Oro's suggestion was exactly how I do it, and it's not involved at all. To recap, find your cooling system's total capacity in your owner's manual. Then after your final drain, add a little over half your total capacity using concentrate (not 50/50). Fill the system with water, and you're good to go.
Coolant flush question
- Thread starter Pucks18
- Start date
Toyota has convenient block drains on a lot of their engines, The ones I remember are a brass plug that needs to be loosened slightly and coolant leaks out through to plug no need to remove it go a google for your model locations.
Loosen the radiator and block drains, flush if desired, repeat and refill with 50/50 after flushing.
Loosen the radiator and block drains, flush if desired, repeat and refill with 50/50 after flushing.
Why bother asking the question in the first place if you're going to criticize the answers you don't like? If this is for your 01 or 94 Toyotas, I wouldn't even bother changing the coolant. The car's will break in half from rust before the cooling system develops any issues.
right... dont answer a question if you don't already know the answer I want to hear..
I wouldn't worry about the slight deviation from 50/50 ratio. Look at the chart on the back of the coolant jug and make an guess-timate - the only water left in the system would be in the heater core.
I follow the procedure in the service manual for my particular LS400.
I follow the procedure in the service manual for my particular LS400.
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Found this build up in my upper thermostat area/hose. My car is a 1994. I wouldn't be surprised my coolant is close to original or at least 15 year old coolant. I will not be doing a flush as it can lead to coolant leaks in the radiator and I don't plan on changing the radiator as I'd rather keep the original high quality one in their, and not some aftermarket denso non factory garbage. I thought this was oil in the coolant but I doubt it as I have zero symptoms of a bad head gasket. Drain and fills for me.
Looks like nothing to worry about to me. Quite normal.
Yeah, don't you hate when people do that ?
Because reccomding I add straight 100 percent coolant is the dumbest reccomendation everYeah, don't you hate when people do that ?
*reccomending
Not at all. It is the most logical *recommendation*. While adding 50/50 to a cooling system containing an unknown amount of water will result in an unknown mixture (but always weaker than 50/50), adding half of a system's capacity of concentrate will result in a perfect 50/50 mixture every time. It's absolutely foolproof.
JHZR2
Staff member
Not really. It’s actually a very good option if your system is reasonably clean. Draining a radiator is easier and less risky than removing hoses (which can affect the hose integrity, damage plastic radiator necks, etc.). Swapping more distilled water through gets you more clean coolant in there. The only thing better is to also open your block drain. My MB cars have a nice one with a nipple for a drain hose. Makes it really clean and benign.
JHZR2
Staff member
I generally premix all my coolant (make my own fat io from the concentrate), but if I thought there was water trapped in there I’d readily add concentrate to the system to get it where it needs to be.
A tester is always prudent, and short of a few days out of the year, getting the ratio wrong really doesn’t matter much, and can be easily rectified.
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I skip actually mixing in a separate pail. Just save a big soft drink cup from your last trip to McD. Then alternate filling the system with 1 cup of water then 1 cup of concentrate.
This saves the hassle of measuring, cleaning the pail, storing the leftover mix.
garageman402
$100 Site Donor 2024
Look, you are never going to get 100% of the coolant out unless you drain the radiator, recovery tank, heater core(s), drain the block, & turn the engine upside down. You will ALWAYS have something left behind. So after those numerous drain & fill cycles, you will have pure (distilled) water in there. The only way you'll accurately get your desired concentrate is to find the capacity of the cooling system, add whatever percentage of coolant you desire, then top off with distilled.
For example my minivan with rear heater is 11.9 qt. I round that to 12. Drain & flush then add 6 quarts concentrate (50% of 12 qt), & if there is still room finish up with water. I don't think the specs include the reservoir, so do that seperately with your 50/50 mix.
BTW, the GM factory spec for that minivan is 60/40 Havoline Dexcool. Yes, I've had numerous LIM gasket issues......
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pre-mix is a big rip-off too!
