The Correct Way To Drain/Fill the 4.0 Antifreeze

What is the interval for changing antifreeze in the Tacoma? My truck is a 2005/145k miles and I believe it still has the original pink stuff from the Factory. It seems to be cooling normal and has had no issues I don't see a reason to mess with a good thing. I have added a little distilled water to the reservoir on one or two occasions since I've owned the truck but other than that it's running flawless.
Anybody know the lifespan of the Water pump? if that starts to fail then I'll replace the whole coolant along with the pump.

 

Subbed. Would like to do this soon, replace water pump and thermostat as well.

 

100K so you are current 45K past when it should have been done. For some reason Toyota has it as 100K the first change and 50K after that which doesn't make sense to me as the fluid would be good for another 100K.

Can't say I follow your logic on not changing it and just adding distilled water. Would you do this with your oil??? Nope because it breaks down and the same applies for coolant.

 

Adding distilled water will dilute the antifreeze ratio of 50/50. I would change the antifreeze out now. I may be wrong but I think it is 5 years or 100,000 miles. Mine was at 5 years with 71,000 miles on it. It still looked good but peace of mind doing it. Tim

 

I said I added a little distilled water on one or two occasion not on a regular bases or weekly. Adding 3-4 ounces of distilled water to the reservoir once or twice in 8 years is really not that much to make a difference in the 50/50 ratio. I have seen guys use 60/40 ratio during the summer and then change it back during the winter months. I do all city driving so maybe that's why my coolant stays clean. I don't pull anything heavy or off-road either.

 

Stays "clean"??? Well yeah it is a closed system so it doesn't matter if you drove on-road or off-road....The protective properties of the coolant breaks down over time. End of the story is you should change the coolant regardless of it being diluted or not as you are over the millage\time interval for this to occur.

 

Could one just do the following:

1. Siphon out what's in the reservoir (when cool) and replace exact amount
2. Drive a bit & let cool
3. Repeat a few times

Wouldn't that replace most of the coolant after a few times much like the drain & refill process for the tranny fluid?

 

The amount in the reservoir is significantly less than the amount of coolant in the rest of the system. You would be doing this a lot more than a few times. I'm also not sure how much, if any, cycling of fluid occurs between the radiator/engine block and the reservoir.
If you refer to post 47, there is also no need to siphon from the reservoir. It would be much easier to just remove the rubber cap.

 

I don't believe the system works that way where the coolant cycles through the reservoir all the time. On a 2011 year old truck I wouldn't worry about changing that coolant for a couple more years or 100+k miles, especially if you have that Toyota long life coolant/pink stuff. Now if you have mixed regular tap water or other different coolant in there than yea you need to replace the coolant asap.

 

Thanks!

 

What have you guys been doing to dispose of the used coolant? Here in NY it is state law for a service center to accept your used oil, not so much the case with used coolant.

 

Sub'd

 

I've yet to dispose of mine. Advance told me that the garbage facilities/dumps have arrangements to take care of it.

 

Local facilities here take it for recycle.
10 years/100k miles is good enough. At that point, replace the upper/lower radiator hoses too. Don't think the block drain is necessary but it's your choice.
@ 10 years, drain the radiator, 8 quarts out, replace two hoses, 8 quarts premixed OR 100 percent gallon with gallon of DISTILLED water ( use water from my dehumidifier (run thru a coffee filter). Prob easier for premix.

 

Did you use the Zerex Asian Vehicle 50/50 mix?

 

Yessir!

 

Same thing happened here. Put the Zerex Asain in. Going to run it and recheck. Just 5 years old and 50.2K on the clock. Cheap insurance. The drivers side block drain was a pain.

 

Pain to get to or pain otherwise? I think the whole piece unscrewed when I took one of them out. Worked it for a minute and oiled it and the drain screw came loose.

 

Drivers side block drain was difficult to access. I had to feed a drain tube in through the wheel well, then from the top find by touch the hose barb, confirm from wheel well. Insert ratchet from wheel wheel, break bolt loose from top of engine bay. My ratchet with extension was at least 1/2" too long, so difficult to operate. With as little coolant that came out that side (I did that side last) I may skip it altogether next time I do it in 5 years. I think I maybe got 12oz out that side. All together I got almost 2 gallons out. To make matters more difficult, I used 3/8 fuel line as a drain hose (all i had), it works, but it drips from the barb too, so paper towels were mandatory.

 

While on the subject of coolant - getting trapped air out of the system comes to mind. For yrs. I would simply idle the motor once filled with new coolant and radiator cap off with a sock attached to the radiator neck. Heater on and running. Once at operating temp I would quickly depress gas pedal, wait a few secs and do this repeatedly. This causes the water pump to push coolant to the top, along with trapped air. The sock helps to keep things from getting too messy.

Then I discovered this gadget from Lisle Tools. There are countless videos on how to use it on youtube.

No more air in the cooling system and no more mess. The sock helps - but it still gets messy.

http://www.lislecorp.com/divisions/products/?product=606