333arod333

Hello Club Lexus. New member here, been using this forum for a while to do some work on my 2001 GS300 and figured I would join because I'm really confused right now.

Among many other things, I'm doing a coolant flush since it has never been done to this car while I've owned it. I'm really stuck though... I drained the old coolant using radiator draincock. I didn't use the block drain bc I was planning on doing several flushes. Around 1.5-1.7 gallons of old fluid came out.

So I have no idea how to refill the coolant in this thing: I'm filling the radiator back up and it will only take a gallon max including the overflow tank. Needless to say, the engine will overheat and most importantly I'm not getting ANY heat from my vents with the heat all the way up (both sides, A/C temperature actuators all check out).

To me it seems like I'm not getting any circulation through the cooling system. I even started it with the radiator cap off and no drop in coolant level, however steam comes out of radiator inlet. Also, the upper radiator hose is hot as hell, hotter than the lower.

The heat worked fine before so there shouldn't be any clogs in the heater core. The thermostat also worked great before so it shouldn't be that. Water pump was also working well before.

What am I doing wrong? What is the proper coolant fill procedure? On my Cobra there is a coolant system crossover tube that has a filler plug in it. So they tell you on purpose to fill it from there and not from the overflow tank on top of radiator. Should I be pouring water/coolant into the top radiator hose so it goes into the block/heads? Why wouldn't the water pump be grabbing the water at bottom of radiator and shooting it up into the engine (squeezed it a bunch of times)?

Sorry for the long first post. I'm mechanically inclined and have experience rebuilding engines and I'm just perplexed at this point. PLEASE HELP!!!

333arod333

Is there a fill point somewhere near the water pump or somewhere else on the block etc.?

333arod333

So no response after 30 views? No one knows how they changed their coolant???

abounly

iTrader: (27)

just fill it through the radiator cap, run it for a few minutes then check if your missing any fluid.

bleed it out as well.

sLOWaristo

iTrader: (4)

This makes me scared to flush my coolant.. hope you find the issue.. sorry I couldnt be of assistance

burny

Just drain like you did and fill up the radiator then turn heat on max with fan on max and let run until car is at operating temperature. Add additional coolant as needed with car running. Should be that simple.

333arod333

I did fill up the radiator and run the car with heat on max and fan on max and nothing happened. Like I said, around 2 gallons came out, and only one gallon goes into the radiator.

So if only one gallon goes in and it needs two, then after the car runs and it flows through block and system bleeds out, I would need to put another gallon in. That doesn't sound right at all.

Even if I squeeze the lower rad hose the fluid won't get pumped through.

I really need this done very soon please help.

333arod333

Ok I figured it out.

I poured fluid directly into the upper radiator hose until it was coming out. I then realized that you can do this with the hose in place as well, it just looks like the radiator is full and it will bubble out and overflow. This, however, does not mean its full, just that its burping itself out (preliminary burp, I guess you could call it). Just keep pouring fluid in the radiator until it overflows with water and no bubbles are coming out anymore.

I put a rag around the radiator inlet so it wouldn't leak all over the fans, but after going back and forth in my head I realized it was kind of pointless because the fan connections are waterproof (they get wet in the rain for sure, in any case). Anyway the thermostat opened the fans turned on and the rad fluid is hot as hell, so I guess it worked.

Thank You Club Lexus for your input.