2012 4.0 Full Coolant Swap

If this is a shot of your 2015 tacoma it has the later version of the v6 and may have a different
style drain plug on the driver side. I checked and mine (2012) has the short one under the exhaust manifold
as shown in the earlier post.

 

If you are taking about the video in post #9, my drivers side drain plug situation looks the same. You have to fish around blind for it, feeding the 1/4" ext. I show with a 10mm socket, turning slowly until the socket catches on to the drain plug.

 

Your arrow implies that the black fitting is the drain plug. Is this in fact a 1/4 drive extension w/ a 10 mm socket
and NOT the actual drain plug ?

 

For the record, about half the coolant sits in the block. I suppose you could drain and refill the radiator every 40,000 or so if you don't feel like dealing with the block plugs.
I just found it odd that it was all on the passenger side. The water jackets must be connected.
You would have a good ratio of good coolant I suppose.


I'm just the type of person that feels if you take of your Taco, it will take care of you.

 

Especially if you start doing them fairly early as opposed to waiting years and tons of miles.

As I stated a few posts back. I did my 1st DAF at 50k, followed by a 2nd a week later and a 3rd at 70k. So I'm mostly newer coolant. And if I continue to do a single DAF every 12-18 months the system will ways be fresh.

It's easy to do and only cost me $13 and an hours time. No biggie

 

My arrow points to a 6" 1/4" extension with a 10mm socket on the end. Anyone who knows what an extension looks like would understand this. The drain plug would obviously be on the socket end of the extension buried underneath.

 

The heading on the post said Drivers side drain plug, Not 6" ratchet extension and 10 mm socket attached to drain plug.

 

The subject of this thread was thoroughly covered previously. I think the only new info in this thread is a 22mm socket fits the drain plug.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/v6-antifreeze-coolant-change-how-to.657479/#post-23263329

The above information is wrong. As several other posters have said you'll get about a gallon out of the radiator and overflow and about another gallon out of the block.

 

how come the OP stated he got 6 ounces out of his drain block? the tooth fairy took the rest?

 

6 oz from the driver’s side block drain AFTER draining nearly a gallon from the passenger’s side block drain. If done in reverse order, the reverse is also true.

 

And common sense would dictate the tool(s) in the photo are used to loosen the Drivers side drain plug.

 

Thank you landphil for addressing the question, and clearing the tooth fairy of any wrongdoing.

 

Just for the record, it is a royal PITA to remove the thermostat like I did. I won't do it again unless I have to. 3 nuts hold it on and one of them (in the back) is almost impossible to get off without dropping the nut into the engine in nowhere land. Not to mention there is so little room to access that thing you can only turn your socket about 1/4" at a time. The only thing harder is actually getting that nut back on when you are finished. No room to get your hand in there to get the nut lined up and started. Once I finally got it back together, I crawled under the truck to close the radiator petcock and found the large rubber gasket that had fallen out of the thermostat housing when I was putting the thermostat back on. Since I was working at night I didn't notice it had fallen off until I found it under the truck. So I had to pull it off and reinstall it again. Geeez, that thing was even harder than accessing the driver side engine block drain.

 

the Tooth fairy is the Heater core

 

I flushed mine yesterday. Driver side drain plug was a PITA. Messed with it for a good 10 mins trying to hook up a hose to it. Got about 3/4 of a gallon out this side. She’s good for another 100k miles of adventure

 

Hard? It was easy to get to the bolt near the block. I used a 1/4” drive with a swivel head, 18” extension bar, came out without any issue. Super easy to replace the thermostat.

Work smart, not hard

 

I dont see how on earth you could have used an 18" ext. on that bolt. Neither did I have an 18" extension or wobble head for my 1/4" socket set.
You are obviously greater than I am in the thermostat removal. All hail Master 806Taco!
I will work at becoming smarter...
In my next life I wanna be more like you
Got anymore salt...you know to throw in the wound?

 

I just did mine. I left the drivers side block drain alone. Too much of a PITA. I still got a little over two gallons out of the radiator, passenger side block and overflow tank.

 

The V6 cooling system holds 10.1 qts of coolant. If you put in a gallon (4 qts) of concentrated antifreeze, you'd be short 2 qts of concentrated antifreeze for a 50/50 mix. After mixing up the coolant, you would then only need to replace 2 quarts of coolant with concentrated antifreeze to bring it up to 50/50. Maybe less, since you already had good coolant, but 2 qts would be playing it safe.

 

Thanks for this thread, it helped me replace all my coolant in my Taco 2012.
I was able to extract the 2+ gallons of coolant and by pass the driver's side access valve nightmare by using a 'Vacuum Fluid Extractor'. First about a gallon from the radiator, then the 1+ gallons from the passenger's side block valve, using the 10mm+2 extensions like suggested in this thread.