Sweeney,

You need to sticky this for those inclined to do it themselves. I'm past that vintage now but this certainly alleviates any confusion and where to find all the connections. Nice job!.

 

Your usual excellent work. Thanks for posting.

I've seen the bleeder valve more than once working in this area and never gave it much thought as it's not documented in my '05-'07 Avalon 2GR-FE FSM. They've been on Honda's for years. I have drained the block thru the front drain, but did not know there was one for the rear as well. Make sense as the engine is V-shaped - just turned side ways.

I have the Lisle air bleed funnel and cannot sing high enough praise for it. No more mess burping a cooling system. Use it on all of my cars.

 

I've seen the bleeder valve more than once working in this area and never gave it much thought as it's not documented in my '05-'07 Avalon 2GR-FE FSM. They've been on Honda's for years. I have drained the block thru the front drain, but did not know there was one for the rear as well. Make sense as the engine is V-shaped - just turned side ways.

Yeah, the FSM was semi worthless. It was kinda like "yeah there is a drain, where? Good luck" :lol: So I figured I'd post where they were.

As for one side drain from another, one gets 90% of the fluid. I did the rear first, drained for about 3-4min, then did the front, and ti only drained for about 15-20sec.

A
I might also add a reminder to others doing this to check the coolant level in a week or so and top it off as necessary.

+1

I had checked mine earlier today after driving, and even after both heater cores had been blowing hot air, the system still sucked down a full tank's full of coolant (it was at the bottom). Gotta love air in the system, that rear AC is a PITA to bleed.

 

Another very useful post! Thanks for taking the time to do it.

+2 on the Lisle funnel. Makes the job much easier.

I might also add a reminder to others doing this to check the coolant level in a week or so and top it off as necessary.

 

When I did mine, I also had an issue with the air in the system. I just drove it for a few days and kept checking the overflow tank and adding there. Eventually it stopped wanting coolant so I assumed its all out.

 

So I drain and filled the radiator and have no heat coming through the vents now. The first time I did this, I didn't open the bleeder valves (I didn't know), then just drove around and heated to circulate the coolant.

After that, I drain and filled the radiator once again, this time with the bleeder open (both engine and radiator bleeders) and got the car to operating temp for ~20 minutes with both bleeders open while squeezing the upper radiator hose and filling with coolant. This was done on my driveway which has a slight incline.

I've had the heater setting on hot with the blower fan on and off for 5 minute intervals.

I still have no heat coming out the radiator, any ideas?

 

Which coolant did you use?

 

Thanks for getting back. I used Zerex Asian.

I fixed it after letting it cool off and driving it again; it seems to work fine now. It wasn't getting hot while I was actually bleeding the system for some reason.

 

you had air in the heater core, easy to cause when bleeding the system. Depending on how you bleed it and where you got the RPM during bleeding will determine how easily the air is pushed out. If you have rear HVAC make sure its heat is working. It took me goign up a steep hill with the RPM near 4-6k to force coolant into its heater core in the rear of the car.

Also make sure your fluid level is still right. If its suddenly started working, the air was replaced with fluid, draining your tank.

 

Sweeneyp,
Nice write up, Thank You...
If using the Lisle funnel do you need to open the bleeder valve on the top engine? If so do you open it while draining the old coolant or while adding the new coolant.
I plan on doing just a drain of the radiator and engine block and refill with Toyota pink. I have 38,000 miles on my HL and don't want to wait till 5 years or 100,000 miles.


Thanks

 

You might be able to get away without opening up the engine top bleeder, but its going to make purging the air a longer and harder process. Its a quick job to open that valve up, then just fill the radiator until you see coolant come out that valve and close it. You only need to open it up when filling, assuming the radiator cap is open, air will enter the engine block via that opening when draining. Though if your only draining the radiator, it won't matter.

 

I plan on draining the radiator and the engine block. That makes sense to open the top of engine bleeder valve when I fill with new coolant to bleed air out. Which engine block drain did you get the most old coolant out of, the rear one on the firewall side or the front one behind the dip stick?
Also, when you blew out the heater core did you take the heater core hoses off the engine or the firewall? I would guess the engine.
Thanks for this great DYI write up and your quick response.

