How To: Flush Radiator Coolant

92Lex · October 24, 2004

You'll need:

2 gallons of Toyota antifreeze

2 gallons of DISTILLED water

about 10ft of 1/2" diameter tubing

Make sure the vehicle is completely cool before you service the cooling system!

Raise the car and place jackstands under or drive it up on ramps, remove the radiator coolant fill bolt (I'm pointing to it):

92Lex · October 24, 2004

Get about 5 feet of the plastic tubing and locate the left drain !Removed! on the side of the engine....place one end of the tubing over the drain !Removed! and the other end into your bucket...loosen the 14mm bolt just enough so that coolant will start flowing out in a steady stream. In the pictures I already had the tubing placed over the drain !Removed! and the screw you see next to it is the one that you need to loosen.

Now locate the right drain !Removed! and do the same:

92Lex · October 24, 2004

Now take a pair of pliers or just use your hand and loosen the radiator drain !Removed! located on the right side of the radiator....place the bucket with your 2 plastic hoses from the left and right drain !Removed! directly under the radiator drain !Removed!....loosen the drain !Removed! just enough so that coolant will flow out in a steady stream.

Picture of bucket location and plastic tubing.

92Lex · October 24, 2004

*If you are going to flush the radiator then do this before you add the 50/50 mixture of coolant and distilled water....follow the directions on the back of the radiator flush bottle then proceed with adding the coolant*

Once all the coolant has drained out you're going to want to tighten all the drain !Removed!...mix a 50/50 mixture of distilled water and the Toyota extended life radiator coolant and add that through the fill bolt (the first picture) till it's full...tighten the filler bolt and torque to 33ft-lbs. Now add coolant into the radiator resevoir and bring it up to the MAX COLD mark...start the engine and let it idle for 15 minutes while you monitor the coolant level in the resevoir...continue adding coolant into the resevoir until it remains stable. Place the cap for the radiator coolant resevoir back on....that's all there is to it.