I changed my water temperature sensor in my 89 22re the other day. I think this is the one that came stock with the engine.




Since it's so dirty and looks a little rusty, would this be a good time to flush the coolant, or is this typical wear and tear?

 

looks normal for 20 years, but why not flush it?

 

because if there's one thing I loathe about working on trucks, it's messing with the fluids. I *HATE* dealing with coolant and oil. If it's not necessary, I try and avoid draining fluids.

 

what color is the coolant, is it discolored at all, is there any flakes, etc?

 

Coolant looks fine. It's the normal prestone green. I was wondering about a flush because there may be rust inside the radiator (though I see no signs of rust contamination when draining coolant)

 

If you don't know when the last time was that it was flushed, or have never flushed it the whole time you've owned the truck, I would flush it. At least coolant isn't as messy as oil... just wait until it gets warmer out and it won't seem like such a chore.

 

But yet those are the easiest things to change and go soooo far as preventative maintanence. If I'm ever in doubt, I just go ahead and change it. That's seriously one of the stranger things I've heard a Toyota owner on a tech board say in a while!

 

hey i hate doing oil changes, but hey its part of owning a car, thus its required.

 

I actually really don't mind...and I like the feeling of having fresh fluids. So it's not so much that I enjoy it, I just love knowing everything's got nice fresh clean fluid. It's just rare that I've heard somebody around here go out of their way to not change fluids.
Whatever works for you, though, I guess I can understand.

 

It's mostly the cleanup required I don't like. The coolant always leaves stains on the road (same with oil) and I have to break out the dish soap and steel brush and clean off the road. Otherwise the parent's complain. I can't do the work at my place because I only have a parking garage and I definitely can't change fluids in there.

 

I would flush the coolant. You should flush it every year or two.. And you should use toyota RED coolant. Yes it is different!

 

just got done flushing my '92 22re. broke a bolt inside the waterneck base, drilled out , will helicoil it back to shape. replaing te radiator. spectra cu147 from JCwhitney, mcuh nicer but sits high and can't use OEM cap, am going o the store w/ the radiator to see what does fit. concerned about clearance w/ the hood because this radiator sits higher than the original, so we will see what happens and if i have to modifythe inside of the hood at all. with the waterneck out and metal shavings vacumned up and cleaned away w/ a magnet, flushing was easy. a 21 gallon tote below where the water comes out of the lower pipe and a garden hose in the thermostat housing and flushed it for about 20 minutes (emptied tote 3 times).so i definitely think that served as a sufficient flush. i will re-post laterwhen i find out about the radiator cap status also a new thermostat and gasket / some thermosat housing sealant, upper and lower hoses and thermostat gasket all for less than $200.