After deciding to change the inverter coolant, I thought it might be a good idea to also change the coolant in the engine. What a process! Far more complicated than on any vehicle I have done it on before and air in the system seems to be a problem. After reading through the many threads on here, I looked on YouTube and found EyeOnAiman. Easier watching someone else doing it and the method looks like it should work OK. However, before jumping in, I wondered whether anyone had used his method or has any thoughts on what he does?
Certainly looks easy and being used by the same guy doing it the other way. Only problem is that you need to spend £100 plus for the tool and that is if you already have a compressor. As it is a job that rarely needs doing, probably makes sense to have it done by a professional.
Toyota will probably charge you as much as the tool will cost in labor to perform the complicated procedure, even if they used a tool like the UView. Buy the tool once and have it for future use, It will work for any car. Compressors are really cheap and have many other uses.
Dont do that. It’s a difficult procedure because of the CHRS thermos. Hard to get air lock Out. Even the dealer struggles with it based on what we see here. Compounded by the fact no temp gauge on dash. You could have an air Lock and never know it till the engine over heats. Do this instead. Just dump the rad a few times no airlock and will really help. There is a dump valve on the bottom of the rad drivers side no tools needed. Rad cap is under the black plastic cover over the rad. Dump the rad do it again in a few weeks. See how it looks.
Follow Ed's advise above if only changing the ICE's coolant. But if you have to change the ICE's water pump and coolant the Airlift type of tool combined with the Lisle Spill Free Funnel are my preferred weapons of choice. As the Airlift pulls virtually all the air out of the system it also is providing a leak check for your work at the same time. Full-vacuum = No leaks.
Yes agreed if the ice pump is coming off it’s the whole big deal. There’s an engine coolant dump bolt on the exhaust side of the block.
I've always fastidiously opened that block drain, both on my Gen 1 and my Gen 3, and like Mendel, my experience has been that it will "dump" entire tablespoons of coolant. Always feels like kind of a long run for a short slide.
Yeah, and I was driven to open that thing, after so many Honda experiences: remove the engine block drain and you had a deluge, and nothing you could do but stand back, and then go get the mop.
Thanks for your wise words. The coolant from the inverter looked as good as new and on reflection, I think that I will assume much the same for the engine and leave it for another day, perhaps using the Airlift tool when I have a few spare pounds to spare.
Still remember that first full dump of ice coolant. Opened that engine dump bolt then dumped the rad. Filled it backup bled the rad but It was a nightmare getting air out of it. I had a airlift and Jumped the CHRS relay it still kicked my butt. Never again. Worked on it a long time. Having said that I’m sure my ice pump will blow up tomorrow lol. last few weeks been dealing with a strange coolant leak. I check the rad it’s about 3 cups low. I fill it up. 2 days later it’s down 3 again. I see water drops on the bottom plastic plate and a few drops like it’s got a leak in the bottom of the rad. the area in front of the ice pump looks pristine. I took it to my garage there so awesome they charge me $16 labor to put it up on the lift and my guy installs my filter and oil. I brought 2 powerful flashlights and told my guy can you help with the leak please. He’s the best I duke him $20 everytime I roll in he drops what he’s doing and helps me. We looked at it for a while and he says your gonna laugh….I said I love to laugh he says your cap is bad. sure enough it’s all wet under the cap you can’t see that unless your under the car. I check the rad once a week and it’s rubber gasket just wore out. New cap Olathe Toyota online parts problem solved.$16. Lasted 14 years. Btw, I see Olathe dropped the price on the inverter pump it was $123. I would pick one up but just replaced mine with a factory denso but needed it now so had to go over the counter with my local Toyota banditos . $186.50
