Need advice regarding changing coolant

[tmontague]

Simplest and very effective way of doing it would be as follows:

- remove rad cap (make sure its not hot)
- loosen drain petcock on bottom of rad
- allow coolant to drain out (it will take a while)
- remove overflow tank hose from filler neck and push it down in the engine bay into a drain pan, it will start draining out once the hose is low enough
- reconnect overflow tank hose and close petcock
- refill with toyota long life coolant until fluid is at the top of the filler neck
- then start squeezing upper and lower rad hoses a few times to get more air out
- start the car and let it run for a 1 min.
- add coolant so that the filler neck is full and re install rad cap
- re fill overflow tank an inch or 2 above the hot level (overfill it)
- go for a 30 min drive so that the coolant get up to temp for at least 10 mins.
- recheck you overflow tank level and top up to "hot" level as needed.
- over the next week check the level in the overflow every day or two.

I've always drained my coolant this way on my yaris and I've done this at least 6 times in the past couple years and have always had great results and it wastes less time trying to wait for the thermostat to open which really won't happen unless your ambient temps are hot enough.

[bairjo]

Originally Posted by tmontague

Simplest and very effective way of doing it would be as follows:

- remove rad cap (make sure its not hot)
- loosen drain petcock on bottom of rad
- allow coolant to drain out (it will take a while)
- remove overflow tank hose from filler neck and push it down in the engine bay into a drain pan, it will start draining out once the hose is low enough
- reconnect overflow tank hose and close petcock
- refill with toyota long life coolant until fluid is at the top of the filler neck
- then start squeezing upper and lower rad hoses a few times to get more air out
- start the car and let it run for a 1 min.
- add coolant so that the filler neck is full and re install rad cap
- re fill overflow tank an inch or 2 above the hot level (overfill it)
- go for a 30 min drive so that the coolant get up to temp for at least 10 mins.
- recheck you overflow tank level and top up to "hot" level as needed.
- over the next week check the level in the overflow every day or two.

I've always drained my coolant this way on my yaris and I've done this at least 6 times in the past couple years and have always had great results and it wastes less time trying to wait for the thermostat to open which really won't happen unless your ambient temps are hot enough.

That pretty much covers it. Hamster, if you still do not understand what is spelled out here, you probably should have it done for you.....with Toyota coolant.

[Hamster]

tmontague
Thank you for dumbing it down for me (I mean that in a good way)! Now I get it. Sounds no more complicated than an oil change. I prefer to do as much maintenance work myself as possible, mainly because I don't trust anyone. Glad I don't have to wait for the thermostat to open. I'd be waiting forever, especially since I plan on doing this in the winter.

Your method involves way fewer steps than I've seen in other threads. Mainly because your method doesn't involve opening up the petcock on the engine block or a flush with distilled water. Because your way doesn't involve draining the engine or doing a flush, would you recommend that I do the next coolant change in less than five years? If so, how frequently do you recommend? It wouldn't be any big deal for me change the coolant more often than the maintenance schedule recommends. I've got the time, and cost isn't an issue.