Changing PHH At Same Time As Starter Contacts (1 Viewer)

[Driley]

Contacts and plunger change out was pretty straight forward. I printed out the FAQ sheets (my 1994 FSM does not show the exploded view of the contacts and plunger - anyone know what that is all about?). Cleaned out with q-tips (dry) and my shop vac. The little ball stayed put! The contacts and plunger were pitted and worn down. Sorry for the blurry picture, still trying to figure out the new digital...

 

[Driley]

The coolant flush went perfectly! Thanks again to e9999 for all of the info. I was going to snap more pictures but started getting dirty and washing up to snap each photo was not an option.

Here is a photo of the clear 5/8" tubing I used to back flush the heater core (completely forgot to turn the front and rear heaters on! Next time I will). I did get quite a lot of green out once the water started flowing. I attached the clear hose to the lower FHH (it is touching it in the first photo). Did not need to clamp, very tight fit.

Ran the hose to a bucket. Flushed approximately 3 gallons through until it ran clear.

 

[Driley]

Here are some pictures of the fitting I used. The first picture is a 5/8" barbed nipple to standard garden hose thread connected to the Prestone anti-backflow adapter (that was the only thing I used out of the kit).

In the second picture I am holding it by the "S" hose I attached it to (did not cut the "S" hose). Connected it to the garden hose using the anti-backflow adapter that came with the Prestone kit. I used a squeeze trigger valve to control the amount of water running through.

The third photo is a 1" PVC coupling (non-threaded 1" to 3/4" fine thread) with a brass 3/4" fine thread to standard garden hose thread adapter. I used this to back flush the radiator (shoved it into the large hose that connects to the thermostat housing, connected the garden hose, then ran water until it came out the driver's side top hose outlet).

 

[Driley]

I back flushed the block next. I used the same 5/8" barbed to garden hose to anti-backflow adapter for this. I connected this to the heater hose at the top of the metal tube that connects to the PHH (picture #1).

I closed the the block drain and ran the water until it came out the driver's side radiator inlet with the hose removed (picture #2).

 

[Driley]

Thermostat change out was uneventful (just remove the heat shielding - it makes it easier to get to the 3 nuts).

The most time consuming part of all of this was the OEM pinch clamps. I reused all of them on the 4 radiator hoses and it was the biggest pain in the a**! What pissed me off the most was the fact that I had this http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...Automotive+Specialty+Tools&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
in my hands at Sears and decided "$40 for something I will probably use twice in me lifetime is not worth it". A few folks on here (including Cruiser Dan) have attested to the value of this. It would be worth every cent even if you only used it once!!! Next time I need to remove my hoses, I will either buy this or replace all of them with worm drive clamps. The lower 2 hoses near the thermostat took me ~ 3 hours to get changed out!

All in all, very straight forward and relatively easy (except the clamps!).

Thanks again to all that have done this before and shared your experience. It would not have gone as smoothly without you help!

Riley

 

[e9999]

great writeup!

that's odd with the clamps.
what was the matter? I just use pliers and they come right off...

 

[Driley]

great writeup!

that's odd with the clamps.
what was the matter? I just use pliers and they come right off...

Just tight locations and the channel locks I used kept popping off. I eventually just took off the metal tube with the hanger welded to it and attached the 2 hoses that connect the radiator to the thermostat housing. I installed the whole thing preassembled. I just had to pull it out a few times to make sure I had the 2 hoses oriented correctly so they were not kinked. The bends require exact hose alignment.

I could not believe that I had not opened the heater prior to starting. I did get a lot of dark green coolant out during the flush. I saw absolutely no sludge or discoloration.

A question for you e9999. If I just wanted to flush the heater cores, is it necessary to drain the whole system? I will probably just wait to do another flush next spring and make sure I get them open. I stayed with green antifreeze. I think it was a good idea in my case. Nothing but dark green came out.

Thanks again for you write up, it came in very handy!!!

Riley

 

[e9999]

glad that writeup helped some.

well, surely, it should be possible to flush the heaters separately if you isolate the lines. And since they are way up there you may not lose much coolant either. One thing is that by now some of the gunk in your heaters may have mixed with the rest of the clean coolant, unless you kept the heaters closed the whole time. A backflush may still help though if there is stuff stuck in there. I'd do it now while you are still in the mood and have all the tools handy...

 

[Driley]

glad that writeup helped some.

well, surely, it should be possible to flush the heaters separately if you isolate the lines. And since they are way up there you may not lose much coolant either. One thing is that by now some of the gunk in your heaters may have mixed with the rest of the clean coolant, unless you kept the heaters closed the whole time. A backflush may still help though if there is stuff stuck in there. I'd do it now while you are still in the mood and have all the tools handy...

Actually, that part of the flush was easy so maybe I will. Next time I do the full flush, I will order all of the preformed heater hoses from cdan and change those out (with breeze worm-drive clamps!).

Riley

 

[tominator]

Fan Belts

Driley, Great write-up BTW. I was noticing that in your pic showing the lower heater hose clamp...it looks like your fan belts aren't routed around the tensioner pulley. Is this a mod that you did?

 

[-Spike-]

As I understand it, the last pic in his write-up shows the belts in the stock position. The belts just graze the idler bearing. If your belts wrap around the idler, they are installed incorrectly, and are probably the wrong size as well. To be honest, it makes more sense that there would be more contact, maybe with the back of the belt running against that idler, but as far as I know that's not how Toyota intended it.

-Spike

 

[Driley]

Driley, Great write-up BTW. I was noticing that in your pic showing the lower heater hose clamp...it looks like your fan belts aren't routed around the tensioner pulley. Is this a mod that you did?

Not too sure what you mean. The "twin" belts ride on the outside of the idler pulley (at least that was how they were when I purchased the truck). Mine barely touch the idler pulley.

Riley

 

[tominator]

Guess I better double check mine. I just bought it and one of the belts was disenegrated and actually was wrapped around that pully.
Whoever did the last belt replacement routed the outside of the belts around that pulley.

Glad I saw that...that explains why the new belts I bought were too friggen short to go around the damn pulley. I'm such a noob!
That's what I get for buying belt from checker auto and not consulting with CD.

 

[tominator]

BTW Driley your pic is a riot! Is that a pet racoon you're holding?

 

[Driley]

BTW Driley your pic is a riot! Is that a pet racoon you're holding?

The pic is not me. I found it on CollegeHumor.com with the caption "Best Friends Forever" and a story about a drunk guy grabbing a raccoon that was trying to get into his beer cooler. I still laugh every time I see it (I have a warped sense of humor...).

Riley