Radiator Flush (1 Viewer)

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Aww come on Pitbull. You know "take it to a garage" and "I'm to lazy" will get you linched on this site. It was'nt that bad. I just dumped the fluid (the part I was able to catch) down the sewer. The rest kind of ended up in the street. Told the neighbor not to let her dog drink out of the red puddles. Interesting side note: She said when you take a dog into the vet for radiator fluid poisoning, they hook it up to an I.V. of vodker. Something about the vodker doesn't let the antifreezer crystalize to the kidneys. I'd say that'd be one fawked up dog.

Thanks for the help guys, went great.
Rookie2
 
[quote author=Rookie2 link=board=2;threadid=9195;start=msg88412#msg88412 date=1073776557]

I just dumped the fluid (the part I was able to catch) down the sewer. The rest kind of ended up in the street. Told the neighbor not to let her dog drink out of the red puddles. Interesting side note: She said when you take a dog into the vet for radiator fluid poisoning, they hook it up to an I.V. of vodker. Something about the vodker doesn't let the antifreezer crystalize to the kidneys. I'd say that'd be one fawked up dog.

[/quote]

Bad boy, bad boy, what you goin do, what you goin do when they come for you :slap:
 
Cooling Sytem Data Point Follows:

First known flush and fill w/Prestone green........8/2/01...........97k miles
Flush and fill w/Toyo red.....................................10/20/02........15k
Flush and fill w/Toyo red.....................................1/10/04..........17k (Now w/130k miles)

At the flush & fill on 8/2/01 the coolant was yucky looking. Brownish with some sediment but not a lot. The sediment had discolored the bottom of the white plastic overflow bottle. The PO gave me all service receipts and it appears this was the first cooling system service. Tap water was used instead of distilled water and Prestone green was the coolant used. Top row of radiator shows no sign of gray sludge.

At the flush & fill on 10/20/02, there was some more sediment but not a lot. Old "green" coolant looked better than the 8/2/01 flush but still was yucky looking. Top row of radiator shows no sign of gray sludge. Filled with 50/50 Toyo red and distilled water.

At the flush & fill on 1/10/04 (today), there was no sediment in the overflow bottle. The coolant looked like cherry koolaid; it looked very, very good. Top row of radiator shows no sign of gray sludge. Filled with 50/50 Toyo red and distilled water.

-B-
 
Beo,

Maybe the top row is clean because our good friend Mr. Gravity dictates that the sludge settle in the bottom of the rad. Heh - just trying to make you paranoid.

On a more serious note, did you flush the block by removing its drain? If so, did you get any of those little grey/black fine flakes that smear like grey clay between your fingers? Each time I've done this, I get some of them running down the drive. I've used green Prestone twice, then the Orange DexCool, currently in the system and 50% refreshed this year due to messing with my block heater. I flush/fill every other Fall and its due this coming Fall.

DougM
 
>> ... did you flush the block by removing its drain? <<

Of course. :D

I caught a large portion of the fluid from the block in a big bucket. It looked very good with no flakes or grey stuff. I plan to flush/fill every year or approximately 15k miles.

>> ... just trying to make you paranoid. <<

Just because everyone's out to get me doesn't mean I'm paranoid. :D

-B-
 
Junk - here's an idea to add this to the FAQ list. I spent around 15 minutes of searching to find it. For sure other's will need this info.

Riley

Also here's another good bit of info from Rich that I found,
quoting Rich -

I removed my radiator and had it pressure flushed by a radiator shop. That removed all visible sludge from the top tank. There was never any significant amount of visible sludge in the bottom of the radiator. It collects primarily in the top tank starting from the passenger side. The radiator shop did not charge me for the work, though I did not and would not expect to get free service. $100 dollars would have gotten the radiator rodded out.

Remove the inlet pipe to the heater cores and connect a length of tubing to the inlets (one at a time) to act as a drain line. Buy 1/2 and 5/8 barbed garden hose adapters and connect a garden hose to the heater outlets (passenger side firewall) and reverse flush the heater cores. You will see a bunch of sludge come out. The metal inlet y fitting to the heater cores has a "drip leg" that also accumulates sludge. It appears to be designed for that purpose. Be sure to flush it out. Your garden hose will have enough flow to flush the sludge from the heater cores. Your garden hose will not have enough flow the flush the radiator. There will be sludge elsewhere in your engine. Expect to see more accumulate in your cleaned radiator.
 
So I've got a couple of questions, probably obvious but I'll ask anyway.

