I got my 2001 4Runner a few months ago with about 180,000 miles. I've been gearing up to do a bunch of needed and preventative repairs in a week or two including replacing the radiator to prevent the pink milkshake problem. Went out for ice cream the other last night and saw a bunch of lights come on, temp gauge was hot, I pulled over right away. Got it towed to somewhere I can work on it. It beat me by about a week.... very disappointing. My girlfriend drives it to work downtown on the highway, so at least we went out and it happened while I was driving, not while she was heading into work.

I have a couple questions:

What are the coolant and ATF capacities?
Which transmission cooling line is the return that I should put into a bucket to catch fluid as I flush?
Whats the torque spec on the transmission pan bolts?

What is the right order to tackle this in? I'm thinking cap off transmission cooling ports on the existing radiator and save its replacement and flush for last. Flush the transmission by running the return into a bucket and running the engine briefly to flush a quart at a time. Leaving the other line disconnected from the radiator. Do that a till its pretty clean then remove the pan, replace filter screen, and flush a bit more. Then top off with good fluid and move onto the radiator. Drain the coolant, flush it a bit, then replace the radiator. Flush it a bit more, top off with Toyota red and hook up the transmission cooling lines. Does that sound about right? I cant flush the transmission with it hooked up to the bad radiator since it would continue to mix with coolant and I don't want to install the new radiator and contaminate it by having it in line during the flush. So am I okay to leave the cooling lines loose in a bucket and flush it until its clean coming from the lines?

Then I'm doing the ball joints... Whats known to go wrong seems to go wrong with me. Preventatively fixing any know issues will be a top priority for me from now on. I just got done replacing a broken time chain guide in my 94 pickup, at least I caught that before it wore through and caused problems. Hopefully my transmission makes it. I caught it right away and shut off the engine, engine got hot but didn't boil over. Either way I'll be ready to replace the transmission if need be.

Thanks for the help,
Nick

 

I've replaced my radiator twice over the last 15 years as a preventative measure for this very reason.

Fingers crossed that you caught it in time.





Andreas

 

Thanks Andreas. I've been talking to a mechanic thats in the family. He seems to think it will survive. After talking to him I think I'll drain the radiator and transmission, take the pan and filter off, remove radiator, clean out as much as I can. Then I'll install the new radiator, fill with water and cheap atf, run it a bit and drain. Do that a couple times. Then go drive around to get things warmed up, drain again. Hopefully its looking pretty clean by then, if so I'll top off with antifreeze and good atf. Stay local for a while with it and keep an eye on things. Change the atf again soon after and hope for the best.

I did find a transmission with slightly less miles on craigslist for $150, includes everything. He said transmission was fine when it was running, just blew a head-gasket and decided to part out the 4runner. If i have issues I may grab that and give it a shot. Lot cheaper than a rebuilt one, and if it fails then I go rebuilt. My girlfriend drives it though, so I want it to be reliable. I guess we'll just see what happens.

 

Well, I ended up letting it drain coolant and atf all night. In the morning I replaced the radiator, filled with water and some dawn soap. Filled the transmission and drained and filled both a bunch of times. At first the ATF was pretty milky looking. I drove it around to get it warmed up between fills, left the dipstick out a bit so moisture could evaporate. I put about 9 gallons through that day. The last fill was looking pretty good but still a bit milky. I figured there was still some moisture in it so I drove it around for a couple days with the dipstick up. Drained it tonight and it didnt look milky at all, just kinda dark. I put another five gallons through it using the same procedure. I figure I'll drain and fill once more at the end of the week. Top it off with Dex VI, then let it go about a month before I drain and fill again. Transmission shifts great, everything feels fine. I feel pretty good about it surviving. I had most of my coolant dump into the transmission when the radiator broke, as opposed to the radiator filling with atf and pouring out the overflow like most people seem to have. Hopefully it's a trooper. Now onto the ball joints, cant let these common issues get me again. Best of luck to anyone who has this happen. Change your radiator our asap if you're still running the original. I'll update if I run into any transmission problems down the road.

 

Don't leave the soap in the cooling system too long.

The heads and other light metal parts hate alkalis, and corrode very rapidly in their presence.

 

Yeah, I flushed it till there wasn't any sign of the soap. Just wanted to get as much of the oil out as possible and figured it would help. Water comes out clean now without bubbles or discoloration from atf. Tomorrow I'll do a final radiator flush and fill with Toyota Red and distilled water.

 

Any updated news on your transmission? Has it survived? I'm working the same issue, except the transmission fluid dumped into my radiator and popped the overflow cap off. I'm flushing my trans, as well as replacing with a new radiator. They're honestly only $100 or so.

Also while I'm at it, doing the water pump/timing belt and thermostat.

 

Transmission seems fine! We've put about 1,000 miles on it since the event. I haven't noticed anything unusual.

I'd say your on the better end, having the ATF go into the radiator. Maybe a little messier but the less coolant in the transmission the better. I'm sure plenty made it into the transmission though.

Here is what I ended up doing:
Drain the radiator and transmission
Replace the radiator and hoses
Remove the pan from the transmission and the filter
The dipstick tube separates in the middle, mine was seized and had to remove the whole tube then use some heat to free it up, sway bar links had to come off to get the the tube out, needed to be replaced anyway
Replace the filter, put a gasket on the pan and reattach
Fill the radiator with tap water
Fill the transmission with ATF, I found that 3.5 quarts was good enough for each fill and flush. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of O'Reilly Multi-Purpose Transmission Fluid for $75.00. Have an empty bucket on hand for the old fluid
I then ran it for a couple minutes while shifting through the gears
Flush transmission and radiator, refill with ATF and tap water.
Do that a couple more times
Then refill but this time drive around the block to get everything warmed up, leave the dipstick out some so water vapor can escape while its running, this time you'll see lots of steam when you drain the ATF, this is good
I put some Dawn in the radiator to help get the oil out, not sure if it did much, probably not necessary
Do this fill and drive technique a few times, the ATF should start to look better
I put close to 10 gallons through it that day with my bucket and some other ATF I had around and by the last drain it looked alright but not perfect, the main thing to get out at this point is any remaining moisture, thats why leaving the dipstick up is important. I left everything alone and drove it about 200 miles over a few days while leaving the dipstick up to let the moisture evaporate
Then do another drain and fill of the transmission, this should look better than your last drain since the moisture had time to evaporate from driving it. Radiator is probably clean at this point .I put another 5 gallon bucket through it over a couple days for good measure. The fluid came out flawless after. Ran it for a couple weeks, then drained and filled with high quality Dex VI, took 4 quarts. I still have the dipstick up a bit, doesn't hurt anything and unless you're in real dusty conditions nothing should get in there. I put at least 15 gallons through it by the time I was done, the last few changes probably weren't necessary, see how your fluid looks and be the judge.
I still have water in my radiator, there are some floating globs of oil left at the top that I cant get out. My overflow tube broke off and I just fixed it, with the overflow tube connected any globs should make their way into the overflow reservoir. Wait till that happens before you flush and fill with distilled water and Toyota Red Coolant, don't wait till its too cold out though.

Be careful not to cross thread the transmission drain plug while doing all these flushes, and make sure you don't drop the crush washer, you can get a new one though.
I also replaced my cooling fan clutch, they go bad and it can be hard to notice. Probably time to replace yours if you haven't already and its a lot easier while the radiator is out.
Get a six or eight quart fluid measuring can, it makes things a lot quicker. I just poured from my bucket into their for each fill.

Good Luck! and lets hope our transmissions survive for many more miles!