Avensis 1.8 vvti coolant change

[Diamondback]

Hi

I changed the coolant in my 08 Avensis this weekend. Opened the drain on the radiator and also connected a piece of tube to the engine engine block drain and opened that. 

I got about 4l out of the radiator and when I opened the engine block drain nothing came out. I fired it up for a few seconds and got about half a litre it of the engine block. 

I connected a small air pump to the overflow in the expansion tank to push that through the radiator. 

I set the blowers to hot too.

So all in all I got 4.5l out however the capacity is meant to be 5.9l. I tried squeezing the hoses etc to get more out but that was all I could get. 

At this point I just thought well it will have to do and filled out back up. 

Am I missing something? If I took it to a garage to get this done would they really go removing all the hoses, thermostat etc to get every last drop out? 

Another thing is the engine block drain doesn't seem to be that near to the bottom of the engine for it to be able to drain out...?

[avensisnz]

This is normal. You won't be able to drain all the fluid, which is why the factory fill is good for 10 years or 150,000km, but after the first replacement it's only good for 5 years or 75,000km (because the new coolant will be partially diluted by the old coolant that was remaining in the engine).