Radiator flush - always run Toyota red, now installing a new radiator (1 Viewer)

[alia176]

My block is drained so the system is ready to go but thought I'd flush out the old Toyota Red. What's the prevailing thought on radiator flushing these days? Just fill up the system with garden hose water (no coolant) drive around for couple of days, drain radiator and the block? Or use the Prestone radiator flush solution and mix it in with garden hose water, drive, drain? New Toyota Red will be going back in with 50/50 distilled water solution.

This is a PM thing, no overheating issues or anything to report.

 

[LC4LIFE]

I swapped from red/sludge to green. I simply drained it, flushed it with the hose with the motor running for about 5min. After that, I went through about 8 gallons of distilled water to flush out the tap water. Filled it with green and it remained clean and good until the coolant refresh as PM. Just make sure to use the block drain as it helps get a lot of the water/coolant out of the block.

 

[zapatius]

My block is drained so the system is ready to go but thought I'd flush out the old Toyota Red. What's the prevailing thought on radiator flushing these days? Just fill up the system with garden hose water (no coolant) drive around for couple of days, drain radiator and the block? Or use the Prestone radiator flush solution and mix it in with garden hose water, drive, drain? New Toyota Red will be going back in with 50/50 distilled water solution.

This is a PM thing, no overheating issues or anything to report.

Just use water, IMO. You don't even have to drive for days. I could also recommend Thermocure to get rid of any rust you may have in there (leave for about two days then flush)

 

[Rusty Marlin]

I used red devil flush and distilled water. followed the directions on the bottle.
Refilled with Zerex Asian Vehicle Red for Toyota and Lexus. I use that or the Preston equivalent in all my 'Yotas.

 

[flintknapper]

I used red devil flush and distilled water. followed the directions on the bottle.
Refilled with Zerex Asian Vehicle Red for Toyota and Lexus. I use that or the Preston equivalent in all my 'Yotas.

^^^

What I've used for years as well.

 

[alia176]

Red devil flush, will check it out. Thx fellas.

Edit: no such thing as Red Devil flush. Are we talking about Blue devil flush?

https://www.google.com/search?q=red+devil+radiator+flush&oq=red+devil+radiator+flush&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390l2.6382j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[alia176]

Just another thought I had while I had the system all apart. I'll be heading to UT for a trip starting next wed - mon and was curious if I can run the engine with pure water and this Blue devil flush product in order to REALLY clean the system out. Reading the amazon review, looks like this flush does a stellar job of cleaning out the system. Maybe that's too much driving w/o coolant and not lowering the boiling point of a turbo'ed engine? Just wondering.....

 

[zapatius]

IMO, the coolant really serves to lower the freezing point (about 60 degrees IIRC). Our radiator caps are .88 bar, so they should raise the boiling point of pure water to about 250 degrees. If you have a good Toyota radiator cap, you should be good to go. If you get to 250 degrees, you have major issues obviously.

 

[subzali]

I think I'd be more concerned about running for that many days/distance without the anticorrosion properties of the coolant. I feel like you can do a really good flush in your garage (I did 4 or so, filling with just distilled, and ran the engine a little bit in between) and at that point you should be good to go. Maybe in a year flush it again. Yes the coolant is expensive but it's not THAT expensive. Same with distilled. If you're so concerned about getting a REALLY good flush don't know why you wouldn't use distilled? It's again not that expensive.

Depends on how anal you want to be I guess

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Blue, Red, what ever gets the job done.

Must have been thinking of the Red Devil Lye. Don't pour that in you cooling system. Lye and Aluminum are not friends.

 

[DannyG]

Blue, Red, what ever gets the job done.

Must have been thinking of the Red Devil Lye. Don't pour that in you cooling system. Lye and Aluminum are not friends.

View attachment 2673279

Ha yeah... Lye and aluminum have pretty active reaction and will make a lot of hydrogen...

 

[BILT4ME]

Don't drive for long distances or days with just water. Coolant is also a lubricant for the water pump seals.

Flush with a hose, fill with distilled and drive 15-20 miles, repeat with distilled 2-3 times, then drain and fill with red or green and drive it.

 

[vegasfj40]

Hey Ali, what radiator did you buy? I've been thinking about an OE for mine. I replaced with a Spectra after I bought it a few years ago and it seems to be performing well for now.

 

[toyofan]

When I flush I put a thermostat that i cut out the spring and valve. That way the system is wide open and I feel it should do a better job flushing. Maybe an overkill but getting to the thermostat is pretty easy so why not

 

[alia176]

Hey Ali, what radiator did you buy? I've been thinking about an OE for mine. I replaced with a Spectra after I bought it a few years ago and it seems to be performing well for now.

Crap, thought I had replied to your question, sorry man.

I bought a Koyo radiator from Pelican Parts and it was simple Plug N Play. However, one thing I noticed is that this Alum 2 row rad runs MUCH hotter than my previous OEM 3 core brass rad. It's been hot as of late and I'm noticing the temps to be at least 200ºF and spikes up to 222ºF running with the A/C on. Ambient temps are in the mid to high 90º here in New Mexico. This is a new thing for me as I'm not used to seeing these high temps in my cooling system. I'm using a Scangauge II.

Cooling system has been trouble free and I only changed out the rad due to some minor evidence of coolant leaks near the top where the tank is located. Tstat is working fine, 15k CST clutch fluid, all radiator perimeter foam installed.

Like I said, just an observation with this new Koyo alum 2 core radiator.

 

[Kernal]

Was this an instant change in operating temps after installing the aftermarket radiator? Did you replace the Tstat at the same time? Running hotter even at highway speed or more so in slow traffic, idling? Fan clutch working?

 

[alia176]

Was this an instant change in operating temps after installing the aftermarket radiator? Did you replace the Tstat at the same time? Running hotter even at highway speed or more so in slow traffic, idling? Fan clutch working?

I'm not too worried about it, really. It spikes up, then calms back down after a hill climb with A/C turned on. Didn't change the Tstat, no indication of it failing before the radiator swap and I have a York in the way now, so the motivation was not very high before heading out for a trip to UT.

I'm going on another trip to UT starting tomorrow so I'll keep an eye on it. Changing the Tstat is always a good thing to do as I can't recall how old the current one is.

 

[lumbee1]

The Arizona guys run the TYC1918 from RockAuto. That's what I've installed in my Cruiser and I noticed a reduction in underhood temps. I need to setup my Scangauge to really monitor the system.

 

[alia176]

That's very cool info, thx for that!

 

[Kernal]

IME an old Thermostat can seem OK however when compared a 10-12 year old OEM Tstat with a new OEM part (in a pot of hot water) it was apparent that the older Tstat was more sluggish both with opening and closing. Based on that experience I'm wondering if the Tstat shouldn't be swapped out every ? 10 years as PM even if it appears to be operating normally??

Good luck on your trip.