3.4L flushing coolant

[file014]

My truck is turning 5 years old and I should probably replace the coolant. Theres probably a drain plug on the radiator, and one on each side of the engine. Where are they? And what mix of what type of antifreeze should I replace it with?

are these shop manual CD's on ebayy any good?

[kathyricks]

Visit https://techinfo.toyota.com/ to download the cooling system section of the factory repair manual. You probably have to remove a plastic engine undercover to access the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator. The factory manual has diagrams of the locations of the two engine block drain plugs/ It's very important to measure the amount of coolant drained so you will know how much new coolant needs to be refilled. Also important to follow the refill directions in the factory manual.

Use the same coolant the truck came with: Toyota Long Life (red) coolant. Premix it 50/50 with distilled water (available in supermarkets)

The $10 CD's on ebay are NOT the factory manual. They are Mitchell repair manuals. The Mitchell is worth the $10 however, because sometimes it nicely compliments the factory manual by making procedures more easy to understand.

[ddvk]

You need to find the drain plugs on the block if your vehicle is speced to the pink coolant (since it is pre-diluted to 50:50 strength). But then if it were the red stuff then you could drain the radiator and flush with distilled water to get the coolant of the block and then fill radiator with full strength red coolant and that would mix with distilled water left over in the block over a few cycles to get the 50:50 ratio.

Good luck and remember coolants should always be OEM. NEVER take short cuts in the coolant dept, you will get burnt big time.

[2XOverhead]

Originally Posted by ddvk

...then fill radiator with full strength red coolant....

Does this mean the block and radiator each hold exactly half of the total coolant capacity?

[ddvk]

Originally Posted by rich29_cal

Does this mean the block and radiator each hold exactly half of the total coolant capacity?

That was a ball park.

V4 engines : w/heater -- 7Q
V6 engines : w/heater -- 10Q

V4 engines : w/heater and w/towing : 9Q
V6 engines : w/heater and w/towing : 12Q

Here w/heater means once you begin to flush, the heater will be max high for the heater to be put in series with the block.

My take is always measure exactly the coolant coming off the radiator and minus that from the above numbers or best off what the user's manual describes as total capacity of the cooling system.

[ddvk]

Always refer to owners manual for total capacity and minus that from what comes off the radiator. Then flush based a ball park, need not be accurate.

[5 Speed]

The block drain bolt is hard to see but it is easy to drain the block once you find it but you will need about 4 of 5 extensions on your socket to reach it from the wheel well without removing your tire. I think it is on the drivers side high on the block that you can access from almost the top of the tire. If you drain both the rad and the block you will get everything out. Do it right and remove your overflow tank and give it a good clean too. Remember to burp the system and keep your heater open to get all the water out and all the air out when you fill her up