Help me fix my weak front heat (2006 Land Cruiser)

[Spike555]

Flushing Radiator with Tap Water

Distilled water for radiators?

Why You Should Never Use Distilled Water in Your Cooling System |

You are fine using city water. I will coincide not to use well water, but city water you are 100% fine.

What causes clogged cooling systems and other cooling system failure is lack of maintence. Most people think their cooling system is a "only if there's a problem" type of thing. It is not. Most people also think that because the owners manual says the coolant is good for 5yrs/150k that they do not have to touch it for 150k, they forget about the 5yrs, and that's 5yrs max.

For those who do not know, I used to sell bulk automotive fluids and fluid recycling, engine coolant was a huge seller and I had to spend 10hrs in the class room to learn all about it. Plus talking to the techs at the shops about their maintence practices, customer maintence practices and how much coolant are they going to buy.
The most profit for the shop was the concentrate coolant, 55gal drum. Worked out to about $3/gal for them and what did ALL of the shops use to make it a 50/50 mix? A garden hose. This included dealerships, mom and pop shops, marina's, heavy equipment shops...Every. Single. One.

Using water with no minerals in it at all and the water sucks the minerals out of the metals in the cooling system.
No matter what type of water you use if you do not properly maintain your cooling system you will have problems.
Any amount of water left in the cooling system after properly draining will be negligible, so small of an amount that it will not even effect the freeze/boil point of the coolant.

Everyone can do whatever they want, but a flat out "you must" is false. You will NOT harm anything.
Again, proper maintence is key to a clean and healthy cooling system.

 

[nissanh]

I use city water to flush the system and then blow some air from the compressor and fill and drain with distilled water 2 to 3 times before loading the system with distilled water and coolant.

Didnt OP said he backflushed and no result and then after doing according to 2001LC video, all went good?

 

[Spike555]

Didnt OP said he backflushed and no result and then after doing according to 2001LC video, all went good?

He did, he has hot heat now.
That has nothing to do with tap water though, it was the method used.

 

[2001LC]

City tap water should not be used, it's loaded with minerals. Good for people not coolant systems. FSM calls demineralized water. Distill water w/out minerals added back in is best most can do. I'd say Revers Osmosis is best. I've wondered about "soften" water, thanks for posting the link.

But this is first I've heard about Distilled being Deionized, or that it even matters. Reading the post you provide at "Hy-per lube" reminds me of Tobacco companies pitching the benefit of smoking and how safe their cigarettes are/were...RIGHT!

So I did a google search and found a Ph.D that states; further treatment is required to make Distilled water "Deionized" for that matter any water. Demystify the Difference Between Distilled and Deionized Water

Flushing just radiator with tap water is okay, because all can be drain off. But doing the entire coolant system, you can not get it all out and minerals are left in the system. Continue this bad practice of tap water flush every 2 year or 30K miles as recommend in systems with LL coolant will build deposits clogging cores.

But regardless you've repeatedly told people in mud tap water is okay. Then you switch to saying jack-up rear end to get tap water out. Now your saying use chemicals (Hy-per Lube) to override bad effect of mineral or soften water.

So seem to me you're now agreeing tap water or well water (which vary so much by area) should not be used! This is amazing your final agreeing with Mr T.

 

[Spike555]

City tap water should not be used, it's loaded with minerals. Good for people not coolant systems. FSM calls demineralized water. Distill water w/out minerals added back in is best most can do. I'd say Revers Osmosis is best. I've wondered about "soften" water, thanks for posting the link.

But this is first I've heard about Distilled being Deionized, or that it even matters. Reading the post you provide at "Hy-per lube" reminds me of Tobacco companies pitching the benefit of smoking and how safe their cigarettes are/were...RIGHT!

So I did a google search and found a Ph.D that states; further treatment is required to make Distilled water "Deionized" for that matter any water. Demystify the Difference Between Distilled and Deionized Water

Flushing just radiator with tap water is okay, because all can be drain off. But doing the entire coolant system, you can not get it all out and minerals are left in the system. Continue this bad practice of tap water flush every 2 year or 30K miles as recommend in systems with LL coolant will build deposits clogging cores.

But regardless you've repeatedly told people in mud tap water is okay. Then you switch to saying jack-up rear end to get tap water out. Now your saying use chemicals (Hy-per Lube) to override bad effect of mineral or soften water.

So seem to me you're now agreeing tap water or well water (which vary so much by area) should not be used! This is amazing your final agreeing with Mr T.

Dude. Seriously. Get a life. You take EVERYTHING literally, stop it. Life is not black and white. Just because I share a link does not mean I agree with it 100%. Get over yourself.

Ducking tap water is fine for flushing the cooling system. ALL OF IT, including the heater core. When you drain the system there is not enough water left in the cooling system to make any difference in anything at all. None.

And since I obviously need to spell every little nuance out to you like you are five (5), I do not flush my cooling system every two (2) years, I drain and fill every two (2) years. I only flush the cooling system when the car is new to me (That mean's I've never owned it before) and I am baselining (that means bringing all fluids, and by fluids I mean motor oil, transmission oil, gear oil, power steering fluid, brake fluid and engine coolant, and all filters, that also means air filter, fuel filter if there is one, transmission filter if there is a replaceable one) as well as the thermostat, spark plugs and spark plug wires if there are any so the new to me (again, that means I have never owned this car before) car is as good as new as possible.

The universal engine coolant that I use is pre-mixed (that means they mix it at the bottling factory) with distilled water.
I never said to mix your coolant with tap water (again, YOU take everything to literal), what I have always said is, you are fine to FLUSH the cooling system with the garden hose, it's going to be fine. 100% fine. I was going to say it was 1000% fine, but you'd take that literally too.

I have been doing this ever since forever (not literally forever, just a really long time) in every single car I have ever owned and I have never ever had a single cooling system problem. Ever.

 

[ArnieC]

Got some time to work on it this weekend. Drained the radiator, hooked some clear hoses up to the main heater core, ran them to a bucket, and back flushed it again with tap water. Ran nice and clear, no debris at all. For the lulz, I beer bonged the heater core with vinegar and let it sit 24 hrs. Flushed again, was still clear.

Replaced the thermostat with new OEM, it was some aftermarket job in there, a lot thinner and cheaper than the factory one I installed, also had the bleeder valve closer to the centerline so it was not as effective.

Filled the cooling system with a borrowed Airlift system that should have removed any air bubbles, it basically draws a vacuum on the cooling system and then sucks the coolant in.

Took it for a ride and heat was as good as anything I have ever been in.

Short version for those trying to fix their rigs at home...

• Make sure the coolant is full. Like full. Remove the radiator cap, coolant should be right to the top and reservoir should be half full.
• If your radiator is not full or boils over, replace the radiator cap with new OEM.
• Disconnect the heater hoses and flush the heater core.
• Replace your heater Ts if you have not done it recently.
• Install some clear extension hoses and make sure to keep a ton of water and crap out of the V of the engine when flushing. Your starter lives there.
• To avoid airlocks and reduced heater performance, either prefill the heater core as others have done or use an Airlift or similar to fill the coolant. You can also open the radiator hoses at the heater while the engine is running and attempt to bleed it but that is risky.
• Make sure you have an OEM thermostat. A new thermostat and gasket were under $20 from Toyota.