Tacoma750

Well before winter im gonna drain my coolant and refill it. PLUS I dont know the last time it was done (dont know how the PO took care of the truck) here is my question..
I have a buick 3.8L motor, with a toyota 4 cylinder radiator. What coolant should I use? Do I use half water and half coolant? I have never flushed a cooling system, so i dont know how to do it, or what to refill it iwth. HELP woudl be great.

Jay351

Go to the stealer and get TOYOTA coolant. Go 50/50 with DISTILLED water.

Tofer

or just pick up whatever's on sale at autozone and use the garden hose.....


but yes 50/50 as best you can.

thook

You could get one of those cheap, little back-flush Prestone kits at the part store. Hook the hose adapter into the heater hose and flush with a garden hose until it's clear. It works pretty good.

stormin94

Are you really supposed to change that? Seems like a waste of time to me.....it still works, it's not dirty, and it doesn't leak, so why bother?

Tofer

or once again stick the garden hose in the upper and lower hose to flush the radiator. and hten pull the t-stat, and flush the block the same way... then replace the t-stat since its out.

thook

Supposed to change what...the coolant? You must be joking.

thook

You must have a well, too.

Jay351

Yes, after awhile coolant becomes acidic and will eat away at metals. Like your radiator for instance.

stormin94

How often should I change it?

Jay351

once a year or two is good

thook

OH! You weren't kidding. Sorry. Yeah man, the coolant's a good thing to change regularly.

Read'm article...

One failure mode associated with dirty coolant is known as electrolysis. Electrolysis occurs when stray electrical current routes itself through the engine coolant. The electricity is attempting to find the shortest path, and impurities in the coolant often generate a path of least resistance that the electricity travels across. The source of this stray electricity is often from electrical engine accessories which have not been properly grounded. A missing engine or transmission ground strap can also cause the coolant to become electrified. Sometimes the path of least resistance becomes a radiator, a heater hose, or even the heater core. These components are often well grounded, and offer a ground path from the engine to the chassis by means of the semi-conductive path of the coolant.

The rest of it..
http://www.drivewerks.com/Newsletter/vol-7.htm

apalmer1

Yep yep, good preaching, you can tell some radiators have run the same coolant for far too long, the paint will begin to erode off the radiator, and you dont even wana know what it makes the components under the valve cover look like if it gets really bad

stormin94

Thanks

jcfb

You can pick up a Prestone radiator flush at the local AutoZone. You drain the radiator, put the bottle in, fill the rest up with water, and drive it around at operating temp for 10 minutes. I did that to mine, as well as several other vehicles. I would then drain that, stick a hose in the top of the radiator, undo the drain and just spray until everything looks clean.

I use distilled water to fill my radiator. You can pick a gallon of it up at your local gas station for about $3.

Greg_Canada

And DO NOT mix red + green coolant! under ANY circumstances! it will milk-ify and turn to sludge

thook

I take it that's from experience...lol. That would suck.

And by red, what brand do you mean? It's ethylene glycol based, isn't it?

Tacoma750

so i just pull that drain at the bottom of the radiator? or is there something on the engine I have to drain aswell? I have NO CLUE about this. I guess someone said to pull the tstat...do i HAVE to do that

Greg_Canada

Oh i didnt do it myself, but my cousin sold his taco, 2 days later gets a call, the dumb**** put the wrong coolant in and blew the headgasket... of course we didnt find that out till later....

Tacoma750

Also...should I use just antifreeze? since its winter now and it gets cold. Is there a differance between antifrezxe and coolant?