Hi Everyone, (I posted this in General Chat as well)

[/align]I have somethingof an interstingquestion to ponderregardingradiator flushing.. Tonight (yes, I know, big Friday night) I flushed the cooling system in my 2003 4Runner V6. I've done this before of course in the past, but tonight something occured to me. So you drain the radiator, thoroughly flush the system with distilled water, run the engine so the thermostat opens and circulates the waterthrough the block, etc etc. Fill, circulate, drain.. standard stuff, right? Okay, so now to add the coolant. What do you add? 50/50 mixture of course,everyone knows that. But hold on, you're only going to be filling the radiator.Yes, you're going to runthe engine to get the air bubbles out and do a little more topping off, but volume wise just the radiator. What about in the block? That's 100% water now from the flushing process. I did a little experimenting and researching online and found that my radiator capacity is about 1 gallon and the total cooling system is almost 2.5 gallons. So I'm adding a 50/50 mixture to less than half of the total system volume. After all the fluid mixes, I now have at best a 20/80 coolant/water ratio. What am I missing here? Heck, even the back of the coolant container gave me the usual drill about flushing, running water through, running the engine, blah blah, and then filling (the radiator) with 50/50. I can't seriously be the first person to think of this. I even called my car buddies and they were equally "huh, didn't think of that" Everyone just thinks 50/50, 50/50, 50/50.
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[/align]So I ended up filling my radiator with full concentrate coolant. If I really wanted 50/50 whole system mix, that was the thing to do. Right? I know I over think things (a lot), but I know carsfaily well, and I can do the math here.
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[/align]Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm really curious to know. So much so, that its 1am on Friday night and I'm still thinking about it!
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[/align]Thanks in advance. --Eric

 

Beside how you do your flush seems pretty straight up.

Otherwise I have always filled the radiator with water, and during this time I havea funnel in the cap full of radiator fluid. Now once the thermo opens I keep pooring coolant until its stops the first cycle. I then turn off the car let it sit and then top off with water. Granted if your really into your 50/50 you can check the capacity and do a tiny bit of math to make it close as possible.

Granted when you do all this cycle your heater on and off, when the rad cycles if you want a good combo all around. 50/50 is BS anyway, depends on where you live, what you do with your car, and where in the world you live. You can run all water and a SPIT of coolant and be good in race applications.

The daily driver 50/50 just makes it easy for people. Plus most coolant now days you can get in 50/50 too so it all depends.

 

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I have read that the ration isn't all-important, I agree. I'm going to try your way and start over, just for fun/ to be sure. I just didn't want to have too much coolant in there and have it freeze (which I also read) I'm just not the type for uncertainties. Even the back of the coolant containers directions are flat wrong if you think about it (as outlined in my first post) I hate that..

 

This is true. Back when I was living in Hawaii, I would just run water with some water wetter added. Worked OK for both daily driving and occasional racetrack flogs. Oh yeah, that wasn't my 4Runner.

You canmeasure the coolant ratio after its circulated in your engine for a while and add more as required. Most auto parts stores have that small turkey baster looking thingie that measures your antifreeze ratio.

Me? Since I'm too lazy to do all that maintenance stuff anymore, I just take my car to a reliable oil change place and have them check everything while they change the oil.

BTW, if you do decide to run just water for any reason, don't forget toadd antifreeze before winter! Almost made that mistake when I shipped my Hawaii car to Washington. Whew...

 

I was a little sursrised to hear how everyone is flushing their coolant. The engine block has drains on it that will empty the block. Drain the rad and the block. If your want you can fill with distilled water and run as you have been but drain all again. If you want the best mix guaranteed buy Toyota's Super Long life coolant it is premixed. Too much coolant can cause overheating as well as poor heater performance in the winter the mixture is not BS it's there for a reason. You were right in your original post though considering how you were draining and mixing.