Coolant change questions - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

cf99 · 03-09-2011, 06:06 PM

Several threads on the topic but didn't find answers to these...

I don't currently have a way to lift the car so I'm trying to see if I can drain/flush/fill the coolant without getting under the car ('01 V6 AT).

1st questions: the black plastic drip pan or splash guard or whatever it's called, can I remove (and re-install, which is probably harder) that without lifting the front of the car? Is it one piece? Is it just attached with 10 or so screws and falls right off?

2nd questions: the radiator drain looks like a plastic wing nut. Is it a plug I unscrew all the way, or is it a valve that I just unscrew about a turn to open it? Can I unscrew and re-tighten it from above, just finger tight, or do I need to use pliers from underneath?

I don't plan to use the block drain plugs, so I'll drain/refill/run with distilled a few times until it drains clear. Also replacing the upper radiator hose, so I'll do that once the drain runs clear. Hopefully the hose clamps are re-usable since I didn't get new ones?

thanks

cf99 · 03-09-2011, 10:46 PM

Should I take the lack of response to mean I should wait til I have a way to lift the car?

I wouldn't want to get most of the way through it, only to find I can't finish it without being able to lift it so I can get enough leverage on the radiator drain to close it and to have enough room to get the splash guard back on.

***BMR*** · 03-09-2011, 11:16 PM

I don't know if your '01 is the same as my '92 Camry, but on it, I removed the plastic "pan" without jacking it up. It would be easier if it was though. There were two pieces on mine, front and back. The biggest trouble with it is that the screws/bolt heads get all beat up from rubbing on parking curbs, so it was hard to get a wrench on some of them.

The radiator drain plug is a petcock; doesn't need to be unscrewed all the way. Just a turn or two and the coolant will dribble out. Remove the radiator cap and it'll go faster if you want.

pmesfun · 03-09-2011, 11:20 PM

You don't need to remove anything. Place a pan under the drain petcock and loosen it until it drains. Make sure the radiator cap is off first.

***fenixus*** · 03-09-2011, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmesfun

You don't need to remove anything. Place a pan under the drain petcock and loosen it until it drains. Make sure the radiator cap is off first.

I think camry have those plastic anti-splash shield all over under engine.
I know my solaras don't, they only have a metal shield in front part (with opening for a pet **** drain) and longer fender liners reaching under fogs/bumper, but there is no other plastic shields like camrys have (seen those in pics). he might need to unbolt that plastic shield first before opening the radiator drain valve... I think.

pmesfun · 03-10-2011, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixus

I think camry have those plastic anti-splash shield all over under engine.
I know my solaras don't, they only have a metal shield in front part (with opening for a pet **** drain) and longer fender liners reaching under fogs/bumper, but there is no other plastic shields like camrys have (seen those in pics). he might need to unbolt that plastic shield first before opening the radiator drain valve... I think.

Oh,

on me. I thought it was like the camry was like the solara and avalon.

cf99 · 03-10-2011, 07:50 AM

Yes, from the looks of it, if I don't remove the plastic shield(s), much coolant will land on the shield and pool up and spread laterally and then overflow all over the place.

Getting it back on (without lifting the front end) looks to be the harder half of the job since you have to align things and be able to see the holes.

***BMR*** · 03-10-2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cf99

Yes, from the looks of it, if I don't remove the plastic shield(s), much coolant will land on the shield and pool up and spread laterally and then overflow all over the place.

Yup, that's what'll happen. So you don't *have* to remove it, but it makes a helluva mess if you don't.

Quote:

Getting it back on (without lifting the front end) looks to be the harder half of the job since you have to align things and be able to see the holes.

Yeah, it's not extremely easy. And it depends on how big you are. I can scootch my way under far enough to do it. But if you're a big fella, you might wanna use ramps.

cf99 · 03-12-2011, 09:03 PM

Well I'll probably never do THIS again.

It took 7 drains to get to where the coolant had lost most of its color (except when in a deep container where it's magnified). The bigger plastic container has about an inch of the same coolant in it. I refilled with Toyota red after it looked like this:

Draining just the radiator is really time consuming. I'm sure it would have been fewer drain cycles if I drained the block too.

