DIY: How to flush your GS2 coolant with pictures
12-15-09, 10:22 AM
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DIY: How to flush your GS2 coolant with pictures
More pictures will be coming; I don’t have much on my work PC.
Coolant Flush: I purchased my car with a tad under 100k miles. It was rarely driven and the coolant seemed to be fresh and clean; but just as you’d wash your ***** and take a leak you should do the same for your cooling system on the car. Now my ‘flush’ isn’t a flush per se – It’s more of a half *** ‘drainage’ and refill.
How to perform a coolant ‘flush’ on a GS400:
- Tools:
- A pair of hands and at least four fingers
- 3-4 Gallons of distilled water – one to flush, one to mix with OEM Toyota Coolant
- OEM Toyota Coolant – Red color, super long life
- Funnel – minimize spilling
- Shop Rags – clean up for the minimized spilling
- Drainage tank or jug – the old coolant will need to be drained into this.
Note*: I am not responsible for any actions caused by this whether it be harm or not. You are responsible for your coolant; make sure you dispose of it properly. Do not dispose of it in the toilet; sink, bathtub, or in any drain in your neighborhood. There are places that will gladly take this stuff for free. Call your local dealer and ask them where they dispose of their old coolant. There are HUGE fines for disposing of this stuff in the street.
1. First thing; gather your things together.
2. Jack up the car and make sure its secure; this is how I ALWAYS jack my car up. After all; if my car somehow decides to remove itself and land on my body I’m sure that modding will cease.
3. Remove the upper radiator cap and take a look – if it’s red that’s good; if you don’t see anything then look in the overfill tank – if theres nothing there then do a search to find out if this could be an issue.
4. Next you’ll need to remove the lower radiator drain cap (4a.) Get under your car; specifically right in front of the driver front wheel and look towards the bottom back of the radiator. This is the white drain plug. Don’t remove it just yet. The drain hose is located at (4b).
5. Next grab your tank or jug that you’ll be draining it in. I used a pesticide spray bottle.
6. Now the plug might be a bit tough at first but it should come off with ease – make sure you turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. You’ll start to see a bit of coolant start leaking; don’t remove the cap all the way. If it’s hard to remove use a vise grip and slowly turn it (6a). The stop cap will be your control of sorts here. Let it all drain into here (6b).
7. Now you can squeeze the following hoses and try to get the coolant out quickly but I don’t recommend it unless you are ready for a mess. I did it and I made a mess.
8. Next once all of the coolant is drained you should screw back on the drainage cap.
9. Now take a couple gallons of distilled water and refill it at the upper radiator cap. Once almost refilled; put the cap back on and start your car.
10. Run the car for about 4-5 minutes. Turn the car off and let it cool down. Hot distilled water isn’t a pretty thing; but *****es love scars so…lol. Once about 30 minutes has passed you need to drain the distilled water.
11. Remove the drain cap to drain the distilled water. Make sure all of it is drained.
12. Now that you have the water out; screw the cap back in.
13. Grab your Toyota Red Long Life Coolant; and pour it all into the radiator. Then add a gallon of distilled water. This gives you your 50/50.
14. Cap off the top of the radiator; make sure the drain cap is tight. Run the car for a few minutes to check that the temperature gauge is working and that it doesn’t overheat.
15. If all is well then you’re done. Make sure she brings you a beer and that it’s opened. If it’s not then you know what needs to happen here.
Coolant Flush: I purchased my car with a tad under 100k miles. It was rarely driven and the coolant seemed to be fresh and clean; but just as you’d wash your ***** and take a leak you should do the same for your cooling system on the car. Now my ‘flush’ isn’t a flush per se – It’s more of a half *** ‘drainage’ and refill.
How to perform a coolant ‘flush’ on a GS400:
- Tools:
- A pair of hands and at least four fingers
- 3-4 Gallons of distilled water – one to flush, one to mix with OEM Toyota Coolant
- OEM Toyota Coolant – Red color, super long life
- Funnel – minimize spilling
- Shop Rags – clean up for the minimized spilling
- Drainage tank or jug – the old coolant will need to be drained into this.
