Got a 97 corolla seca CSI 4a-fe engine I believe. 155k ks

 

Previous owner only put water in the radiator and now its rusty as. The rad cap also sometimes sticks and when I get it off its clogged up with rust.

 

Would a drain and refill with coolant help at all or should I just replace the radiator and get a proper flush done?

 

Car still runs great don't want it to overheat one day all of a sudden and do permanent damage.

Any attention will help but Id suggest a full service of the cooling system. Replace hoses, thermostat, radiator and fluid. At least then you know you can trust the thing.

 

Before all the new parts go in theres a product called muckowt that you can replace your coolant with and it will descale the motor like a kettle. then flush it clean and fit all the new parts.

Drain and refill will likely dislodge stuff built up in the chambers surrounding the cylinders and put it straight into the radiator.

I always fix this issue by replacing the radiator with a piece of pvc pipe , removing the thermostat (don't worry about gasket for this bit) and running flush through the engine twice for about 5 minutes each (no more than 5 minutes without a half hour break to cool back down) before back-flushing the radiator separately out of the vehicle. Then put a new thermostat housing gasket in, check the thermostat in a pot on the stove and stick it back in.

Only then is it worth using coolant.

Awesome thanks for the help guys

Is the replacement job a big/hard one? Might try this myself and save 700 bucks.

Is the replacement job a big/hard one? Might try this myself and save 700 bucks.

 

Easy-as, shouldn't be much more than unplugging the fan, removing the radiator hoses and draining the coolant, then undoing the top mount bolts and pulling the whole thing straight out (then swap the fan over to the new one and reverse the procedure). Only thing that might complicate matters is if you have an auto, in which case there is a trans cooler in the bottom tank that you will also need to disconnect the lines for (and plug quickly so you don't drain all your ATF, remember also to top it up afterwards).

With the radiator flush what is the best product to remove buildup of radiator stop leak as some muppet used it on it at some point to try and stop a leak in the thermostat houseing. Looks like they used the bars leak stuff as i can see the copper coloured flakes around the hoses and where it came out the radiator cap.

Edited July 13, 201610 yr by smaccas1411