smokey0066

Ok so I got paranoid after reading about all the strawberry milk shakes and went out and bought a koyo replacement. After a week of DD my new koyo I decided it was time to open up the old one to see what the fuss was all about.

A little background on my truck. '00 4runner sr5 v6 4wd with 155k on it. I've never serviced the coolant in this truck but it did have water pump replaced at around 45k and a timing belt at 102k so I'm sure there was some fluid replacement and is not the original fill. I've only topped off with green 50/50 which eventually turned the coolant a nasty brown (took awhile to flush out). Enough with the ramble, onto the photos. Keep in mind I took these pictures from my cell phone so they're not the best of quality.

looks like my radiator could have used a bit of cleaning.



Here are some close up shots of the transmission fittings. You can see there is some corrosion on both washers for the fittings.



Time to open up the lower end tank.


Lower end tank removed. The inside actually looked pretty good for never changing the coolant myself. It can really with stand neglect and take abuse.


A little residue, is this some silicate build up from the green mix??


Onto the transmission cooler which is what we're all concerned about anyways right? This actually doesn't look bad at all.



Time to remove the fititngs and see whats going on. You can see there has been some leakage of the coolant around the fittings but nothing horrible. The orings look decent on both fittings.






The lower end tank also has some built up of residue around the holes.




And finally the transmission cooler. It actually looks pretty good from the outside but you can see that corrosion has made its way to the cooler itself behind where the orings are supposed to seal. I think I was on borrowed time.




So I'm really glad I did the swap. Looking at it I probably could've gone another year? or who knows but its a gamble not worth taking for the ~$200 to do the swap and flush. Hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about doing the swap.

cajieboy

Great pics of your Rad. Replaced mine about 2 months ago on a '02 4Runner SR5 V-6 2WD (200,000+ mi), but as I was traveling I had everything done at a Toy dealer. Since the first of the year, I've had all belts replaced including TB, water pump, thermostat, radiator, both hoses, rad cap, thorough flush & new Toyo red coolant, all plugs, wires and boots. I'm about done, but concerned about my CATS & O2 sensors. Thanks to this Forum, I've learned a ton of info in a short time.

smokey0066

Hey thanks! I'm all caught up for this year. TB and wp are a few miles out yet as well as all the belts. I've got some squeek starting on some accessory. Maybe an impending bearing failure but I can wait till it gets worse.