Note*: I am not responsible for any actions caused by this whether it be harm or not. You are responsible for your coolant; make sure you dispose of it properly. Do not dispose of it in the toilet; sink, bathtub, or in any drain in your neighborhood. There are places that will gladly take this stuff for free. Call your local dealer and ask them where they dispose of their old coolant. There are HUGE fines for disposing of this stuff in the street.
1. First thing; gather your things together.
2. Jack up the car and make sure its secure; this is how I ALWAYS jack my car up. After all; if my car somehow decides to remove itself and land on my body I’m sure that modding will cease.
3. Remove the upper radiator cap and take a look – if it’s red that’s good; if you don’t see anything then look in the overfill tank – if theres nothing there then do a search to find out if this could be an issue.
4. Next you’ll need to remove the lower radiator drain cap (4a.) Get under your car; specifically right in front of the driver front wheel and look towards the bottom back of the radiator. This is the white drain plug. Don’t remove it just yet. The drain hose is located at (4b).
5. Next grab your tank or jug that you’ll be draining it in. I used a pesticide spray bottle.
6. Now the plug might be a bit tough at first but it should come off with ease – make sure you turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. You’ll start to see a bit of coolant start leaking; don’t remove the cap all the way. If it’s hard to remove use a vise grip and slowly turn it (6a). The stop cap will be your control of sorts here. Let it all drain into here (6b).
7. Now you can squeeze the following hoses and try to get the coolant out quickly but I don’t recommend it unless you are ready for a mess. I did it and I made a mess.
8. Next once all of the coolant is drained you should screw back on the drainage cap.
9. Now take a couple gallons of distilled water and refill it at the upper radiator cap. Once almost refilled; put the cap back on and start your car.
10. Run the car for about 4-5 minutes. Turn the car off and let it cool down. Hot distilled water isn’t a pretty thing; but *****es love scars so…lol. Once about 30 minutes has passed you need to drain the distilled water.
11. Remove the drain cap to drain the distilled water. Make sure all of it is drained.
12. Now that you have the water out; screw the cap back in.
13. Grab your Toyota Red Long Life Coolant; and pour it all into the radiator. Then add a gallon of distilled water. This gives you your 50/50.
14. Cap off the top of the radiator; make sure the drain cap is tight. Run the car for a few minutes to check that the temperature gauge is working and that it doesn’t overheat.
15. If all is well then you’re done. Make sure she brings you a beer and that it’s opened. If it’s not then you know what needs to happen here.
Last edited by GS400Jay; 12-15-09 at 10:38 AM.
Great DIY though!
12-15-09, 11:17 AM
#6
I'd add a couple of pointers/caveats.
First, the red coolant is Long Life, not Super Long Life as stated up top. I'm not trying to be picky, but it confuses even some parts guys I talked to - the Long Life (red) coolant is pure antifreeze, the Super Long Life (pink) coolant is already diluted to 50/50. So just be careful that you get the right one.
Next, when you say "pour all of the red coolant into the radiator", you should clarify that you should pour half of the system's total coolant capacity into the radiator. Since the total capacity is 10.4 qts, you should pour in 5.2 qts of red coolant, and then top off with distilled water to get the 50/50 mixture. Don't forget the overflow reservoir, some of the coolant should go into that too.
I would drain the block too, as it holds a lot of coolant that does not get drained by just draining the radiator.
When running the engine to flush the system, have the heater working to get that purged out as well.
In my experience, it took several drain and refill cycles to get all of the old coolant out, i.e. before the drained stuff came out clear and not red or pink. If you know that your current coolant is not contaminated and is Toyota red, you can probably get by with doing one or two drain/refill cycles. But if you don't know whats in there now, I'd repeat the drain/refills until the water drained clear.
First, the red coolant is Long Life, not Super Long Life as stated up top. I'm not trying to be picky, but it confuses even some parts guys I talked to - the Long Life (red) coolant is pure antifreeze, the Super Long Life (pink) coolant is already diluted to 50/50. So just be careful that you get the right one.
