Coolant flush questions compilation (1 Viewer)

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Quick question: While flushing, are there any safe descalers/cleaners that anyone has used to polish the cooling system internally?
 
I used the prestone flush, it's around $4.
My coolant wasn't dirty so i don't know how well it worked.
 
Ran a bottle of it through my coolant and it came out even nastier then after I flushed 3 gallons of distilled h20 through the system. I think this is going to take all week to flush this crap out. :/
 
In the middle of flushing the system with distilled water. I find out the easiest way to access the block drain on the passenger side is to jack up the truck a few inches, then I can reach the bolt using extension and flex joint adapter from top of the tire. First picture is taken from the wheel well, on top of the tire, looking into the engine. Second picture is from the top of the engine, showing the extension reaching across from the wheel well into the engine. I can not see the drain block on the driver side, so I only drain the radiator and passenger side block and filled it with distilled water. I am planning to drain and refill, run the engine a bit, drain and refill again until water becomes clear.

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Does anyone recall what size hose I could put on the small block drains pipes? This would help keep the work area clean for sure.
 
So I just did my first flush of 3 tonight and replaced the thermostat, heater tee's (and 6 hoses) and I examined the main connections to the radiator since they had some staining and crusty-ness.

@Nightbrew, probably too late, but I use some brake bleeder tubing I had laying around to attached to the small block drains on the passenger and driver sides not sure on the exact size but I can check tomorrow. I was able to find both with this youtube video that points out they can be found by following the catalytic converters to the engine. Locating Coolant Drain Plugs on 2UZFE. Maybe it will be helpful to someone.

I had two questions I was hoping to get help with.
  1. When I opened up the thermostat housing there was some large amounts of gunk on the inlet water flange and the thermostat and gasket were stuck in place with white gunk around them. I pried it out and cleaned it up the best I could. I am curious if I should do anything else. I left the thermostat out while I run through the flushes before the final fill and it is leaking but I assume for now this is because the t-stat and gasket are not installed. Fingers crossed this stops when they are installed. Just curious if I should do anything else with this like replacing the Water Inlet Housing?
  2. The Front Bypass Water Housing hose nipple (upper radiator connection to engine block) was very dirty. I cleared it off the best I could and it looks pretty severely pitted. I reinstalled the old hose since I didn't have the new one on hand yet. When I filled the radiator with distilled water it was leaking out pretty bad. I am planning to replace the hose tomorrow but I wanted to see how screwed I am with this. Anyway to correct this without R+R'ing the Front Water Bypass? See the pictures below for before/after cleaning.
 
So I just did my first flush of 3 tonight and replaced the thermostat, heater tee's (and 6 hoses) and I examined the main connections to the radiator since they had some staining and crusty-ness.

@Nightbrew, probably too late, but I use some brake bleeder tubing I had laying around to attached to the small block drains on the passenger and driver sides not sure on the exact size but I can check tomorrow. I was able to find both with this youtube video that points out they can be found by following the catalytic converters to the engine. Locating Coolant Drain Plugs on 2UZFE. Maybe it will be helpful to someone.

I had two questions I was hoping to get help with.
  1. When I opened up the thermostat housing there was some large amounts of gunk on the inlet water flange and the thermostat and gasket were stuck in place with white gunk around them. I pried it out and cleaned it up the best I could. I am curious if I should do anything else. I left the thermostat out while I run through the flushes before the final fill and it is leaking but I assume for now this is because the t-stat and gasket are not installed. Fingers crossed this stops when they are installed. Just curious if I should do anything else with this like replacing the Water Inlet Housing?
  2. The Front Bypass Water Housing hose nipple (upper radiator connection to engine block) was very dirty. I cleared it off the best I could and it looks pretty severely pitted. I reinstalled the old hose since I didn't have the new one on hand yet. When I filled the radiator with distilled water it was leaking out pretty bad. I am planning to replace the hose tomorrow but I wanted to see how screwed I am with this. Anyway to correct this without R+R'ing the Front Water Bypass? See the pictures below for before/after cleaning.
Thanks. I have already done this and used 3/8” id vinyl tube. A little loose. Something like 5/16” would have been great, I don’t know if I have ever seen that size before.
 
1.) Check function of T stat in boiling water to make sure it opens & closes at correct temps (see FSM). Install a new thermostat gasket at min, or replace Tstat if original.

2.) Pitting on inlet- you can wire brush then smear a very thin coat of RTV to fill pitting, wipe away excess. Wait till it dries, then install your hose. That might buy some time but its best to replace this next T belt interval.
 
Thanks @abuck99.

Timing belt was just done about 44k miles ago. Any concern over the RTV holding up until the next one?

Looking at the parts diagrams it seemed like I might be able to replace the housing and gaskets as a one off project which I was considering doing. Was I reading that wrong? I am going to look at the engine itself more closely this morning.

Also here are the pictures of before and after.

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Thats not all bad- prob good to go with the way you cleaned it up unless it weeps, then a thin smear of RTV might keep it from weeping. It should hold up as long as the hose is on there- might come off next time hose is removed.
 
Yea I cleaned that one a bit more and did the same thing on the thermostat housing nipple since it was in similar condition.

When I picked up the hoses at Napa the manager suggested I check out this Permatex High Tack Gasket Sealant. I used it on both and the system seemed to hold when I ran the engine for ~20 mins. The stuff is super sticky but seems nice. We will see if it can hold out for another 50k miles to get replaced with the t-belt. Appreciate the help!
 
You’ll have a heck if a time removing the hose with that permatex gasket sealant bonded to it- but you can worry about that in 3 years.....

Remember this tool when you go to remove the stuck hose

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I am going to buy that tool now so I have it at the ready! The bottle says it never hardens to allow for easy removal in the future but I’ll believe it when I see it.
 
About to do a coolant flush on my 07 lx... confused about using the toyota pre diluted coolant. My understanding is that after flushing the system there is about a half gallon of highly diluted coolant left. Then after adding 3.5 gallons of 50/50 mix to fill the system the mixture is going to be less than 50% coolant due to the highly diluted half gallon of coolant that couldn't be drained. Is this not a concern? Using concentrate this wouldn't be a problem because you could just add a little more coolant than water to the mix going in and problem solved but this can't be done with the pre diluted stuff???
 
About to do a coolant flush on my 07 lx... confused about using the toyota pre diluted coolant. My understanding is that after flushing the system there is about a half gallon of highly diluted coolant left. Then after adding 3.5 gallons of 50/50 mix to fill the system the mixture is going to be less than 50% coolant due to the highly diluted half gallon of coolant that couldn't be drained. Is this not a concern? Using concentrate this wouldn't be a problem because you could just add a little more coolant than water to the mix going in and problem solved but this can't be done with the pre diluted stuff???
I had the same concern, but it really doesn't make a big difference.
I never had a problem in Chicago with -30 F or Florida with 100 F.

BTW, I never used Toyota coolant. Both times I flushed I used Valvoline red.
 

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