Radiator Service

I bought my 04 Tacoma almost 2 years ago with 93K miles from a local Toyota dealership, now it has just short of 117K. I took it to Express today to get the oil changed and the guy mentioned that it might be time to do a "Radiator Service" which as he explained it, was just a flush of the radiator and top it off. It should be done at 100K and then every 50k afterwards.

My question: Would the dealership have done this before they sold the truck to me?

I understand they aren't trying to dump a bunch of money into something they are about to sell, but it's just short of 100k and I'm sure they do plenty more to it before it's resold.

Thanks

 

Probably not... Generally when a dealer ship resells a vehicle they typically look it over for repairs and other noticeable defects (frame rust, body damage, mechanical defects and other noticeable things). The less money they put into it the more they will get back. Im also due for a coolant flush and refill. My 04 has the 100,000 mile super long life coolant in ti from factory and thats what i plan on putting back in.

 

Are you going to do it yourself? How hard is it?

I helped a buddy clean(?) his back in highschool (drain, put some stuff in, drive around a little, drain that, then put the real stuff in) It was pretty easy. Would I need to do that again, or just drain add more, done?

Thanks

 

Has your timing belt service been done? If so from a dealership a good dealership should have drained the radiator, do the timing belt, water pump and fill with new radiator fluid.

 

Ill be doing it myself. Do you have the 3.4L or one of the 4cyl? I have the 2.7L 4cyl so i dont have to worry with that. If you do have the 3.4L it would be a good idea to do the timing belt and water pump. Depending on how your coolant looks now will determine if you need to actually run a chemical through the system. If you pull your radiator cap off is there brown crap around the cap? If not then a simple drain, flush with water and refill of Toyota super long life coolant and you should be good to go. But while your in there it probably would be a good idea to replace the thermostat to.

 

I don't know anything about the timing belt

 

I have the 4 cyl, 2.4 L. Does that change anything?

 

Hey BRO,
There's way more cars in the junkyard because they failed to change coolant than vehicles that regularly changed their oil! Get some fresh TOYOTA coolant w/distilled water and get your hands dirty this weekend. Do it every 30,000 miles as its cheap insurance.

 

I had mine flushed at the dealer. It was way over due on my truck. I typically do everything myself but they flush out the block with a machine. I did the hoses and thermostat myself before the flush. I'll do it myself more frequently from now on.