Help! 3rd gen coolant

Tag for future use - quickly approaching 100k here - about another year.

How does the Toyota dealership swap the fluid? Do they have a machine that pressurizes the system to force all the old stuff out before putting in the new coolant?

 

Yes, they have a Vac/Fill/fluid echange, or similar machine.

 

Seems like the easy way to do it then, unless they charge a fortune.

 

Really it's not a hard job, but can be messy. That is assuming you can get the plug out of the block LOL.

 

Just not true. Coolant has 3 jobs...absorb heat, prevent freezing and fighting corrosion within the cooling system.

Doing a simple DAF can boost the corrosion additive pack. Absolutely not a waste of time.

Doing 2-3 DAFs will greatly improve things and net you nearly all new fluid.

At 55k miles I did 3 DAFs with Valvoline Zerex over the course of a few days. Every couple of years or so I'll do a DAF to keep the additive pack healthy.

Color is not that important. But just make sure it's a silicate free, P-HOAT formula

 

It also lubricates the water pump.

Ed

 

This stuff any good?

$22 Zerex Asian Vehicle Red Silicate and Borate Free 50/50 Prediluted Ready-to-Use Antifreeze/Coolant 1 GA

https://www.amazon.com/Zerex-Asian-Antifreeze-Coolant-Ready/dp/B0033QO022/

What if you just did a DAF every 25k miles? Asking for...a friend.

 

Here you go, Quoting you.... I had to do it (DAF 3 in a couple days) so it improves quality of coolant. Waste of time and money. If it would of been done correctly the first time, no need to do it 3 times in a couple days. So, you just confirmed my (It's useless to do DAF) Once correctly and done.

 

That would be the easy route and would work. It just seems like a short interval for today's fluids unless you are talking about Dexcool. I believe they fixed the issue, but I still don't trust GM.

 

Saying something is useless is not the same as it not being optimal. If the drain plug won't come out, I'm not going to lay on it with a breaker bar. At that points it's going to be several DAF's. I'll still have some percentage of old fluid even with several DAF, but reaching 80-90% new fluid will satisfy me, and is more than most. Or I may just follow the flush procedure but use SLLC in place of water. Once I've added the max capacity of new fluid, i'll just stop the flush procedure and burp the system and add if needed. That may be the way I go.

 

Perfect

 

I have attached a handy spreadsheet if you want to see how many DAF will be a complete fluid change. Full disclosure - I didn't create it.



Ed

 

You misquoted me. I never said "I had too". I said I chose to. That's because I wanted to net nearly new fluid. Even draining the block will not purge all of the old coolant out. Besides, my system was less than 4 years old with 50k miles on it. So what I did was replace healthy coolant with even healthier coolant. It wasn't as if I was draining sludge out of a 20 year old system that was never serviced.

Stop spreading half truths and lies. It's that kind of nonsense that confuses people

 

You feel better now....

 

People much?

 

Here's a tip for you folks.

If you're having trouble loosening the drain-cock by hand....which sometimes happens...use a ratchet with a 22mm socket. Takes it right off. You'll just chew it up trying to squeeze pliers up in there, depending on exactly how it's oriented.

Be mindful if you choose to tighten it that way. You can inadvertently apply a lot of torque. Tighten snuggly is all it needs. You can check for leaks once it's up to operating temp and tighten a bit more if needed.

EDIT: This is assuming the drain-cocks are the same between the 2nd and 3rd gens. Willing to bet they are.

 

google search "toyota llc vs. toyota sllc" seems to be plenty of chatter about it

 

For reference...

 

Thanks, I don't think I'd bother changing the coolant 12+ times just to get 100% in there, I've seen similar models about transmission fluid, and on a more sensitive/critical component I'd say worth it. I don't believe the coolant system is nearly as sensitive as say a transmission. I think I may just try the flush technique but with SLLC, or try again to find the drain plug.

@Plain Jane Taco the only thing I found so far that looks like a plug was definitely not a 22mm socket, I could have been looking at the wrong thing though. It did not have a spout either.

@splitbolt were you able to locate it. I've looked at that diagram so many times and I can't find it on the block.

 

UPDATE: I found the drain cock plug. It's on the complete opposite side (passenger side) and much lower than the toyota diagram above. It's on the passenger side, below the first outlet of the exhaust manifold from the front of the truck.