Coolant replacement

[BigYin]

I'm planning to replace the coolant in my 3l surf.

I've asked in another thread and got some info, but not enough for me to feel I can proceed...

Albannach gave this advice :

Empty, then back-flush the cooling system with a hose. Fill the system with water and add a cooling system flush (I use Forte), run the truck as per the instructions on the flush. Drain the system and back-flush, re-fill the system with water and run the truck for a while. Drain and back-flush again. Re-fill the system with red anti-freeze and water in a 50:50 ratio.

Do the above with the thermostat removed.

Fit a new Toyota cap and thermostat (Don't use pattern parts)

3 Liters don't have the same air locking issues as the 2.4s do.

... which is all great advice, but what I don't know, is HOW to do all this...!

How do you back flush?

How do you flush the heater matrix seperately from the radiator?

I had been under the impression it was a simple case of letting the water out of the rad through a tap of some description at the bottom of it??

Back flush suggests reverse pressure somehow...?

If I put a hose into the top of the radiator and gently flush it with fresh water for a while, will that flush the sustem? just the rad I presume..?

Which of the Halfords coolant's is suitable? They do a 5L one for £18 - that could be diluted up to 10L which should be enough for it all??

Any particular reason the thermostat should not be pattern part?? It's not the most complex part ever...?

Oh, and this will seem a dead stupid question, but, er, how do you actually GET the thermostat out??

[TonyN]

best way to clean the the heater matrix is to pull the hose off by the heater valve on the bulkhead, find the other hose for the matrix (they both go through the bulkhead together) and you sitck a hose in the pipe (its quite a good fit so you can leave it running for a while) and flush the matrix both ways. Then you can put one hose back and flush till it comes out of the rad cap. Pull the bottom rad hose to if you want, to help empty it quickly.

if you do this, the whole engine will be full of clean water. Then just drain and fill with coolant.

if you don't want to mess around with draining the block (you won't get 10ls of coolant in if you just drain from the rad), the nice thng about having flushed the whole system is just drain from the rad, then this normally allows enough room for you to get 5ls or so of neat coolant in, which will mix with the clean water in the rest of the system when you start the car.

Most pattern parts are ok, but a gen one isn't much dearer so not much point risking it. its down the drivers side of the block, the bottom rad hose goes to its housing and bolts to the block.

[blackpoolsparks]

well.
I dont think thats the best way
The BEST way would be to go back to Brians house and get Alan to do it...


Hes not got much on at the moment

[TonyN]

lol

[BigYin]

meh, I would, but he's away boarding, and then there's the minor matter of him stripping the cylinder head off his own truck.... ###### selfish of him I know

[T1z3R]

where in central scotland are you?
im doing mine at the weekend if you want yours done too just bring the coolant and something from greggs

[BigYin]

I'm near Falkirk. Thanks for the offer, but Port Glasgow isn't all that close, and frankly the Mrs wasn't pleased with me leaving her with all the kids all day last weekend when I spent all day working on the Surf with Alan....

[BigYin]

I've wimped out of it today

Decided to concentrate my time on the windows and fog lamp.

Might just beg an hour of KerrSurf's time in a week or two and get a lesson on how to do it, and more importantly, how to make sure it's refilled properly!!!

[wishbone]

I'm doing a flush today - I'll take some pics as I go.

Rob.

[TonyN]

I'm doing a flush today - I'll take some pics as I go.

Rob.

you can keep that to yourself....

[wishbone]

you can keep that to yourself....

Done it - feel much better now

Here's some pics of the pipes I put the hosepipe in.

First thing to do is remove the bottom hose from the radiator and drain coolant. Then stick a hose in the rad cap hole and let the radiator flush til it runs nice and clear (I removed my rad today to remove the aircon rad so that's why its not in the pics)

Then stick the hose in the bottom radiator outlet and reverse flush (use a cloth to seal the hose in the big hole)

I then removed the thermostat to make sure it's not obstructing anything.

Then I pulled the top heater pipes off near the bulkhead fittings and flushed the front heater matrix both ways. Then I put the hosepipe in the top rad hose (into the engine)

Then I just worked my way through all the pipes I'd undid for a good hour. (including the bottom hose from the engine)

I've taken a pic of the pipes to the rear heater for you. You'll see that I have bypassed mine as they're completely solid with gunk and will need replacing at a later date. I've drawn lines on the pic so you can see where each one attatches.

I then put it all back together, put some radiator flush in it, warmed the engine up and idled it for 10 mins. After cooling I went back to step one. Then repeated it all again... My coolant was in a really bad state.

There's a bracket on the top heater hoses that I removed to make it easier, and one on the bottom hose under the alternator that needs to come off. Also it helps to have some new hose clamps ready to put on.

[wishbone]

Front heater matrix pipes:

[wishbone]

Rear heater pipes.

[wishbone]

Thermostat housing.

[BigYin]

new hose clamps - good idea! - will source some before we start the job!!

Good pics - can't quite work out where the thermostat housing is, but once I take a look under the bonnet and compare with your pic I'm sure it'll make sense