Mr. Showtime

I bought my 06 TL (86kmiles)two years ago and haven't changed the coolant since; I'm not sure when the original owner changed it either. Im at 114k and have been doing some preventive maintenance and figured it would be a good idea to flush and fill the old coolant. Now I haven't had any problems with my temp gauge, or heater.

This would be my first time doing a coolant change so I've been looking info up and watching some videos. I need to open up the petcock drain from the radiator or use the lower hose to drain the old fluid out. So I couple of questions.

From this point should i run distilled water through the radiator and then drain again and refill? Or just drain the old and refill with new?

I'm not sure what brand of coolant is in now, what do you guys recommend?

I'm worried about introducing air into the system, how can I avoid that? I plan on doing just the radiator and not the engine because of this.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Right about now the least of your concerns should be the coolant in your engine. Why? Because you're about 9,000 miles past where you MUST do the timing belt, a process which, as a general rule, also entails replacing the water pump and coolant.

UA6andfriends

Buy the Lisel Spill-Free Funnel from Amazon $25~$30. That will help you get the job done easily by burping out the air without a mess. Obviously you don't need it, but it's a nice funnel to have. There's no problem with doing the coolant at this time. It's cheap and easy, so why not?

Also, if your current coolant is blue, you'll be fine doing the drain and refill. I would flush it if it were green or any other color for that matter.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

I watched from very far in the tiny window of the shop changing my coolant.
From what I saw, they removed the petcock to drain the radiator, then it looked to me like they used a hose and hosed down the radiator inside "to remove any remaining contaminants". I actually asked them why they did that.
Then they filled up the coolant, let the system burp by running my car for what seemed forever and then finally said I was good to go.

I brought in a jug of Honda pre-mixed coolant, but the job required more and luckily the shop had some leftover Honda coolant to use.

BROlando

I wouldn't run tap water through a cooling system. That's barbaric, bruv.

I guess its not terrible if they are actually getting all of the tap water out after doing that (good luck).

Most places in the US (and the world?) have very hard water coming out of the tap. Plus its chlorinated. Coolant passages are raw aluminum in the case of the TL...and the cylinder liners are raw iron (IIRC).

Never use tap water.

A proper "flush" requires a machine that does like...a blood transfusion...but on a car.

At home...drain/fill. Remove the engine's coolant drain plug to drain the block. Loosen the radiator's petcock to drain the radiator. Before doing this...make sure the blend valve is in the hot position. And position the car in an advantageous position to drain all the coolant.

I always use Honda premix...or some other premix. If you feel premix is a ripoff...then buy concentrate and properly dilute it with DISTILLED water.

Distilled water doesn't conduct electricity, and thus does not further promote electrochemical reactions (corrosion). Its just H2O.

Drinking or "spring" water is not distilled water, BTW. It has minerals in it.

If your plans involve replacing a water pump or thermostat...then wait to do the coolant. You'll lose all the coolant again when you replace those items.

As far as avoiding putting air in the system: You can't avoid it. Removing hoses will mean air.

Bleed the system properly afterward. You can find the proper procedure for each car in the factory manual, or sometimes the owner's manual. Every car is slightly different.

dj5

Yep, it time for the water pump and timing belt to be replaced. They will replace the coolant when you do this much needed maintenance item.

TL88

Thst is whyyou turn The Heater on All the way full blast. To flow it out. The Csr is 20 years old that alone warranrs a Engine block Drain even if there is no gasket leaks.

SPOLOVILO4EVER

flushing will also clean out the heater core, so if you like to have heat in the winter it is a good idea with cars over 100k