Corolla E12 1.4D4D 2006 coolant change

[HelioMV]

Hi all, 

My 06 D4D 1.4 (1ND-TV) is now well due coolant as the old stuff is quite watery now. I watched a tutorial where a lad with an Auris did it but it's a little different to my design and I'd like some advice. By the way I'm going to go straight for the Toyota pre mixed stuff. I would just like some advice on how to do it so I do not make any mistakes. 

My car differs from my old yaris. It seems to have no radiator cap and the only way coolant can go in is through the expansion/overflow bottle who's pipe feeds into the top of the water-pump. It's hard to see the level as the bottle is half black and awkwardly located. I attach a photo of an engine bay exactly like mine.

For draining, I will wait until car is cold and open radiator plug and expansion bottle cap. I am also advised there is a block drain plug, where is this, is it best left alone? Anything else I should do.

The engine regulates it's temp perfect, so don't think it's needs flushing, but if so, how do I do this safely? 

For refilling, do I pour as much as will go in, start the engine with heater on, then keep topping up until reaches capacity? Or do I use another method? Also is there any special bleeding required or bleed points I should be aware of? Additionally, is there anything to be scared of or warned about, like the EGR cooler?

Any advice appreciated! 

Regards,

Helio

 

[Red_Corolla]

I haven't got any specific advice for your engine, only general advice having done this a number of times on various vehicles over the years:

- Set your heater control all the way to HOT before you start. Not really necessary on many modern cars but it's good practice.

- Do remove the block drain if you can find it and it's not seized up. It's usually very hard to get all of the old coolant out of the system, so use every drain point you can

- Bleed from everywhere you can find a screw. Places they tend to put them are in the side of the cylinder head or the top heater matrix hose. If you can't find one then disconnecting the hose from the thermostat housing is one way to open the system and better than nothing. Whatever location you bleed from, it's a case of keeping it open while you fill SLOWLY and only replace the screw or reconnect the hose after you see coolant running out from that point.

- You can buy a 'spill free funnel,' which is a large funnel that seals onto the top of your radiator or expansion tank (wherever you're filling from). What you do with these is overfill the system all the way up into the funnel and it works like a header tank, allowing you to run the engine with the system open and let it self-bleed. Highly reccomended but, whether you have one of those funnels or not, do be sure to run it WITHOUT the cap on until it's properly warm and the fan has cut in so that it can purge itself of any trapped air. Squeezing the radiator hoses will help this process.

- I already mentioned this, but fill it ***SLOWLY***. This is the most important thing in avoiding air traps.

I hope that's helpful. Hopefully someone else can help further with the bleed points.