short rubber made roughnecks in the past to catch the coolant.

2214_sm.jpg


It's what I have hanging around.
 
p8nt said:
. Am I safe if I just take it to the local Toyota dealership and tell them i need it flushed? im assuming they will use the toyota red, but im not sure if its red that would be coming out and I hear you dont want to go from green to red or vice verse. Im also assuming they posses the knowledge to do the flush properly. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


you would assume wrong,

for environmental reasons and for turning a buck quickly shops generally just drain and then refill leaving at least a gallon of the old stuff in the system, most do not do any kind of flushing system, makes too much water to be disposed of. they will charge you a lot of money for this crappy job.

also many Toy dealers have been reported to be using locally sourced green coolant.

many 1FZ's have a clay like deposit in the cooling system, you should tr to get as much of this stuff out as possible, in extreme cases it has been known to clog radiators, (see pic)
radiator_1.webp
 
Proper disposal is normally though a local hazardous materials recovery center. They typically take anything from old batteries, paint, coolant, brake fluid, oil and filters, old gasoline, and other hazardous materials. I just dropped off 12 gallons of coolant from my flush job 2 weeks ago. About 3 gallons of that was the original drain, and the remainder was what I used (with distilled water) to get rid of the clay crap. Since I do not know when it was flushed last before me, I am going to flush it again in a couple months after the new coolant has stirred any more deposits up.

Call me a cheater, but I hooked up my shop vac tube to the exhaust port and blew in air from one end (heater core line) and forced coolant out the other end (lower radiator hose) as to minimize any additional spillage from the block drain. It seemed to work quite well. I suppose I could have just used the vacuum to suck the coolant out instead of blow it out, but then I'd of had some truly dirty coolant to dispose of from the shop vac canister.
 
If you do your own coolant flush it would be a good time to change your PHH and thermostat. I did them all together in about 3 hours.
 
mnwolftrack said:
Call me a cheater, but I hooked up my shop vac tube to the exhaust port and blew in air from one end (heater core line) and forced coolant out the other end (lower radiator hose)
Click to expand...

Just make sure your system's staying below 13psi. (I don't suppose you were anywhere near that?)

This is especially important when using flush "kits" that attach to a garden hose, since household water pressure can be 60psi or more!!

Curtis
 
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