I was working on a coolant flush on my 2017 LC. It involved draining the existing coolant, putting in distilled water, draining that, then putting in coolant.
Here's what I learned.
1. My petcock to drain the coolant was on the right hand side of the truck, and I had to remove skid plates to get to it. It was yellow. The nozzle that the fluid shoots out of is super small and attaching a small plastic hose to it didn't work since it kept slipping off. Therefore coolant just sprayed out everywhere.
2. When I drained the existing coolant, 17.1 quarts (about 4.25 gallons) definitely did not come out (manual says that's the volume). Maybe only 2.5 gallons came out.
3. The reservoir is plastic and not pressurized. I made the silly mistake of think it was and as a result didn't put distilled water in the radiator, causing a few mins of overheating.
4. When I added pink Toyota coolant to the radiator I got in about 1.25 gallons only before overflow. I added up to the fill line in the reservoir also.
5. I kept the radiator cap off and started the engine with the heat blasting. A few air bubbles started to escape through the radiator intake, the level went down and I kept adding small quantities of coolant. Did this for 15 mins.
6. After a while coolant wasn't really going down. So I decided I'd keep track of the engine temp and coolant level for several days and keep adding.
7. Cleanup was a lot of work. You can't just throw coolant down the drain. Make sure to have some sealable containers to pour it in.
Major Perplexing Issues
- Why doesn't all the coolant in the system come out during draining?
- Why can't a person add all 17.1 quarts the system calls for (probably due to the question above)
- Having to monitor and topping off over the course of a few days is annoying. Is there an alternative to this? What do mechanics do?
- Has anyone made a hole through the skid plates somehow to make this entire process easier?
- What are the chances that when I didn't have coolant or water in my radiator and the temp gauge was on high for a few mins that I hurt my engine?
Thanks everyone! And stay safe out there.
--RMK
Here's what I learned.
1. My petcock to drain the coolant was on the right hand side of the truck, and I had to remove skid plates to get to it. It was yellow. The nozzle that the fluid shoots out of is super small and attaching a small plastic hose to it didn't work since it kept slipping off. Therefore coolant just sprayed out everywhere.
2. When I drained the existing coolant, 17.1 quarts (about 4.25 gallons) definitely did not come out (manual says that's the volume). Maybe only 2.5 gallons came out.
3. The reservoir is plastic and not pressurized. I made the silly mistake of think it was and as a result didn't put distilled water in the radiator, causing a few mins of overheating.
4. When I added pink Toyota coolant to the radiator I got in about 1.25 gallons only before overflow. I added up to the fill line in the reservoir also.
5. I kept the radiator cap off and started the engine with the heat blasting. A few air bubbles started to escape through the radiator intake, the level went down and I kept adding small quantities of coolant. Did this for 15 mins.
6. After a while coolant wasn't really going down. So I decided I'd keep track of the engine temp and coolant level for several days and keep adding.
7. Cleanup was a lot of work. You can't just throw coolant down the drain. Make sure to have some sealable containers to pour it in.
Major Perplexing Issues
- Why doesn't all the coolant in the system come out during draining?
- Why can't a person add all 17.1 quarts the system calls for (probably due to the question above)
- Having to monitor and topping off over the course of a few days is annoying. Is there an alternative to this? What do mechanics do?
- Has anyone made a hole through the skid plates somehow to make this entire process easier?
- What are the chances that when I didn't have coolant or water in my radiator and the temp gauge was on high for a few mins that I hurt my engine?
Thanks everyone! And stay safe out there.
--RMK