200 Series Coolant Flush at Home

[rmkoverland]

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

 

[CharlieS]

There are also two other drains on either side of the block. You could potentially also use a pressure driven filler like the Airlift (I have a generic clone that I've used on other of my vehicles).

 

[radman]

 

[sdnative]

I wouldn't flush with distilled water, you will have a hard time getting it all out. The SLLC is already diluted 50/50, so any water in the system will put you below 50%. As shown in the above post, the FSM says to just drain from the radiator petcock and both engine drains and refill.

I just did mine, not that bad.

Coolant flush or drain?

I am about to fix my cracked radiator and engine valley coolant leak and found this post by @bloc https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/4-000-mile-road-trip-prep-95k-miles-2014-lx.1184715/#post-12816854 In the past I have always flushed the cooling system completely, but can definitely see the...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Txoverland]

Followed the service manual posted above

I reached the DS drain after a bit of trial and error, wasn’t that bad, maybe because I’m lifted. Used a dowel with the hose taped to the end to get to the DS drain.
Only got 3 gallons total out of it, my driveway is slanted toward the PS, may have something to do with it don’t know.
Dealer quoted me $259 over the phone.

Used SLL, priced matched at dealer $19.80 x4
No Spill coolant funnel kit $19.99 ( highly recommended, didn’t know they existed)
Had the driver and 5/16” hose
So just over $100
May try to take the sealed gallon back.

I’m at 45k fluid was clean.

 

[Docwyte]

Airlift system to refill, it works great! Use it on my 911, which holds 5.5 gallons, radiators in the front, engine in the back. Really easy to get air pockets, used the airlift system, got the car up to temp, had to add just a bit of coolant to the reservoir, all done...

 

[Txoverland]

Airlift system to refill, it works great! Use it on my 911, which holds 5.5 gallons, radiators in the front, engine in the back. Really easy to get air pockets, used the airlift system, got the car up to temp, had to add just a bit of coolant to the reservoir, all done...

Yeah, I just decided to follow the toyota manual

 

[04UZJ100]

Followed the service manual posted above

I reached the DS drain after a bit of trial and error, wasn’t that bad, maybe because I’m lifted. Used a dowel with the hose taped to the end to get to the DS drain.
Only got 3 gallons total out of it, my driveway is slanted toward the PS, may have something to do with it don’t know.
Dealer quoted me $259 over the phone.

Used SLL, priced matched at dealer $19.80 x4
No Spill coolant funnel kit $19.99 ( highly recommended, didn’t know they existed)
Had the driver and 5/16” hose
So just over $100
May try to take the sealed gallon back.

I’m at 45k fluid was clean.


View attachment 3454952View attachment 3454953

45k is way too early.

 

[Txoverland]

45k is way too early.

Only by 55k
recently retired and bored

 

[NYC570]

Followed the service manual posted above

I reached the DS drain after a bit of trial and error, wasn’t that bad, maybe because I’m lifted. Used a dowel with the hose taped to the end to get to the DS drain.
Only got 3 gallons total out of it, my driveway is slanted toward the PS, may have something to do with it don’t know.
Dealer quoted me $259 over the phone.

Used SLL, priced matched at dealer $19.80 x4
No Spill coolant funnel kit $19.99 ( highly recommended, didn’t know they existed)
Had the driver and 5/16” hose
So just over $100
May try to take the sealed gallon back.

I’m at 45k fluid was clean.


View attachment 3454952View attachment 3454953

You didn't drain the passenger side?

 

[Txoverland]

You didn't drain the passenger side?

Yes the PS was easy to get to

 

[Txoverland]

Followed the service manual posted above

I reached the DS drain after a bit of trial and error, wasn’t that bad, maybe because I’m lifted. Used a dowel with the hose taped to the end to get to the DS drain.
Only got 3 gallons total out of it, my driveway is slanted toward the PS, may have something to do with it don’t know.
Dealer quoted me $259 over the phone.

Used SLL, priced matched at dealer $19.80 x4
No Spill coolant funnel kit $19.99 ( highly recommended, didn’t know they existed)
Had the driver and 5/16” hose
So just over $100
May try to take the sealed gallon back.

