I replaced my radiator and all coolant hoses recently. I checked my coolant reservoir and it has very little coolant at the bottom and it looks red with bits and muck floating around. Could that be remnant coolant that I can just clean the reservoir and add new coolant OR is this something I should have flushed and all refilled again?
Cleaning coolant reservoir
- Thread starter Catsxb
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
Clean it with 420 acrylic bong cleaner the glass kind might be to strong
Could be sludge/grime left over.
Did you flush the cooling system?
Have different types of coolant been mixed together previously?
As mentioned above, pull the tank straight up and it will come off it's bracket. Then add dish soap (Dawn works well) and warm water, stuff in a couple of paper towels, shake shake shake, pour out, rinse, repeat.
Avoid using any type of petroleum based solvent or brake/carb cleaner.
Fill the tank to the Full/Fill line then watch the fluid level over the next week or so.
Helps to drive with the heat control lever on full hot to circulate the coolant/remove air IME (you don't have to run the blower motor unless needed for heat)
Did you flush the cooling system?
Have different types of coolant been mixed together previously?
As mentioned above, pull the tank straight up and it will come off it's bracket. Then add dish soap (Dawn works well) and warm water, stuff in a couple of paper towels, shake shake shake, pour out, rinse, repeat.
Avoid using any type of petroleum based solvent or brake/carb cleaner.
Fill the tank to the Full/Fill line then watch the fluid level over the next week or so.
Helps to drive with the heat control lever on full hot to circulate the coolant/remove air IME (you don't have to run the blower motor unless needed for heat)
Last edited:
I use some dish soap and a bottle brush every time I do a drain/refill of the coolant system. The bottle brush gets into the lower corner where crap tends to collect.
Rinse well, fill to the full mark with the coolant of your choice.
Rinse well, fill to the full mark with the coolant of your choice.
I just cleaned mine by pulling it out, warm water with dish soap, then some spare nuts and bolts in the tank as agitators. Shake well and repeat until clean.
- Thread starter
- #8
I pulled out the reservoir and cleaned it. When I opened the radiator cap to see the color of coolant, I noticed this gunk around the cap. This is a brand new radiator with hoses, should it look like this (pics)? Anyways, I'm going to do what y'all recommended and refill the reservoir, burp, and see from there if any leaks are occuring from somewhere else. Thanks again for all your replies. I'm extremely new to working on my truck by myself so your patience is appreciated.
Whoa now.
That's a potentially much bigger issue than a little gunk at the bottom of the overflow bottle. You should change the thread title or start a new thread and let folks focus on that with you.
tmxmotorsports
SILVER Star
This is what you don't wanna see
Check your oil cooler seals. That job already sucks. If it isn't that then it's the catalina wine mixer.
Oh boy, cleaning the reservoir won't fix that.
@Catsxb :
Was that sludge in the old radiator also?
Why did you replace the radiator, engine overheating?
Tell us more about your engine, how was it running before you replaced the radiator?
@Catsxb :
Was that sludge in the old radiator also?
Why did you replace the radiator, engine overheating?
Tell us more about your engine, how was it running before you replaced the radiator?
Last edited:
Two things come to mind...
1. Your oil cooler seals have let go
2. Head gasket failure
Assuming you have flushed the system properly when you installed all new cooling system parts (Radiator and lines) you have more oil making its way into the cooling system. If you do not have any of the above failures listed, then you are going to keep having coolant goop showing up in all of your brand new parts forever until a proper flush is performed.
I would take this to somebody that can diagnose this failure first before you take everything apart again to clean it. Any cooling system fluid contamination will continue to ruin new fluid until the entire system is flushed with cleaner and then that cleaner purged with many many gallons of pure water. This sets the base line for you to reinstall all parts back into the truck and fill with new Toyota coolant.
It is important to get in front of this ASAP as this goop will imbed itself into the new radiator and then cannot be saved. Also if this is coming from a part failure, you will want to know this before this issue gets worse and then you are staring at a new engine because the head gasket failure ruined the crank bearings.
1. Your oil cooler seals have let go
2. Head gasket failure
Assuming you have flushed the system properly when you installed all new cooling system parts (Radiator and lines) you have more oil making its way into the cooling system. If you do not have any of the above failures listed, then you are going to keep having coolant goop showing up in all of your brand new parts forever until a proper flush is performed.
I would take this to somebody that can diagnose this failure first before you take everything apart again to clean it. Any cooling system fluid contamination will continue to ruin new fluid until the entire system is flushed with cleaner and then that cleaner purged with many many gallons of pure water. This sets the base line for you to reinstall all parts back into the truck and fill with new Toyota coolant.
It is important to get in front of this ASAP as this goop will imbed itself into the new radiator and then cannot be saved. Also if this is coming from a part failure, you will want to know this before this issue gets worse and then you are staring at a new engine because the head gasket failure ruined the crank bearings.
- Thread starter
- #16
Noice! I figured it was bad. I had the cylinder head, gaskets, and hoses reconditioned/replaced in '17. In Sept. it overheated so I replaced the radiator and coolant hoses. I currently have 3 oil leaks: front timing cover gasket, upper and lower oil pan gaskets, and rear main seal which is contributing to the problem, probably. I'm in dt Portland. So if I could only fix one leak at a time, which one should I do first? I'm not driving the truck for obvious reasons but if I could fix the worst one first, that'd be swell.... thanks for all your responses. I appreciate the humor.
None of the current leaks you mention would result in oil getting in your cooling system. Resolve the coolant issue first. Then the other leaks you mention are best addressed all together with the engine pulled out. They are difficult to access and would be less labor that way vs. doing them seperately.
It’s also worth mentioning if you need to do the head gasket job again, you should pull the motor and reseal everything at that time. I did the motor re-seal out of the truck and did a preventative head gasket job while it was out. Having the engine out is the only way you’re going to reseal the timing cover and upper oil pan.