Incoming New Radiator - 1997 FzJ80 - Coolant Type Question on NEW radiator (1 Viewer)

[davidp14]

I drained my rad and block and filled it back up with just distilled water a few times over the course of a weekend until clear water came out. I drove it around for a few miles in between each drain. Then I replaced the entire cooling system and filled with green coolant.

@Desert Dino is right the oil cooler does get neglected often. Mine will get rehabbed in the near future.
My main reason for switching was abundance of green over red. (Suppose I was in the middle of nowhere with a coolant leak and billybobjoe at the local station only had one Dusty bottle of green on his shelf...)

 

[DirtyPepper]

I drained my rad and block and filled it back up with just distilled water over the course of a weekend until clear water came out. I drove it around for a few miles in between each drain. Then I replaced the entire cooling system and filled with green coolant.

@Desert Dino is right the oil cooler does get neglected often. Mine will get rehabbed in the near future.
My main reason for switching was abundance of green over red. (Suppose I was in the middle of nowhere with a coolant leak and billybobjoe at the local station only had one Dusty bottle of green on his shelf...)

Yeah, mine is running green from the PO...and to be honest, until I started Lurking on MUD, I didn't know that Cruisers needed to be flushed so often. So, ewith me doing the cooling system and putting a new radiator in it...I'll probably keep green since that's what's there but I'm curious to see what kind of sediment (if any) comes out.

 

[Kernal]

"until I started Lurking on MUD, I didn't know that Cruisers needed to be flushed so often."

They don't. It's just that way too often prior owners totally neglect the cooling system.

They may see the coolant level is low so pour in whatever type of coolant they have on hand, Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow, Red, Chartreuse, or maybe just hard tap water with dissolved minerals.

So we know mixing different types of coolant can cause sludge and running plain water will produce rust. Mix sludge and rust and you have a cooling system full of sheit. Then the system springs a leak and instead of fixing it correctly a previous owner dumps in a bottle of sealer (more sheit). Then you buy the vehicle and wonder WTF is wrong with Toyota's??

Just use the correct anti-freeze/coolant at the correct percentage mixed with distilled water (with properly functioning Tstat, cap, water pump, fan clutch) and you're vehicle will be fine.

 

[ppc]

Echo what @Kernal has stated above. @DirtyPepper don't think your observations take into account that all 80 Series vehicles are now 25 to 30 years old, not your average daily driver that is far less than 10 years old.

 

[SpenserAK]

Had a friend ask me (in jest) why I don’t get a newer vehicle that I don’t “have to work on all the time” - because I’m finishing all the baselining for another 25 years of reliable use (well, we hope so). I just laughed. Trash it, start new & repeat is financially irresponsible, and I’m way too poor for that

Generally speaking, people often have this weird thing about blaming failure or degradation of a product, due to their own neglect, on the product.

That’s the hard part about buying “older” vehicles.. you inherit their history. With Toyotas, sometimes their reputation leads those folks to think they don’t need to maintain them.

 

[DirtyPepper]

"until I started Lurking on MUD, I didn't know that Cruisers needed to be flushed so often."

They don't. It's just that way too often prior owners totally neglect the cooling system.

They may see the coolant level is low so pour in whatever type of coolant they have on hand, Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow, Red, Chartreuse, or maybe just hard tap water with dissolved minerals.

So we know mixing different types of coolant can cause sludge and running plain water will produce rust. Mix sludge and rust and you have a cooling system full of sheit. Then the system springs a leak and instead of fixing it correctly a previous owner dumps in a bottle of sealer (more sheit). Then you buy the vehicle and wonder WTF is wrong with Toyota's??

Just use the correct anti-freeze/coolant at the correct percentage mixed with distilled water (with properly functioning Tstat, cap, water pump, fan clutch) and you're vehicle will be fine.

As always, thanks for your input!

Yes, the Tstat, water pump, fan clutch, radiator, and all hoses are getting changed out this weekend and I'm looking forward to getting my hands in there