Coolant concerns......

[Bert]

Chaps and Chapesses. I've been flushing the old coolant out of my '97 Prado as it was crap. However I am confused about the amount of fluid it is taking to fill the radiator back up. It only takes about six litres of fluid before it tops up. Now, I'm sure mine is supposed to take 11 litres (rear matrix fitted) so what's the problem?
When I drain it, I under the radiator plug and the bottom hose, flush it all out, reconnect and refill, but only around 6 litres.
I've had her for over a year now and have never experienced any overheating issues, the heaters all work fine, front and rear.
Can anyone shed any light on what I am missing?
Cheers, Simon

 

[Beau]

When you drain the rad, you won't get all of the coolant out. Some will remain in the block and the heater matrix/lines. This is what I normally do.

Flush out old coolant from rad.
Top up with Distilled water only. Drive around/let it mix and warm up, and flush again.
You can repeat this couple times until the water draining is clear.
Now upon re-filling you'll need to make the mixture pretty strong to compensate for the water in the system already. (This is me assuming you're using concentrated coolant and not diluted stuff)
Don't forget to leave it running with the cap off when warm to help bleed air out the system, and top up the overflow bottle if needed.

 

[Bert]

When you drain the rad, you won't get all of the coolant out. Some will remain in the block and the heater matrix/lines. This is ........

Hi Beau. Ok, that sounds good to me. I've been draining and flushing the last few evening's. I've just been out for a spin, got her all hot and bothered, all heaters full on. She was like a sweathouse inside. I'm just letting her cool, she has distilled water and radiator flush mixing in there at the moment. Will drain down when cool, refill, drain, refill then add the Toyota long life.....

Cheers, Simon

 

[Bert]

....It's such a shame that the drain on the engine block is so hard to access.......

 

[Shayne]

It's not worth undoing Bert .

 

[Beau]

Yup not worth it, The flushing method will get 99% of crap out the system. Plus good quality coolant (Toyota red) will easily last 5+ years. That's easy maintenance

 

[Bert]

It has proved to be a useful exercise. Coolant has been completely flushed, countless times, there was soooo much crap in there. I don't think that it's been done for quite a while. At the same time, while I got the 'tinkerbug' on, I cleaned the engine and bay a bit, drained the oil, changed the filter, changed the fuel filter. Also noticed the power steering fluid was low, so topped that off too....and it all started with flushing the coolant.