Question: How to do a simple drain and fill of coolant?

[zdkaiser]

Hello.

I am interested in doing a simple drain and fill of the coolant for my 2007 base Vibe with 89K miles on it.

I am the second owner and I don't believe the coolant has ever been replaced. I am looking for a little advice on this process.

Anyways, I don't have access to any jack stands, nor do I want to buy any at this point, so I was simply going to drain from the radiator plug (white plastic screw) and then refill with Toyota brand coolant (50/50 prediluted mix). I understand this will not drain all of the coolant in the system, but I was going to repeat this process 2 or 3 times.

Originally I called the GM dealer to do it, but they wanted $150 for a complete flush and they were going to put dexcool in it. I told them, I have 2 gallons of Toyota brand coolant I want in it. The GM rep. said "2 gallons isn't enough fluid to do the flush." I said the capacity is only 6.9 quarts, and he said, you need at least a 3rd gallon to maybe have a enough to flush it. I guess they don't use water here to flush things out, because as the GM rep said, "this is Montana and you cannot put water in a coolant system."

Then I called Toyota to see if they would flush it. The guy was a real jackass on a Monday morning. He said, "Why are you putting Toyota coolant in a Pontiac Vibe? That takes dex-cool." I said, "It has a Corolla engine in it." He said, "it is still dexcool in there." I said, "it looks pink to me, not dex-cool orange." He didn't like that response, even though I was courteous. He said they would flush it, but not on a saturday. "We cannot flush coolant on a saturday." That is the only time I could have it done. What a frustrating conversation.

Anyways, I decided to just drain and fill it myself. I was going to do this via the radiator with the 2 gallons Toyota pink coolant I have. I cannot get to the drain plug on the back of the engine, so that is out.

Here is what I was going to do, step-by-step. Please add in any details I miss. My main concern is "burping the system", which I have no idea how to do. Or when to replace the radiator cap and start the car and run it with the heat on.

1. Place drain pan under radiator drain hole in front of car.
2. Unscrew radiator plug.
3. Undo radiator cap.
4. Let fluid completely drain out.
5. Drain reservoir tank if it doesn't drain during this process (Some people say the reservoir will drain, others say, you have to remove the tube from the side of the radiator and push it below the tank to drain the reservoir. Don't know which is true).
6. Add comparable amount of new pre-diluted Toyota pink coolant. I believe it should be about 3.25L? Is that correct?
7. Refill the coolant resevoir next? Or does it automatically refill when I add it directly to the radiator opening?

What is the next step? Start the car and run it with the radiator cap off and the heat on? Or should I replace the radiator cap and then start the car? What should I be looking for on the temperature gauge?

How do I get the air out or "burp" the system?

Any advice for the rest of the process would be helpful. I am trying to keep it simple.

Also, if I go with the above method, how many times should I do this to replace 90% of the original fluid? 3 times?

Thanks everyone.

[JohnO]

I did exactly what you are talking about last summer. My recommendation would be not to flush, just drain and refill once. I feel like there is no need to flush if the coolant is not in bad shape and you are replacing it with the same coolant type.

To drain the overflow tank simply leave the radiator cap on when you open the drain on the bottom of the radiator. The coolant will be pulled from the overflow back into the radiator if you don't have any cooling system leaks (good check). Once the overflow is empty, go ahead and remove the radiator cap.

It is not too hard to get to the drain plug on the back of the engine if you drive it up on a ramp or some boards before you start. I use 2 thicknesses of 2x8 for my ramps. The drain is a 10 mm hex and only need to be opened a couple of turns to drain. That will drain out another quart or so of fluid. Most of what remains will be in the heater core and that last bit is hard to get out. If you are ambitious, while the coolant drains are open you can remove the heater hose from the cylinder head and pour in a quart of new coolant to flush the heater core. The old coolant will drain out.

When adding coolant, I would recommend leaving that heater hose on the cylinder head disconnected while filling. Add the new coolant slowly until the level reaches the heater hose and then reconnect it. Add coolant until the radiator is full and then replace the cap. Fill the overflow about half way.

The base engine is pretty easy to burp. Just start the engine, turn the heater on full hot with the fan on and hold the engine at 1500 to 2000 rpms. If you don't feel heat from the heater after a couple of minutes shut the engine off, carefully remove the radiator cap and top up the coolant again. Once you feel heat from the heater all is well and you can drive the car. The first few times you drive the car check the coolant level afterward and add coolant as necessary until the level stabilizes.

I used about 6 quarts of new coolant when I did my drain and fill. Unless your old coolant is really ugly I don't see any need to drain an fill more than once.

[Water boy]

Got a description or pic of that block drain? Reach from the top or underneath?

Wasn't there some discussion as to which Toyota pink coolant to use?