[sputnik767]

Well, my truck rolled over 30k and its time for a cooling system flush. What I plan on doing is draining the radiator and engine block, filling the radiator with distilled water, running the engine until the thermostat opens while adding water as necessary with the heater on high, then draining everything again, and refilling with Toyota coolant at a roughly 50/50 mix. Then I will repeat the same procedure for bleeding the air out - by running the engine with the cap off and heater on high and adding coolant as necessary until all of the air is gone. Let me know if this is a right procedure or if I am missing something. Thanks.

Dmitry

 

[talltacoma]

I'd say a flush at 30K is overkill, but hey, why not.

 

[sputnik767]

Well, I believe that its part of the required maintenance. Still, that fluid has been in there for 3.5 years and 30k miles, and its only like $20 for a gallon of toyota red and a few bucks for some distilled water, so its cheap maintenance if you do it yourself. Also the fluid has some corrosion inhibitors and stuff that likely degrade over the years.

 

[Firdaddy]

just do it like you said.. i flushed mine at 30 or 40K hell if you did it every 10 K it woudlnt make a difference so who cared if its overkill go for it man:waytogo: i just used regular tap water andwent for a quick drive withthe heater on:lol:

 

[don]

Well, I believe that its part of the required maintenance. Still, that fluid has been in there for 3.5 years and 30k miles, and its only like $20 for a gallon of toyota red and a few bucks for some distilled water, so its cheap maintenance if you do it yourself. Also the fluid has some corrosion inhibitors and stuff that likely degrade over the years.

Wow 20 bucks a gallon. Why not just use preston?

 

[sputnik767]

A few reasons:
One, Toyota red coolant is formulated without any silicates which at least according to the toyota brochures will reduce water pump life over time. Two, while the actual formula should be the same (ethylene glycol) toyota coolant is red while the other stuff is green. I don't want to mix the two, and since I can't guarantee that I will flush all of the old coolant out, I don't want to use the green stuff. And finally, I trust in Toyota, and I'd rather use something that they specifically recommend if the stuff will stay in the engine for 30k miles or more. You can of course use any ethylene glycol based coolant, but it just seems to me that the Toyota stuff is better quality and better for our cooling systems.

 

[BoostError]

I do it every 30-50k or so. It's worth doing.

And I get Toyota Red for under ten bucks... where the hell are you shopping?

 

[matt's06xrunner]

Get one of those kits from the parts store that allows you to hook a garden hose up through the heater core hose. It is only a few bucks. They sell radiator flush. It comes in a small container.

 

[sputnik767]

Brett - the dealership close to my house sells toyota red for $20. Where do you get it so cheap?

Matt's06xrunner - I heard about those kits to flush the system with a garden hose, but I prefer to use the method described on the Toyota antifreeze container. It involves starting the engine, opening the radiator drain plug and pouring water into the radiator as it drains out. This is done after you initially drain the radiator and fill it with distilled water. I ran 1.5 gallons of distilled water in this fashion, and it was coming out clear.

 

[matt's06xrunner]

Brett - the dealership close to my house sells toyota red for $20. Where do you get it so cheap?

Matt's06xrunner - I heard about those kits to flush the system with a garden hose, but I prefer to use the method described on the Toyota antifreeze container. It involves starting the engine, opening the radiator drain plug and pouring water into the radiator as it drains out. This is done after you initially drain the radiator and fill it with distilled water. I ran 1.5 gallons of distilled water in this fashion, and it was coming out clear.

The engine is not warmed up when you do that is it? Pouring cold water into a warm engine is not good for it. If it is not warmed up then that method seems like it would work pretty good.

 

[sputnik767]

Yes, you are right, the engine is cold, well, not yet warmed up. Although it will warm up somewhat by the time you are done.

 

[Cruznlife1]

I just did mine, pissed me off gonna redo it. I went to toyota bought a new thermostat and seal truck is at 60K never flushed. I drained the radiator and the block, and pulled the thermostat, I flushed it out engine off with the hose, flushed the radiator, and the engine, filled with tap water, ran motor with heater on, than drained it, came out clear, engine was up to temp and the heater was hot, drained block and rad. topped off with distilled and ran it for 5 minutes heat on and all. Heat was hot so water was moving, drained motor and rad. again, still clear, put in a gallon of prestone, and 1.3 gallons of distilled, ran with cap off till hot, topped off put cap back on, drove for a few days, just pulled the cap to check it yesterday, and the coolant is still red, WTF ?! obviously not as red as it was, but not green at all.

*EDIT* and yeah the prestone went in green, and where the hell to get the toyo stuff for 10 bucks ? the dealer here wanted 23.50 for the red, and 36 bucks a gallon for the pink premix

 

[da_jokker]

If you are doing it so often (30K) and you are keeping with the Toyota 'red' stuff, you may not even need to worry about 'flushing it'.

IMO, Flushing needs to be done when changing the fluid on a regular bases is ignored and now it's so bad you need to get it all out. For people that do regular mantainance, a simple drain and fill would be totally acceptable.


+1 on using distilled water. Never use tap water, especially on an aluminum engine. Distilled can be had for under $1 per gallon so there is no reason you can't go through a few gallons if you are doing a 'flush'.

And just another opinion of mine, stay away from all that flushing chemical crap. I used that once and it took forever for me to get it all out so that my water didn't bubble at the cap. honestly if you have some crap stuck in your block, it's better off stuck than getting freed up and blocking your radiator core...... of course if you just drain and fill once every year or 2, you will never have to worry about flushing

 

[My6AteUr8]

Dood...go to Advance or Auto Zone and get a radiator flush kit. It's cheap and it gives you directions. It also has a chemical cleaner to properly flush it instead of just running water thru.

 

[sputnik767]

I would only do a chemical flush on a neglected system.