I had one of these with my '65 Chevelle. Worked good. I'm curious about hose sizing and which hose and where to put the fill fitting on my '89 pickup 22RE.. The kits says 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4 inch hose. In my ignorance, I don't even know if Toyota hoses are some kind of metric different from vintage american sizes. Soliciting comments, advice, experiences, etc. The Chevy 327 had two radiator hoses and two heater hoses. 'Yota has hoses going everywhere! Thanks, Jim

 

I installed one on the heater core top hose of my 86 truck 10 years ago. Don't know the size, but the kit had a size that fit. It has never leaked, I did apply a thin coat of RTV to the Tee fitting hose ends for a better seal. It's at the highest point and I can bleed and top off the system. Also, I can stuff a rag in the top to stop the coolant from leaking out when I detached the heater core hoses for back flushing.

 

Those are the heater core hoses. The one with the valve in it is the inlet to the heater core, and the one with the flush kit T in it is the return to the cooling system. When the truck is sitting on level ground, the return line is the highest point in the cooling system, so having the flush kit T in it makes the cooling system a bit easier to "burp".

Normally, you need to park the truck nose high. On a hill, on a pair of ramps, whatever. That makes the radiator cap the high point in the system. It's an easy port to open and let leftover air out. The flush kit T is now the easy port to open and let the air out, but it gets a bit messier. The radiator cap can be loosened to it's first tightness setting, and the air will bubble out into the recovery tank, and then overboard. Any fluid will also go into the recovery tank, but remain there, rather than dribbling out, as it would with the flush T. Putting a hose on the T's fitting, to a bottle of some kind would make it work very similarly to the radiator/recovery tank set up.

Personally, I prefer the radiator cap as my air release point, but that may well be simply be due to me never having installed the flush kit in any of my vehicles.

All just my opinions. Good luck and have fun!
Pat☺

 

Thank you gentlemen; just what I needed.

 

If you go to install as I did, be mindful to make the hose cut directly above the heater valve support bracket. That way the plastic tee bottom rest on the bracket. I was off a bit on my cut as you can see. I'd suggest contact glue a strip of rubber or apply duct tape on top the bracket to prevent any potential rubbing wear to the plastic tee bottom. A zip tie secures it well.

 

Hey JoeS.

Do you remove the thermostat when doing a flush and fill with the Prestone kit?

I am going to switch over from the old type green to Valvoline Zerex G-05, and I definitely need to get all the old green out. Thinking about installing a Prestone kit to help speed things along.

 

I do on a full flush with flush cleaner about every 8 - 12 years. It's easy to get to on top the engine. I don't when I do the system drain and refill about every 4 years using distilled water/antifreeze mix. Keeps the coolant fresh and never had a corrosion or sludge issue. The OEM radiator lasted 27 years and was only replaced as the mounting brackets solder completely came loose. Also has small leaks from the top cover and bottom tank seams. The inside looked almost like new.

 

Green isn't Toyota. Always been bright red. Or the Super Long Life that is pink/red.
Zerex has a coolant just for Asian Vehicles. might be worth considering.

 

I know green isn't Toyota, but that's what I have been using for last seven years. Time to do a clean and flush and fill. The reason I am going to use the Zerex GO-5 is because my 2004 Ford uses it, and I have a full gallon left of concentrate.

The Valvoline oil change place said if I let them do a flush and fill they will use GO-5 plus $119.

 

The red coolants tend to be silicate-free. Valvoline actually has a decent site going over the different coolants for each make.
The red coolants typically use phosphate, rather than a silicate, which protects the aluminum better. When adding water to red it’s recommended to use distilled or reverse osmosis water to prevent scale from developing.