Next, when you say "pour all of the red coolant into the radiator", you should clarify that you should pour half of the system's total coolant capacity into the radiator. Since the total capacity is 10.4 qts, you should pour in 5.2 qts of red coolant, and then top off with distilled water to get the 50/50 mixture. Don't forget the overflow reservoir, some of the coolant should go into that too.
I would drain the block too, as it holds a lot of coolant that does not get drained by just draining the radiator.
When running the engine to flush the system, have the heater working to get that purged out as well.
In my experience, it took several drain and refill cycles to get all of the old coolant out, i.e. before the drained stuff came out clear and not red or pink. If you know that your current coolant is not contaminated and is Toyota red, you can probably get by with doing one or two drain/refill cycles. But if you don't know whats in there now, I'd repeat the drain/refills until the water drained clear.
Last edited by lyonkster; 12-15-09 at 12:57 PM.
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12-15-09, 08:45 PM
#11
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I'd add a couple of pointers/caveats.
First, the red coolant is Long Life, not Super Long Life as stated up top. I'm not trying to be picky, but it confuses even some parts guys I talked to - the Long Life (red) coolant is pure antifreeze, the Super Long Life (pink) coolant is already diluted to 50/50. So just be careful that you get the right one.
Next, when you say "pour all of the red coolant into the radiator", you should clarify that you should pour half of the system's total coolant capacity into the radiator. Since the total capacity is 10.4 qts, you should pour in 5.2 qts of red coolant, and then top off with distilled water to get the 50/50 mixture. Don't forget the overflow reservoir, some of the coolant should go into that too.
I would drain the block too, as it holds a lot of coolant that does not get drained by just draining the radiator.
When running the engine to flush the system, have the heater working to get that purged out as well.
In my experience, it took several drain and refill cycles to get all of the old coolant out, i.e. before the drained stuff came out clear and not red or pink. If you know that your current coolant is not contaminated and is Toyota red, you can probably get by with doing one or two drain/refill cycles. But if you don't know whats in there now, I'd repeat the drain/refills until the water drained clear.
First, the red coolant is Long Life, not Super Long Life as stated up top. I'm not trying to be picky, but it confuses even some parts guys I talked to - the Long Life (red) coolant is pure antifreeze, the Super Long Life (pink) coolant is already diluted to 50/50. So just be careful that you get the right one.
Next, when you say "pour all of the red coolant into the radiator", you should clarify that you should pour half of the system's total coolant capacity into the radiator. Since the total capacity is 10.4 qts, you should pour in 5.2 qts of red coolant, and then top off with distilled water to get the 50/50 mixture. Don't forget the overflow reservoir, some of the coolant should go into that too.
I would drain the block too, as it holds a lot of coolant that does not get drained by just draining the radiator.
When running the engine to flush the system, have the heater working to get that purged out as well.
In my experience, it took several drain and refill cycles to get all of the old coolant out, i.e. before the drained stuff came out clear and not red or pink. If you know that your current coolant is not contaminated and is Toyota red, you can probably get by with doing one or two drain/refill cycles. But if you don't know whats in there now, I'd repeat the drain/refills until the water drained clear.
My coolant was red; and the guy who I purchased the car from just got some services done at the dealer but then let the car sit for a few months so I just wanted to be safe rather than sorry. So I just used 1 gallon/1gallon mix.
I left the radiator cap on the top a little loose and checked it while it was running. It bubbled a little bit then died out after 4-5 mins of running the engine with the heat on and a/c on. I'd be glad if u knew of other ways to burp the system so I can add it up top.
12-15-09, 09:12 PM
#14
on my old car, there was a screw that was used to purge air out of the system. you close all caps/holes except that one and let the engine idle out the air bubbles. im not sure about the 2GS since i havent looked into it yet.
great writeup nonetheless. i like your picture labels
great writeup nonetheless. i like your picture labels