Short Term Coolant Flush N Fill?

From the RMI-25 Website........

 

Agreed.

 

Assuming you’re not about to take off to the Alaska wilderness with it, I’d call it a day and go watch football. Revisit the situation at the 120k service.


BTW – I use only Toyota coolant in my Toyotas.

 

If I recall you said you plan on replacing the water pump soon. If that's the case, you really want to have a clean cooling system, and a cooling system full of genuine Toyota coolant. The last thing you want is a premature failure of that expensive water pump you just bought and the money for labor or the the time you put in doing it yourself go to waste

 

Drove it again today because the battery crapped out in my Jeep. I'll go by the store on the way home and get more distilled water and drain it again (and again if needed). I did get some Pentosin Toyota Red coolant concentrate last week. I guess I'll order the RMI-25 tonight.

 

Just got my truck inspected at Toyota today and picked two gallons of the Toyota 50/50 coolant. Grabbed 10 gallons of distilled water, two Prestone flush and cleaners and starting the process tomorrow!

 

You are extremely dedicated to this truck. Put your son to work!

 

When you have awesome trucks like ours, you gotta be dedicated!

 

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who is as "dedicated" to his truck! My wife says I have "tendencies" when it comes to the Yoda!

 

I was getting tired of the constant brown water drains. I looked in the radiator neck with a flashlight and noticed that there was still a brown film around the tubes, and the tubes that I could see still had a little junk in them. Apparently the hose flush I did last week got a lot out, but not as much as needed. Not wanting to pull the radiator again, I put in a gallon of white vinegar and topped off the system with tap water and let the truck run about 20 minutes to warm up and circulate. I let it cool and drained again. Very brown. When I poured it down the sink drain, there was a thin layer of sediment in the drain bucket, most likely rust. I looked in the radiator neck again and noticed that the brown film around the tubes is now gone, but still a little junk in them, though not as much. I filled the system up with distilled water and some baking soda to neutralize any leftover vinegar, warmed the truck up again, and drained again after cooling. Still a brown drain, but not as much as before, and the sediment is not as much either. I filled up with distilled water again and drove it to work today. I'll drain again when I get home and refill with more distilled water. I'll try a few more drains to see if I'm making any progress before adding the coolant. I ordered some RMI-25 last night to help get the rest of the junk out, if the claims they make are true.

 

Man, is tap water that bad there?
The block has a drain.

The problems I've seen from chemicals is how thin they leave heater cores, metal fittings and radiators after ALL that scale comes out.

 

Our water is okay. I only used it to flush by hose, components disconnected from the rest of the system. Also, when I used the vinegar, because I knew lots of junk would be loosened and didn't want to waste distilled water on that. Otherwise, I have been using distilled water for refills and drains.

I also got a new radiator cap. The other one (original) may have had a hand in the overall degradation of the system. Before, even when warm, I didn't notice any release of pressure when using the old cap. Now, there is a definite release of pressure when loosening.

Drain this afternoon as very dirty, probably due to small amounts of leftover vinegar and baking soda and agitation from the drive to and from work. Hopefully the next few drains will clear it up enough to add coolant. I'm tired of buying distilled water. As I stated before, I hope the RMI-25 does its job as well when I add it.

 

Brown looking coolant with debris in it is a classic sign of a leaking or blown head gasket....hope that's not the case here. I've actually heard it's more of a milkshake brown and consistency, not really tea-like

When I was a lot younger, I naively bought an old POS 1985 'yota pickup for $500. Thing was junk, and I remember when I checked the coolant it was like a milkshake. Brown with crap at the bottom of the reservoir. Shop confirmed it was a blown head gasket.

 

The initial debris I encountered hen I started all this was small rust flakes, on average about the size of grits (or cream of wheat if you're from up north), and has eventually progressed to being very, very fine, just darkening the water and leaving a small layer of sediment in the drain bucket more than anything else. I think most of it is junk still lingering in the radiator tubes, that is loosening up. I really don't think I have to replace the radiator, because it shows no other signs of leakage or other. I have been checking the oil and there is no water mixing. No bubbling in the cooling system either, or white smoke from exhaust, so head gaskets appear okay so far.

 

I doubt H.G. either.

It does sound like red/green mix.....and never changing.

Ya know....the truck is 20 yrs. old....I think I'd be collecting a lot of stuff to change.

A radiator is cheap. All those hoses add up but it's prob. time....age worse than mileage for rubber/plastic.

 

I left the radiator drain open all night. I also left the drainage in the bucket to see how much solids would settle out. The water was still brown, and not much settled out, so these solids are very, very fine, like silt. I decided to pour some water through the radiator. The drainage that came out was just as dark as before. This water had not been circulated through the entire system. I poured some of this drainage through a coffee filter; it removed some solids but not much. I decided to flush the radiator by itself again and apparently that's where my dirty flushes have been coming from. The silt / sediment has been collecting in the radiator. I kept doing that until the water was clear. I then added my coolant concentrate (1 gallon), filled the overflow with 50/50, and then poured some 50/50 into the radiator, leaving a quart of 50/50 in the jug. Then I topped off with distilled water. My wife and I drove the truck to do some errands. I opened the heater valve a few times to circulate through it. The truck seemed to be running a little cooler and sounded a little quieter. Anyway, I'll watch it over the next few days and add some RMI-25 when I get it to remove any remaining silt.

 

I love how 'on top of it' you are with this. Like a very controlled experiment, lol. I'm curious to see what the rmi-25 does for it. I've always wanted to try it but haven't had the need since that other repair I mentioned. You mentioned doing the vinegar before, being as mild an acid as it is, have you thought about leaving it in the radiator and soaking, maybe overnight?

 

Well, I do have an Engineering degree, and experience in engineering and manufacturing, so I'm used to following procedures, conducting research, experimenting, and taking note of outcomes. I thought about leaving the vinegar in longer, but with this being a 20 year old truck with many original components, I decided to be more cautious.

 

Yeah I hear ya. The experiment comment was meant as a compliment, hope it didn't come off any other way. I was thinking just leaving the vinegar in the radiator itself, see if you can get that crap out of it. I guess that's what the rmi will be for though, right?

 

Thanks for the compliment. I'll admit, I'm anal about my vehicles, and even if someone made fun of me about it, I wouldn't care. I haven't taken anyone's comments on this thread as being even remotely offensive. This is my first Toyota, although I own a Nissan and a couple of Hondas and a Jeep. I know a lot about cars, but each brand has its quirks. I like the "bob is the oil guy" website, and I saw some positive stuff about the RMI-25 there too. It sounds plausible; water treatment plants use chemicals to separate solids from water before treating. I ordered a quart, so I'll use the Tacoma as the "guinea pig", and then add to my other vehicles if it works.

Anyway, I have 2 kids in college, so money is tight sometimes. I make sure stuff works like it should, and try to fix it if it doesn't. I hope that I can contribute to others on this forum, as well as learn from it.