 

Did my drain and fill on the radiator and engine block this weekend, so I answered my own questions I last posted. I drained out a total of 2 gallons of old coolant and it took in just a tad under 2 gallons for refill. I didn't flush or drain the heater core hoses as at 38,000 miles the fluid I drained looked really good. I did open the engine bleeder valve while filling till coolant started coming out and then closed it. I did use the Lisle Spill-Free Funnel and it worked great. I also used the Zerex Asian coolant I bought from Napa for $13.99 per gallon vs. Toyota pink at $21.43 per gallon from the dealer.
I did have to refill the overflow tank the next morning as it sucked almost all of it back in to the radiator. Word of caution to anyone doing this job, only unscrew the drain plug on the radiator a couple of turns till it starts to drain. Any added turns and the plug will come all the way out and make a mess.

 

Just flushed/refilled the coolant in my 2010 Highlander. Didn't see this till after I was already done. I did drain the engine block and radiator, but not the heater cores. I also got 2 gallons out, and put 2 gallons back in. So I guess I got about 66% of it changed. Old coolant didn't look bad, so I'm probably ok. 91,500 miles on it, if it's the original stuff. (I purchased the Highlander used a few years ago.) I also tow a boat regularly during the summer months, so also drained/changed the ATF & filter. Drained/changed the fluid twice, so feel I got a good amount of the ATF changed out. (Can never get the Torque Converter fluid..) Thanks for this writeup. I'll remember the heater cores if there is a next time.:smile:

 

Did this job last night. I just drained out the radiator and rear engine drain. I'd say I replaced about two gallons. I used the Lisle funnel, as well as opening the engine bleeder valve will filling the radiator back up. The lisle funnel worked great. It took about 15 minutes or so to bleed the system and purge the air from the heater cores. Revving the engine seemed to help the most and noticed that I would get air out after revving the engine for a couple seconds then letting it back down to idle. I also noticed when burping the system by squeezing the radiator hose coming out of the top of the radiator, that some particulate back fed up into the funnel. They looked like little semi transparent flakes. They worked themselves back into the radiator.

Based on that, I'm thinking a good flush is in order. May have to take it somewhere to do that. But I do have about 4 gallons of 50/50 zerex asian left. It was like $12/gallon if you bought a case of 6 gallons on amazon. Otherwise, it was like $19/gallon

Is there any way to flush it yourself with 50/50 mix?

 

Hello, I just flushed out my original coolant after 80K miles. It looked real good, not sure if it was necessary or not. I used the OEM super coolant. However, I feel a lot more comfortable doing it. I hate taking chances. Anyway, while taking off the shroud/undercover, I destroyed the tabs which hold the plastic covers together. Any idea what the PNs are or if I can just buy them from NAPA? I called the dealer and they have no idea what the P/Ns may be. I attached a picture of them below. BTW sweeneyp, great post. Thanks, Ed

 

If you want OEM push pins, you can locate the parts numbers at this site:

http://www.partsouq.com

Once inside - provide VIN - then begin your search. Once you get the part number, you might want to first try the following site. You can scan for the Toyota part # once inside:

http://www.clipsandfasteners.com

They do not have every Toyota nut/bolt/push pin, but they do have quite a few and you get more bang for your buck with them vs. a dealer. Another option is ebay.

 

Mike, sorry for the tardy response. Thank you for responding to my post, I appreciate it. I used your links and found what I needed. I later discovered I did not need to remove the undercover, there is a direct hole for the fluid evacuation. Also, I went on top by the battery and removed that post, I had almost easy, direct access to the wing nut. Anyway, everything went well, next task is differential fluid. Ed

 

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This might be the best instructional video yet on how to bleed the engine coolant system on 2GR-FE engines fully and properly in one go:

One concern: is there a way to make the engine bleeder valve on the Venza accessible to human hands??

 

Will be trying this, eventually. Also, going to be looking for a good video on how to flush without special tools. Not sure about using my air compressor to flush it out.

 

Just drain and fill and then shorten the interval to 50k miles next time. I just did mine at 84,000 mi/12 years. I got about 2/3 of the old coolant out (which looked great). Follow the procedure in the video above and it's pretty easy. But do take out the overflow reservoir and dump it; that's one step that isn't included in the video. It's easy to do, and it's the only place I found any crud buildup.

 

Is removing the pulley really necessary to remove the thermostat housing/tube?