Radiator replaced, 3 bananas

[Trunk Monkey]

Thanks for the tips last week, I got my radiator replaced Friday afternoon. I did not have to remove the grille or ARB bar (bar actually makes a good seat).

Simplified process was:

- remove body crossmember in front of radiator
- remove battery trays
- on mine with the supercharger, I couldn't get the shroud and fan out before the radiator, had to pull them all together
- pull all hoses, had a little f-up with this. I was collecting my coolant as I'd flushed it just 3 months ago with a PHH job. I didn't know the tranny cooler lines were intergrated into the radiator. I pulled those lines at the bottom, found out it was ATF fluid, and contaminated my coolant.
- disconnect fan clutch and yank fan, shroud, and radiator.

On refill I used my friend's Bluepoint radiator fill kit. It creates a vacuum in the coolant system using a venturi from an air compressor. Then, you stick a fill hose in a jug of mixed coolant, release the vacuum, and it replaces the vacuum with coolant, leaving virtually no air pockets to burp later. It worked awesome and I'd suggest renting/borrowing one if you can.

Took me about 6 hours total. I replaced the TRD ringed fan with the 3.0 Taco/4runner fan that Cdan had done last year, hopefully that will solve some cooling issues I was having.

 

[RavenTai]

On refill I used my friend's Bluepoint radiator fill kit. It creates a vacuum in the coolant system using a venturi from an air compressor. Then, you stick a fill hose in a jug of mixed coolant, release the vacuum, and it replaces the vacuum with coolant, leaving virtually no air pockets to burp later. It worked awesome and I'd suggest renting/borrowing one if you can.

I have seen that one in action and I really like it, you can use the vacuum for a leak check before filling with fluid and possibly wasting coolant, it also does a good job of removing the majority of the air pockets.

that system works really well for the 3FE, the funny gooseneck on the radiator cap makes it a pain to gravity fill, I hear you need one of the special adapters for use on a land cruisers that is not part of the standard blue point kit.

only possible down side is the vacuum causes the hoses to collapse, good hoses do not seam to mind and spring right back after the vacuum is relieved, but it may cause a bordeline hose to let go , maybe that is a good thing for a hose to go now if you are already there doing maintenance instead of on the road sometime later, depends on your perspective I guess.