Draining and Replacing Toyota Anti-Freeze, need guidance.

[Erich_870]

I posted this on the newbie thread about cold weather tips, but I need some expedient help.

I found the limits of my antifreeze New Years Morning... -12deg F. The dog and I had cabin fever with the baby and cold weather and all, so we set out for a walk. I warmed the rig up to the normal operating temp, hoped in and started down the road. I hadn't gone very far when I noticed my temp gauge was going up. Pulled over 1.5 miles later and it was up into the red. Crap! Turned it off and hoped out and opened the hood. The radiator was frozen so the fluid wasn't circulating! Gave it 5 minutes, pumped the upper hose by hand and could hear the ice moving around. The overflow bottle also puked. After a passage was thawed in the radiator I fired it back up and continuted on to our trail of choice. The temp gauge stayed in the normal range the rest of the time.

I'll be flushing the system Friday and adding fresh Toyota coolant.

Here's the question, How much do I need to buy? Also, should I use a flushing product before I refill the system?

Thanks,

Erich

[4runnerchevy]

I don't think it needs to be flushed unless the coolant is contaminated and off color. If you have a flush port just run water through it till its clear. If you have corrosion, then use the stuff.

Just a note.,,,

If your have an aluminum radiator, block, head, or whatever. Ground, Ground, Ground everything.

[Erich_870]

I bought two gallons from the dealership today ($$), they said it would be enough. Since it doesn't get over 80 deg here in the summer, I'm going to go with a higher than 50/50 ratio.



I don't think it needs to be flushed unless the coolant is contaminated and off color. If you have a flush port just run water through it till its clear. If you have corrosion, then use the stuff.

Just a note.,,,

If your have an aluminum radiator, block, head, or whatever. Ground, Ground, Ground everything.


What does the flush port look like? I've owned the rig for 4 years and I don't know if the PO had ever flushed it, so I'm just going to replace it. The fluid is not a nice vibrant red.

I'll look into grounding the radiator. Should I just find a part on one of the mounts or brackets?

Erich

[4x4mike]

I would drain the radiator with the engine off. After it goes down I'd close the drain and fill the radiator with water. I'd then drive around with the heater on high and long enough to have the thermostat open up. I'd drain, fill drive, a few more times. I guess the intent would be to remove all the coolant and making sure you're circulating fresh water though the system.

Then poor in your coolant, drive and then test. You can buy a coolant tester to test the concentration of the fluid. FWIW I'd use distilled water for this exercise. Who knows if this will work any better than a drain and refill but my old truck would get mud and dirt into the system through the catch can and would contaminate the fluid. Whenever it ran hot I pictured the brown coolant pushing around.

[4runnerchevy]

If your truck doesn't have a flush port, you can buy one. Its basicly a fitting that you tees into your heater line. It then allows you to hook a hose right to the line through a check valve (supplied). About $5 bucks at Napa, or any other autoparts dealer

[CJM]

Rad should have a itty bitty petcock somewhere on it, remove it and let drain. Then use a hose and clean it out. After that, fill with water and run it, repeat 1 more time to be sure then drain it and and refill. Refill and leave the rad cap off and start the truck up, then wait for the thermostat too open again and add more coolant. Let run for a bit with the cap off to eliminate bubbles, squeezing the upper hose every so often so bubbles break up. Shutit off andput the cap back on ad your good to go.

There is a drainplug in the block but most skip it..

I did this a year ago using the wonderfull vanilla looking antifreeze we have at the shop (multi vehicle) have had 0 issues.

While your at it, check the hoses for wear and replace if needed.

[Erich_870]

Thanks for the clarifications. I had a bright idea and read my Chilton manual and found where the lower petcock was :loser: Didn't even need pliers to open it :clap: I decided to skip the block drain plug so I didn't shower my driveway with coolant.

It was 17 deg and snowing today, and my hose is put away for winter so I had to flush with water in a bunch of clean jugs :hillbill:

I drained the system, kept adding water until it looked clear (the old coolant wasn't very colorful :shake:) and then added a bottle of radiator cleaner. I closed the system, drove to the store for some distilled water, flushed out the radiator cleaner then added the Toyota coolant. Man that stuff is a pretty red! I added 6 qts of coolant and 4 qts of distilled water plus a little of both in the reservoir. I also removed the reservoir and cleaned it during the first round of flushing.

Should be good to go for the next couple years. :thumbup:

Thanks again guys,

Erich

[Erich_870]

Tested my new antifreeze today. -12.6deg F when I left for work this morning :hillbill:

Engine fired right up and the temp gauge did it's normal thing. Now, as for my breaks, I had nothing but a hard pedal for the first half mile :shake:

I suppose I'll be flushing those this spring :hillbill:

Erich

[CJM]

Hard pedal could be yucky fluid, bad master or more likely bad brake booster.

Start with a drain and flush, I just kept the cap off and had a friend add and pump while I worked the bleeder valves.

[Erich_870]

Hard pedal could be yucky fluid, bad master or more likely bad brake booster.

Start with a drain and flush, I just kept the cap off and had a friend add and pump while I worked the bleeder valves.


I assume it's moisture in the fluid. We'll see if it's a continuing problem this winter, but I suspect it will only get this cold a couple more times.

Erich

[4x4mike]

If it's a continuing problem you don't want to find out it's a big problem while driving around with the new little one.

[Erich_870]

I completely agree!! We'll see how the drive home is tonight. :wrenchin:

Erich

[4runnerchevy]

Invest in a vaccum pump, cause bleeding from one wheel is an easy matter.

[DNAhilux]

Is your pedal very hard and pretty much useless once it gets to a certain temp?
I have read that this can be caused by a bad brake check valve. This used to happen to me when it hit -20C, I changed the check valve (and grommet).Though after moving to a warmer climate it is not cold enough here to test it!
This is for the grommet
90480-24517
This for the check valve
44730-60060

[Erich_870]

It only got cold enough once for the brakes to freeze once. I'm going to flush the system this summer but I won't have a chance to see if it fixed the problem until the dead of next winter :hillbill:

Thanks for the heads up about the check valve :thumbup:

Erich