1993 3.0 with 140k miles. Picked up from the original owner about 10 years ago. From what I can tell, it still has the original radiator. It’s never ran hot, I’ve flushed and filled every 2-3 years. No leaks, seems to be working fine? But with all the history of the 3.0 and head gaskets I’d like to be proactive here.
should I go ahead and replace the radiator? Take it to a radiator shop and have it properly flushed, pressure tested and re-painted?

 

I don't think it would hurt to much to have it flushed good but I did have a problem with a radiator flush one time on a 69 f100. It was overheating and I looked in the radiator and it was just caked with hard water looking buildup so I had it flushed and as soon as they flushed it it developed about 20 leaks so I had to buy a new one and that was before the wave of cheap full aluminum radiators so I got an all brass one from Napa and it blew up after a month so I had it warrantied and never had a problem with it since but I'm talking about a 50 year old radiator that was in an old farm truck and the coolant probably only got replaced when it HAD to be drained so yours would probably be fine

 

Dont fix what isnt broken. Just dont let it over heat and youll be fine.

If you want to "help" it not blow head gaskets, get a set of headers to help remove heat from the engine area

 

If you pop the radiator cap and don't see any scale build up, then a good home flush should be enough.
You should do a heater core cleaner soak, then back flushing as well.
If over heating is an issue, maybe install a lower temp thermostat so it flow more often?

 

Thanks for the replies.. I’ll probably just go with a really good home flush/clean/soak 👍🏻

 

Ain't broke? Don' fix it!
Just a couple of thoughts occur:
1. Flush? Do you mean as in flushing the toilet? What do you expect to flush from your cooling system?
2. Clean? What do you expect to clean, and from which part of the system?
3. Soak? What do you mean "soak"? Soak it in what?
"Back in the day" when I grew up and started owning cars and trucks, radiators were constructed of brass and copper and engines constructed of cast iron was the deal. Cleaning and flushing generally meant disassembling the radiator and "soaking" the tanks and heat exchanger in a caustic solution, followed by physical dislodging of corrosion deposits and reassembly. The process was called "rodding out". The rod referred to the tool used. This idea doesn't have much if any application to modern vehicles (maybe applicable to the brass and copper radiators still available and used by many T'86 - '95 enthusiasts, in some situations).
If you will use a solution of distilled water and some of the coolant recommended by Toyota, in your cooling system, you will not have anything to be soaked, cleaned, or flushed from the system.
Just my $0.02.