Taka

well I'm planning to do the oil change at local shop tomorrow.
also I haven't done radiator flush ever since I purchased my car, so I'm planning but is it necessary? I had a heater problem once before but after I added little coolant, I haven't had any problem.
I just checked the Lexus Maintenance for radiator flush is like every 30k. Do you recommend me to do it with oil change?
Is there anything I should ask the shop guy when he does radiator flush?
How much should I expect to pay for this?
I hope I can get my car out of 2ft snow tomorrow

carnal_c30

hmm usually you wana do it before winter

how does your coolant look? is it clean? dirty? if ya want add a bit more coolant in it just to make sure it doesnt freeze over the winter and when you get the chance flush it out

honestly i'd suggest doing it yourself unless you have a shop that will give you a really good deal

I'm guessing shops will charge 49-89 bucks depending on how complete the flush is (draining engine block instead of just radiator drain ****)

good luck!

PERRYinLA

I changed it myself a few months ago and all I can say is that it is very hard to get all the coolant out of the engine block unless you attach a t-tap at the heater hose and pressure-flush it out.

But that introduces tap water into the system- some purists say that's not a good idea.

The best I could do on my own was drain the radiator, then attach a shop-vac blower hose to the overflow tank filling to blow out an extra few quarts. Then I filled to capacity with rain water (purists would have used distilled) and warmed up the engine. I repeated this several times before most of the old coolant was out. I can't imagine a service shop taking that much time to do it correctly, so unless you do it yourself it's gonna be a compromise, with them either using tap water, or not getting all of the old coolant out.

Others may differ, but coolant can last longer than 30K- there's no need to rush the flush.

Taka

true, and I dont have any problem with it so I think I'll do it myself when it gets warmer outside. Thanks

carnal_c30

well if there is nothing wrong with your cooling system and you use distilled water and enough coolant in your coolant system you should have no problems with contaminants and all that junk= no rust no mud no oil...

when its like that its fine with me to just drain and flush the system without messing with the engine block drain plug and all that stuff

basically- keep your car well maintained and maintainance is alot easier!

Lexmexico

Depends where you live. I live in Mexico City, and the coolant gets very dirty, very quickly. I have it changed every 15,000 miles, but normally I would do it every 30K.

VSsc400

iTrader: (1)

I went to a place that has a special pump that pumps the old coolant out and suck it whatever is left. Pretty cool... $70 is a little high I think though. some of the coolant say that its good for 150k miles... what goes there?

Lexmexico

VSsc400

You did well to get them to pump out all of the fluid. Most just let it drain and that is a big mistake. People also make that mistake in draining ATF fluid, only to realize it just gets 25% out.