I flushed my 3.0 yesterday, and refilled with some clean Yota Red. This isn't the first time it has been done, but it's the first time that I have done it myself. Now, it seems like the heat is hotter,and the heat is very warm, even when my temp guage has barely started moving. Are these results of a well maintained cooling system that I have never noticed, or am I over analyzing because I did it myself?

On a side note, it was a total PITA to get all the air out, and to get juice flowing through the heater core again.

 

there is better flow of coolant through the heater core resulting in the increased heat.

 

the increased heat in the cab with low heat in the engine coolant temp is a good thing....

 

You've cleared the crud out of the coolant system, which includes the heater core. So it will operate more efficiently.

 

va yotaman, just curious what u had to do??

 

I'll bet the previous owner didn't work the air out of the heater core. You did, so now you actually have good, hot coolant running through there.

 

On the 3.0 you open the radiator cap, and then place your drain bucket under the passenger side of the radiator. Open the drain valve and wait till the radiator drains. Under the intake on the passenger side and under the exhaust manifold on the drivers side there are drain plugs on your block. I used about a 14" extension with a swivel to get to them, crack them open with your pan under there and drain the block, which should also drain the heater core " I slid my heat adjust lever all the way to hot, not sure if there is a valve on the core or just a flap, so why not". What I do is take the garden hose and put it in the radiator filler, and start pumping clean water through till it runs clear, and then tighten the drain bolt on the radiator. I then break open a top hose on my engine and plug the hose in there and run some clear water through the block, it will flow out of the radiator filler. I flush the entire system out till I see clear water. Then I add a bottle of cooling system cleaner and run the engine for a while “per the directions” Then drain and flush some more. I then run the truck with just water in the system, this will not hurt anything at all as long as you don’t leave water in there and let it freeze!, take it to the car wash and rinse the antifreeze off of everything, like under your radiator! Then take it home and take the over fill bottle off and clean it out and re-drain the entire system for the last time! I then per the owners manual figure out how much anti-freeze I need to mix with DISTILLED water, you don’t want to use chlorinated tap water! I always use the low-tox pet safe antifreeze, why not.. If you blow a radiator line on the trail you don’t want to pollute any water sources! I always add a small bottle of Prestone cooling system conditioner/lube also. They make flush kits that you install and leave on but I have never seen the point in cutting my cooling lines to clamp a plastic hose attachment in line! I may have missed something but this is how I’ve always done it. On the 4cyl. I think you just open the drain on the radiator and take your highest hose off, I’m not sure if there are block drains on that or not,,,,