For future reference, draining just the radiator via the drain plug, with the radiator cap off, yields just short of 5 quarts (1 gallon 26 ounces)

***fenixus*** · 03-12-2011, 10:02 PM

did you start the car and waited until cooling fans turn 2 times after every refill with distilled water? this way you are sure the thermostat opens and fresh water mixes with everything else in system before draining it from rad.

I think I will drain coolant on my 1mz-fe with 2 drain plugs on block and radiator. I did radiator flush method on 5s-fe once and it was easy, took like 4 drain and refills with water (drain on rad was last step) before refilling rad with coolant concentrate.

cf99 · 03-12-2011, 11:22 PM

Maybe your fans and sensors are different than mine, but the fans cycle on and off many times before the coolant at the radiator fill neck reaches 180 degrees where the theromstat opens. I measured the temperature at the radiator fill neck with an infrared thermometer that has a laser pointer so I know exactly the point it's reading the temperature, waiting for 180 degrees or so, but if you don't have one, feeling the upper radiator hose works just as well. The hose will be too hot to hold for more than a second or two, shortly after the thermostat opens. Before that, it just feels warm.

If I had shut the engine off after the fans cycled a couple times it would have been way too early. It takes about 15 minutes of idling the car for the roughly 2 gallons of water/coolant to heat up enough for the thermostat to open.

I did all my drain and fill with the radiator cap off, so I could measure the temperature. It might heat up a bit quicker with the cap on, but this worked for me. I waited roughly 90 minutes (for everything to cool down) between when the thermostat opened and when I then drained the radiator, for the next round of adding distilled water. I used about 8 gallons of distilled water when all was said and done.

***fenixus*** · 03-12-2011, 11:29 PM

hmm ... so it seems that using rad and engine drain plugs is the only proper (and quicker) way after all. thanks for sharing your experience.

cf99 · 03-12-2011, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixus

hmm ... so it seems that using rad and engine drain plugs is the only proper (and quicker) way after all.

Quicker yes, but draining just the radiator works too.

The total capacity is supposed to be 9.7 quarts. Since I got just under 5 quarts from the radiator alone, and I think I recall the heater core capacity is 1.7 quarts, so (assuming each side of the engine block holds the same amount of coolant), each side of the block must hold about 1.5 quarts.

I think you'll have to add the same total amount of distilled water to dilute the existing coolant to the same level I did, you just add more (8 quarts versus 5 if radiator alone) per pass if you also drain both sides of the block.
Doing some quick math that would mean you'd have to do 4 drain and fills with distilled to dilute the existing coolant concentration to the same level I did (if you drain both sides of the block each pass)

You can always do less, and I can't say for sure how much it matters to get the coolant concentration down to the level I did, versus fewer drain and fill cycles where the residual concentration of old coolant is a bit higher.

I wanted to get as much old coolant out as my patience would allow, since I know there's been some amber universal coolant added to top it off a couple times. Thought I'd get back to a fresh dose of Toyota red.

***fenixus*** · 03-13-2011, 12:04 AM

nah, on V6 I'm just gonna drain all (2 block plugs and rad) I can and refill with 1 gallon of TLLC and top off with whatever amount of distilled water it takes (should be another 3-4 quarts) and call it a day. coolant concentration 50-70% is fine, I wouldn't risk running the lower limit (30%) in my state.

cf99 · 03-13-2011, 12:10 AM

Oh, what I meant by "concentration" is the remaining (old) coolant diluted with the distilled, BEFORE any new coolant is added. You can't get that to zero in any reasonable amount of time, but if you only do 1 drain of the block and radiator, you'll have 1.7 quarts of your old (50/50) coolant (from the heater core) mixing with the new, meaning 18% of your cooling system is still old coolant. I wanted to get much lower than that.

The final concentration of NEW coolant that I aimed for was 60%. I'll see how close I got next time I'm in the shop and they do a refractometer measurement, and I'll get a baseline pH too.