I am due to flush the radiator and I was wondering I could save $30 and do this myself. I've obviously never done this before don't know exactly what all is involved and was just wondering how difficult this is or if it is even worth it.

 

For $30 let them do it. That's really cheap. The disposal alone is the biggest hassle.

 

Only $30? That's a pretty good deal. But this will open up a can of worms too..... There's been many-a-debate over using something like Peak or Prestone, vs. Toyota red. Alot of people will say stick to Toyota coolant, and I don't think that $30 price you got was from a dealer.

Its really not that hard. I don't know if there's any write ups on it or not, but you could check the tech section. A Haynes manual will walk you through it too if you have one of those.

 

I just do a drain and fill with toyota red $15 and distelled water. Very simple and a way to save $.

 

exactly, the only way I could think of flushing it is keep pouring water in till it comes out clear

 

Actually, to flush it they say to fill it with water and leave the rad cap off while letting it reach operating temp with the heater on hot. Then drain and fill with 50/50 Red.

Now would be a good time to add Redline Water Wetter. That stuff rocks!

 

Easiest way:
(1) Drain out the fluid by opening the cap on the bottom of the radiator. Then open the cap up top, where you would fill up the radiator so the fluid flows better. If you have a turkey baster, or something like it, remove any coolant out of the overflow container. That's used coolant also you know.
(2) Replace cap on bottom of radiator.
(3) Fill radiator with distilled water.
(4) Turn heater control to hot, start engine, run for 15 min.
(5) Drain out the fluid by opening the cap on the bottom of the radiator. Watch out, fluid will be hot! Then open the cap up top, where you would fill up the radiator so the fluid flows better.
(6) Replace cap on bottom of radiator.
(7) Mix 50/50 coolant & distilled water and pour in radiator. I found it much easier to do this before hand. Pour a little bit in a wait a beat. Squeeze the radiator hose (big hose leading t the radiator) to get air bubbles out.
(8) After full, run the engine for a couple of min with the radiator cap off. This is to make sure all air bubbles escape. Top off coolant.
(9) Replace radiator cap, turn heater control back to cool (or whatever you prefer).
(10) Next couple of days keep your eye on the temp gauge. If you start to overheat, you didn't get all the air bubbles out.

Side notes:
(a) I used a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot to mix the Red Toyota Coolant and distilled water together. Then poured back into the empty coolant containers and
distilled water containers. I now have two Toyota Coolant containers with a 50/50 mix for emergencies.
(b) Get a container to drain the used coolant into.
Remember, you will drain this stuff at least two times, maybe three. You need to a place to put all the liquid. Animals are drawn to the sweet smell. It kills animals. Do not let it drain out into the street. I was able to get rid of all my coolant at Jiffy Lube. But not all Jiffy Screws do this. Call around.

Oh yeah. You need to take off the skid plate first.
Good luck, it's easy.

 

Hey thanks everyone for the info. I'll get on it this weekend. Main reason I really need to do this now:
A) It's hotter than hell out here.
B) It's hotter than hell in Arizona and Nevada which is where I'll be next week.

 

It was only 118 here the other day. What are you talking about?

 

Don't forget to drain the coolant out of the block.

John

 

I'm planning on doing this on my 4x4 pickup (1993 w/ 22re) and have a few more basic questions I'll be replacing the green coolant w/ Toyota Red so I want to make sure everything is clean.

Will this process drain the block and heater core as well?

Just looking at the radiator cap there is a lot of crud in there, at which step will I repeat to keep flushing. I'm guessing just before step 7?

Should this all be done on level ground or should I ramp the front end?

Do I need to let the engine run 15 minutes for every flush?

Is each flush just 1 gallon of distilled water? Or do I fill the radiotor completely?

Will I only need 1 container of Toyota coolant to refill at 50/50?

Thanks for the help!

 

I think you'd only ned one container since you're cutting it by 50%, But better to have another just in case.

The first time you flush it out I'd do the 15 min. If you do it again I don't think you'd need another 15 min. Kinda like rinsing out a soapy glass. After a while there's very little left.

Concerning the engine block & heater core, if I remember correctly this flush gets it all out. If there's a Toyota mechanic around they can give their 2 cents, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

The pain in the butt is you should use distilled water even with the flush. You don't have to but you aren't going to get all the water out from the flush so any H2O left I would rather already have it be distilled, you know?

Good luck.

 

Yep, I'll definitely use distilled water.

Do you think it will take more than one gallon each flush?

And I should still run the engine and heater for a few minutes each time after the original 15 minute flush, right?

 

You will want to drain the block, there is a bolt on your 22RE to do this (lower driver-side).

Turning your heater to hot will flush the heater core.

The 22RE is a little hard to get the air out of, you will want to jack up the front end to help burp it.

You want to run the engine long enough for the thermostat to open and allow the coolant to circulate.

Fill the radiator completely for each cycle (steps 1 thru 6).

The coolant capacity for a 22re is 8.9 quarts (or 9.6 if its an automatic 4WD), in either case you will need more than one container of coolant for a 50/50 mix.

 

ah thanks for the clarifications, i know its all little stuff, but i don't want to screw anything up - oh and its a manual transmission so I'll make note of 8.9 quarts

thanks again

 

Idk if u know this since you hAve never drained a radiator but never take off the radiator cap after you have just driven, the hella hot water will fly up because it's a pressurized system and will burn you.

So do it when the motor is cold, or if you have driven it around for a while And is at operating tempature let it sit for about 20 mins (I always let it sit for 20) before u take off the radiator cap to be safe

 

i've drained a radiator before, just never flushed the entire system - so I'm safe on the wait til everything is cool to touch - so even though the job is easy I plan on it taking sevaral hours to do all the flushes and final refill

 

i'm having trouble loosening the drain plug on the engine block, is it possible to do a complete flush of the block through the upper radiator hose? or some other means?