I’m at 45k fluid was clean.


View attachment 3454952View attachment 3454953

Feeling a bit justified about this, after the head gasket controversy surfaced. Think I’ll do it every 50k

 

[colacola]

Feeling a bit justified about this, after the head gasket controversy surfaced. Think I’ll do it every !

Feeling a bit justified about this, after the head gasket controversy surfaced. Think I’ll do it every 50k

Comment aged very well sir! As will your vehicle! I did it at 65k miles and did today for 2nd time at 105k & since it doesnt all come out - I will gladly overdue this frequency. PS block drain & radiator Peacock are so easy to get to - I may just do those two very frequently. Im same way with atf fluid & oil change intervals. Why risk it.

 

[ryanCA]

My 08 has 290 k trouble free miles

Coolant was changed at 100k

again at 200k

was going to change it again at 300k

but after reading all the controversies, may have to change coolant at every oil change - otherwise my 200 will self destruct. Because some guy on the internet said so

 

[gasman4u]

My 08 has 290 k trouble free miles

Coolant was changed at 100k

again at 200k

was going to change it again at 300k

but after reading all the controversies, may have to change coolant at every oil change - otherwise my 200 will self destruct. Because some guy on the internet said so

So it is said, so it is written….

 

[HighRanch]

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.
View attachment 2308672

--RMK

Did you do a fluid test on your drained coolant? Just curious to see what kind of reading you would get on the acid level and glycol %.

 

[hoot504]

I just drained the coolant on my 2019 with 75k miles. There were small pieces of debris in the drained coolant. Anyone have any insight on how normal or not that is?

Side note on the procedure… once I drained the radiator and PS engine block thoroughly there was almost nothing to drain out of the driver’s side. In the future I probably wouldn’t bother with that side.

Edit: After sitting on it for a minute I wonder if this was just debris washed down off the undercarriage by the coolant.

 

[m3fan]

Think of the upper radiator hose as a bleeding bulb. You basically squeeze that repeatedly to burp the system, with the car off. Once you do that you don't have to keep topping it off.

 

[Gigem96]

I just drained the coolant on my 2019 with 75k miles. There were small pieces of debris in the drained coolant. Anyone have any insight on how normal or not that is?

Side note on the procedure… once I drained the radiator and PS engine block thoroughly there was almost nothing to drain out of the driver’s side. In the future I probably wouldn’t bother with that side.

Edit: After sitting on it for a minute I wonder if this was just debris washed down off the undercarriage by the coolant.

Did it look like this? I got some of this out of PS drain then a lot more out of DS drain. It’s non-metallic like maybe rubber or something? But it’s also kind of flaky like it might be corrosion scaling or something?

 

[Gigem96]

MORE PICS!

I just wanted to add some pics and notes that might help others gain the confidence to do this more often. It was actually really easy. I followed the FSM steps. The radiator drain was easy to get to after skids removal. I used 1/4” clear tubing and the nipple is really short so I gently clamped it with needle nose vise grips. Don’t unscrew the yellow valve all the way or it will flow out there too. I drained 6.5qts from here first. Next was PS passenger side. Move the dust flap out of the way the find the drain cock fairly easy. I did not remove tires but I’m also lifted and chassis, not axles on jack stands so the wheels droop low. Easy to get hand in to put hose on nipple. I drained 5qts from here. Next was DS. It’s a little harder to get to but not crazy once you find it. It’s tucked behind the LCA joint behind the dust flap. I had a piece of all-thread and taped the hose end to it and slid it on no problem. I stretched the hose end out a bit as a lead in. The used the 10mm wobble socket on a 18” extension. No issues. Drained only 0.5qt from here. So 12qts total = 3Gal. Then used a HF coolant fill kit as normal for fill. However, is was cool out so it took a long time to get engine to temp to open thermostat and full fill. Lots of upper and lower hose squeezing to burp it. I got 3Gal in including overflow to F line. I’ll update if it takes any more to top off. Hope this helps!!