Coolant Flush

[Jarebear]

I need to flush my engine coolant on my 98 ls400. I know there's a plug at the bottom of the radiator, but are there any other coolant drain plugs on the engine I should know about?

[landar]

Yes. There are two block drain plugs, one on each side of the engine block. I believe they can be opened with a 10mm socket with an extension.

[Jarebear]

Can you tell me where they are located generally? I think on the older models there were drain plugs by both the catalytic converters. Is it pretty much the same with the vvti engine?

[billydpowell]

here is what the manual shows...

Remove the water filler plug from the throttle body.

© Remove the 3 drain plugs on the engine and radiator, and

drain the coolant.

(d) Close the 3 drain plugs.

Torque: 12.7 N·m (130 kgf·cm, 9 ft·lbf) for engine drain

plug

3. REFILL WITH ENGINE COOLANT

(a) Slowly fill coolant to the throttle body until it is full.

Use of improper coolants may damage engine cooling

system.

Use ”Toyota Long Life Coolant” or equivalent and

mix it with plain water according to the manufacturer’s

directions.

[landar]

Generally, they are located on either side of the engine block. I know that is somewhat 'general' but they are really easy to identify once you crawl underneath the engine. Lexus does a very nice job of providing decent block drain plugs. Just put a bucket underneath the area of the plug or use a short length of vinyl hose to attached to the drain !Removed! for more direction of the flow.

Heres a factory manual excerpt...

co-2(drain).pdf