1) When using the "prestone tee" setup to push water into the heater outlet, where I do let the water flow out at. I guess at the block plug since a low point in the system. Or the petcock? or both?

FYI - I plan to just temp install the "tee" with long 5/8" sections connected at the heater outlet. Once done I'll put the curve OEM heater outlet hose back on.

2) If I was to flush the heaters on their own (as per Rich's idea), without the tee and just push water into the heater outlet. Where is the heater inlet to let it drain from. It looks like the U section and the rear of the engine is a possible location. Any pointers here? I can't find the heater inlets that Rich refers to (and it's doesn't seem to be in the FSM).

Thanks guys.
 
sheesh...
A wonderful piece of work on all this in the FAQ...!
::)
E
 
I just install and replace 2 radiators in a row to get a good flush in my system :rolleyes:

That was not a good week ;)
 
I know I'm not supposed to use the "Super Long Life" coolant but my local Toy dealer now only sells "Super long life" in a pre-mixed solution. They don't even stock the other stuff anymore.

Does the Super Long Life product have a chemistry that is bad for the cruiser ? OR are people suggesting just don't use it for a "super long time" (i.e. nothing wrong with it just change it often, like once a year).

Simon was able to find the other coolant at another dealer that is not pre-mixed and is not termed "Super long life" so that's what we will be using tomorrow but I'd like to know for future reference.

Thanks
 
Riley,

Since we don't have a definitive answer, the best minds (Robbie, Christo, C-Dan, IdahoDoug, et. al) have recommended frequent changes with a quality coolant. My preference is Toyota Red changed at 12 month intervals.

-B-
 
I think part of the problem with the "super long life" stuff is that it is not "super long life". In other words, I think problems may be related to the long interval not neccessarily the fluid itself. BTW this is just from reading automotive forums.
I used the dexcool longlife stuff in my BMW, didn't change the coolant for ~2 years (it still looked good), then sold it, it is still running around town here another year later, so the dexcool didn't cause it to explode yet :D
I'm using the Prestone green in my LC and am planning on a flush and fill every 12-18 months (~10-15k)
 
Green prestone in my 91 every 12 months with a flush...

Get a schedule and stick with it...makes things easier and less thought involved ;)
 
Thanks guys. Worth noting that in Canada Toyota dealers, the word is that they will stop handling the non pre-mixed coolant and only sell the mixed super long life stuff. The other word is that the price will be same except that you need 2X as much since it's already mixed. :rolleyes:

Perhaps next year I'll be using Prestone green.
 
Two very respected LC mechanics that I have asked have told me they do not recommend or sell Toyo Red. Both of them recommend and use Prestone.

-B-
 
Thanks B - That's very interesting. I wonder why they don't like Toyo Red. Perhaps too much sludge generated?

By the way - I did notice some green/gray sludge in the bucket and on the driveway. Not very much but it was there. Nice to get it flushed out.

Also I'm sleeping much better knowing that PHH hose has been replaced. That blue silicon hose and lined constant tension clamps were true cruiser porn. :p
 
Just emptied mine an hour or so ago. Didn't notice any grey sludge...just a dingy green/brown color fluid. The PHH would be a great follow up to the flush.

Riley, where did you buy your "porn"?
 
[quote author=Riley link=board=2;threadid=9195;start=msg163873#msg163873 date=1085519869]
By the way - I did notice some green/gray sludge in the bucket and on the driveway. Not very much but it was there. Nice to get it flushed out.
[/quote]
:-\

Riley,

May want to keep an eye on it. Not that you can do much other than the regular flush, but you've been around long enough to know the start of sludge is the initial signs of the "you know what". Following the "Bigelo Theory", the "you know what" causes the sludge, not the other way around. Stepping up the flushes and keeping an eye on it, may at least save you a new radiator out of the deal.

:beer:
Rookie2
 
I just flushed the coolant on my 97 FZJ80 and my 99 Tacoma. I bought the 80 in January and as such don't know much about the coolant history. It has an aftermarket radiator and I also found green coolant mixed with red coolant.

Now I've owned the Tacoma since new and in 80k miles have never changed the stock red coolant. All I've ever done is add distilled water :whoops:

After checking the coolant after draining I found no evidence of sludge in the drained coolant of either vehicle. I did however find the start of sludge in the top of the FZJ80's radiator. The top of the radiator in the Tacoma looked like new. I'm pretty confident now that there is nothing inherently bad about the Toyota red in general. I was quite surprised by how well the Tacoma looked. I'm a little concerned about the FZJ80 now.
 

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