Full fluid change
 

Hey all,

I'm planning on doing a full fluid change tomorrow and need some advice:

1. When doing the TC & Diff, do I need to replace the crush washers? If so, are they readily available from a local auto parts store or only from the stealer? I got a small bag of gaskets for the oil drain plug and am wondering if I can use those instead so I don't have to hunt around for the "crush" washers.

2. When doing a coolant flush, can I use one of those flush kits marketed by Prestone or are they a no-no? If no, what is the best way to flush the system? Not doing this one tomorrow since I don't have the Toyota red coolant, doing this on Tuesday.

If I can't find the washers, I guess I'll have to do some wheeling tomorrow and wait until Tuesday to do all the cahnges.:roll:

rw,

crush washers are easily found at auto parts stores. check out my write up: http://www.4runners.org/articles/difftsf you probably have an auto, but at least you'll get an idea of what you're going to be facing.

sorry, i dont know squat about the coolant flush. but if you do find out, do post a 'how to'.

bob

Thanks Bob. I'm only concerned b/c I have to do the water pump in my fiance's car on Tuesday and I know that will take a good part of the day (Nissan Altima:bang: ). Will also do the coolant then too and get a write up with pics posted.

I have used those "prestone" flush kits before, and they work pretty good. What I normally do, is drain the used antifreeze into a container (to keep away from domestic critters), flush out til I get clear water out, close drains and fill with clear water and add a chemical flush. Run that per directions on the container, then drain and flush again til clear. I usually pull out the coolant reservoir and wash it out too (the plastic bottle). Then close drains, add antifreeze (enough to make a 50% mixture, because you will have some clear water still trapped in the block, heater core, etc. If the book says your system holds XX quarts, add half of that as pure antifreeze). Then top up with clear water,(CAUTION: put the cap on the radiator in the first position...on, but still loose), run the engine to operating temp to open the thermostat (you did put in a new one, right???) to burp out the air, finish top up. Fill the reservoir to the "full hot" mark. Check coolant level in reservoir after a day or two to see if it needs further top up.

The crush washers are reusable. They'll leak only if you have dirt or something between the sealing surfaces. Clean them before you put the plug back in.

Yoda,

Thanks for the advice on the coolant flush kit. I haven't done the flush since I don't have the Toyota red coolant yet; am picking that up tomorrow and will do it Tuesday after I do my fiancee's car(replacing water pump, thermo & hoses) so she'll be the guinea pig for this.;) Then I'll do mine since I still have the skid plate off from the oil & fluid change today. Should I change the thermostat? I only have 40k on the truck and don't want to crack the system yet. Its cooling perfectly right now and want to keep it that way.

Mike,

Wish I'd read your post before I spent half the day looking for those @#$%^&* washers.:bang: No one out here has them since most manufacturers have gone to self-sealing drain plugs, including Toyota on the 2004 Tacomas. I went into a couple of stores out here today and no one knew what a crush washer was. I finally found someone at PepBoys who was older than 10 and he knew what I was talking about. Anyhow, I did re-use the washers and no leaks after the road test tonight. Will know more tomorrow after my commute to work and back.