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Coolant Change for 2GR-FKS engines

8K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Fast4ever 
#1 ·
Many of you are already familiar with the Youtuber Car Care Nut. He's been a wealth of information regarding Toyotas in general and I've learned a lot by watching his stuff.

He has a coolant change video for the 2GR-FE engines, which seems straightforward enough. His presentation calls for a bleeder to route coolant from the engine back to the coolant fill port. OK, that's great.

But he freely admits in his video that the 2GR-FKS engines require a different coolant change/flush process altogether, largely because Toyota did away with that head bleeder valve. He also says the 2GR-FKS engines are more complex and difficult to do coolant changes on.

My wife and I have 2017 and 2018 Siennas, respectively, and both vehicles have the 2GR-FKS engines. I'm not able to find anything through a search on coolant changes specific to this engine in this forum, or on Youtube. Lots of videos out there on coolant changes, but not associated with this particular engine.

I'm curious if anyone out there has experience with these coolant changes on this particular engine and if so, what that experience has been like.

Thanks in advance!
 
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#2 ·
Why not do it the old fashion method. Turn on full heat while you bleed the bubbles out.

Be prepared to top off the reservoir and check it every day or so until the reservoir is stable at the high line.

I did mine like AMD said regarding the bleeder and a clear tube but it my experience want what he mentioned on the 2gr-fe. Lol go figure.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I went ahead and put in a 2-day subscription to techinfo.toyota.com since I specifically wanted to know what Toyota says about coolant changes on this engine -- 2GR-FKS. Car Care Nut (AMD?) categorically states that the process is not the same between the 2GR-FKS and the 2GR-FE engines. If you're running a 2011 Sienna, you have the 2GR-FE engine.

That said, per Techinfo.toyota.com, the process works generally like this:
  • Drain the old coolant out of the radiator. The puke tank is also drained at the same time.
  • Loosen the cylinder block drain plug.
  • Remove the radiator cap sub-assembly. This appears to be buried beneath a number of items on the left side of the engine. Maybe tricky, maybe not. Engine coolant will drain.
  • Tighten the cylinder block drain plug (torque 9 ft.lbs.)
  • Fill the radiator with coolant. Without towing capacity, that's 12.5 quarts)
  • Fill the puke tank to the full line.
  • Squeeze radiator hoses by hand several times, then check the level. Add if necessary.
  • Install the radiator cap sub-assembly and puke tank cap.
  • Bleed air:
    • Turn A/C off.
    • Adjust heater control to max setting.
    • Adjust blower speed to low setting.
    • Warm up engine until the thermostat opens, circulate coolant for several minutes. (Water inlet with the thermostat sub-assembly can be confirmed by squeezing the No. 2 radiator hose (presumably the hose leading into the thermostat) and feeling vibrations.)
    • Maintain engine speed at 2500-3000 rpm.
    • Squeeze No. 1 and No. 2 radiator hoses several times by hand to bleed air.
    • Observe coolant levels and refill as needed in both the radiator and puke tank.
    • Stop engine, let cool, and recheck.
  • Check for leaks.
I checked techinfo for the process in removing the radiator cap/thermostat subassembly and this is where I believe Car Care Nut talks about how complex the process is. It involves, per the procedure, removing the cowling, wiper motor and arms, removing fan and generator V belt, removing No. 2 engine mount, removing engine mounting bracket (LH), all kinds of stuff -- all of that to allow maybe a pint or so of coolant to drain out of the thermostat subassembly? Really, Toyota?

I don't mind taking off the No. 2 hose from the thermostat housing and allow whatever is there to drain, but I'm not going to go through that entire procedure to capture a pint of old coolant. I'll take my chances. The bulk of the old coolant will have been replaced, and that's good enough for me.

What I'm learning about the difference between CCN's procedure with the 2GR-FE and the 2GR-FKS is there is NO engine coolant fill cap on the 2GR-FKS. On the 2GR-FE, this cap is where he mounts the yellow coolant funnel with air bleeder hose. Therefore, you can't fill the engine coolant except through the radiator/puke tank. And there's no air bleeder valve.

Thanks for your comment!
 
#5 ·
I have to confess - my experience in changing out coolant is relegated to 60s-vintage cars. Never thought much about the process until now. Drain the coolant, fill the radiator, watch for the thermostat opening, re-fill. I had a very trusted mechanic do coolant changes on the 2004 Sienna I had, but I waited in excess of 100K miles before even doing that.

That mechanic I had retired, and we have since moved. I have ZERO confidence in the auto maintenance companies in my area now, so I am learning how to do most of my own work.
 
#6 ·
I just did this procedure using tech info. I didn't view the Radiator Cap Sub-assembly as anything complicated just the cap on the radiator. I drained the radiator and the engine block (back of engine) and refilled according to procedure. Followed the bleeding process and it seemed straight forward. I hope I didn't screw it up, but seems like I replaced the same amount of coolant as I drained and after a week of driving, all seems good. I drained about two bottles of Toyota coolant and replaced the same. I was expecting a difficult bleeding process but it wasn't. Maybe I screwed up?
 
#7 ·
Bleeding shouldn't be difficult. It's straight forward. Just watch the reservoir over the next few days/week, top off if needed.

Worse case, you just have to drain and redo.
If it isn't overheating then it's good. Also check the heater to ensure your heater is working. You don't want to find out later in winter it isn't working
 
#11 ·
Did you check the heater in the rear, too? In previous generations of Sienna, the rear heater could trap air, during the drain and fill.

You should be good, but watch the reservoir level for a while.
So heater in the rear works fine. The reservoir did drop over the last few weeks about a half quart. Filled it to max level and will keep an eye on it for the next few months.

I was expecting a difficult bleeding process, but turned out to be simple. Just followed the official Toyota procedure.
 
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