Generation 3 Coolant change

There is a reason Toyota removed the air release valve.

You don’t need an air release valve. I have replaced coolant over ten times and never had air locks on my gen3. Run the engine in maintenance mode with the cap off until flow starts in the reservoir. That’s it.

 

I did that, based on nutsaboutbolts video, and it’s the Honda Shop Manual method as well. But Toyota Repair Manual (attached) says different.

Same reason they removed the spare tire, lol?

our ‘10 has the valve, I left it open while filling, felt air escaping, then eventually coolant started coming out (I had a clear tube pushed on) and I shut it. Seemed effective.

If the valve is missing you can just pull off a hose there, and push it back on once coolant starts coming out.

 

Is that what you've done? Guessing will be OK.

What's everyone's thoughts regarding flushing with distilled water? I've done on my gen 2's though haven't with a gen 3 yet, though about to. Green coolant found and most likely mixed with pink, though oddly the pink stuff seems to settle in the bottom of the pan or that color seems more-so down below.

Update edit: Green drain pan and orange coolant found when transferred to clear bottle. Finally felt heat with the distilled water and following flush. Will drain again and add another pink coolant from a Prius in the yard (why not is free if seems clean and will be filtered going in), probably drain again and use the good Zerex or Toyota Super Long Life.

Update edit: Thinking there is green fluorescent stuff present as well as was more visible in the distilled water rinse and holding a light up to when dark outside.

In regards to the valve, I found a 2010 in the yard near me. ~89,000 miles front end collision. Been picked apart from the suspension to the k-frame. However, connected to the catalytic converter circulation lines were the hoses with one having that valve. ~$10 for future potential use.

 

Would it not have been more honest to attach the Toyota Repair Manual as revised when they discontinued the air release valve?

I'm sure nobody doubts that if you have the valve there and open it, you will feel air escaping, or that if you pull off a hose there (something no revision of the manual suggested doing, ever), you would feel air escaping from that, too.

The one salient question remains, is that feeling of escaping air, as exciting as it might be, anything you actually need for a successful refill of the cooling system?

One small quibble, it also works fine to do what the manual says, which is just as above except with the cap on.

That allows the system to reach operating pressure, which makes any bubbles in it half the size, and probably brings them back to the bottle headspace faster.

 

Was I lying about leaving the cap on? That was the subject of the conversation.

 

You seem to be doing a lot stuff you don't NEED to do..... It's your time.
I never messed with the valve. No need to.
Mixing different coolant is not good. You could turn it into a jell, that doesn't flow.
Toyota, and other manufacturers, warn about this.
If any other coolant was used, flushing with distilled water, or any water, a few times,
will get 99% of the other coolant out, and should be enough.

Then use what TOYOTA calls for. The price difference is less than $5.

Then fill SLOWLY, about a cup at a time. You'll hear it settling, and air being pushed out.
It takes longer, but you won't have any issues with air in the system or overheating.
Fill to the "B" line. Install the cap, start the car and let the engine run until it shuts off.
Check the level, fill to just above the "full" line. Drive the car for a few miles. Keep the
engine running as much as you can.
Park the car on level ground overnight, if you can. Or at least for a few hours to allow the
engine and coolant to reach ambient temperature. Check the level and fill as needed.

 

Anytime you add straight water you've created a dilemma; the Toyota spec'd coolant is Super Long Life which ONLY comes pre-mixed.

You drain the system after a water flush, and a fair amount remain in there. The only way I can see to achieve a 50/50 mix would be to resort to an alternate, full-strength coolant (Toyota makes Long Life coolant ("Super" tag dropped), recommends a shorter change interval with it, and can be hard to find), pour in 1/2 the system's spec'd capacity, then top up with distilled water. And do a subsequent coolant change, at half the regular interval, say 30 months or 25k miles.

The only time I'd do a water flush would be if was needed to flush out contaminants, say a stop-leak product. Why ask for trouble?

 

Hmm, there seemed to be more than that in the whole conversation, but reading on phone now, I see that you bolded "with the cap off". For whatever reason, my desktop browser displays priuschat bold text the same as non-bold. And only on priuschat. I even spent a couple hours once trying to figure out why. So it should have been clearer to me which part you were focusing on. Sorry.

 

That's what I told him. That's why I recommended flushing with distilled water at least once. Then flushing with pink Asian coolant from the yard, since cheaper, two or three times to remove the water and replace with super long life. Then filling with either Zerex 50/50 or Toyota Super Long Life.

Ultimately, we found the water pump was suspicious sounding and performing as well as copper particles on the underside of the expansion tank. Guessing the previous engine has stop leak put in.

I was told yesterday a code was later thrown putting the car into limp mode and he found he had a warranty that allowed for him to have all the engine related service performed at the Toyota Dealership at no expense other than investing in a new catalytic converter to alleviate the P0420 code most likely caused by the original engine that was installed burning oil I guess? The dealership found that whomever installed the "new" engine didn't replace the engine water pump and while the dealership had it in, they replaced the inverter water pump as well. Sounds like they're rebuilding the engine if they need and at least installing a new head gasket while at it. Sounded like might have had clogged coolant circuits as well, as sounded like they needed to flush the system out more aggressively and possible replace other parts. Good to hear that all is covered by the warranty other than the catalytic converter and Toyota is performing the work.

 

A 2011 is under warranty and the dealer will change the engine if needed? What kind of warranty is that?

 

How do I get that warranty????

 

I am guessing that it was the extended warranty for the inverter.

 

He's talking about the engine though.... I only have 358,300 miles on mile,
I SHOULD get some type of warranty!!

 

Sounded like vehicle loan and or engine or head gasket repair loan. I forget which. Bank warranty related, I guess like a house warranty you can also plan to bundle in with the loan.

 

Sounds like his 2011 is going back in again to the dealership. He had back after working on last week until Friday, then they needed again to do something with the heat exchanger since heat didn't work this Saturday due to needing to "level coolant in the exchanger?" Got back, then was working and then stopped again and he needs to bring back.

Through a overheating code sounds like for a few seconds. I guess he's taking my advise and live monitoring sounded like with his obd2 app. So back to the dealership until they get it right.

Reminds me of the "Fix That Prius" (raise expansion tank higher and hang from hood) and "saneauto" (flush out heat exchanger in reverse flow) wonky systems needed to do to flush-bleed to get heat after hopefully replacing the parts needing replaced correctly.