Another question re 1990 Camry coolant flush

OK I just need to make sure I’m right about the heater inlet hose before installing the tee. There are two hoses next to each other coming from the firewall, one crosses the engine and goes I don’t know where and the other connects right next to where the upper radiator hose does.



This is a picture-



http://i95…/pic_3.jpg



Is that hose the one I connect the Tee to for flushing the coolant?

Another picture of it-

If you can locate the heater control valve, it should be in the inlet side. I suspect the hose that terminates near the upper radiator hose is actually the return line.

Edited to add: The valve looks like this: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=FAA&MfrPartNumber=74726

OK found the valve (it moves when I adjust the heater control on the dash), the hose connected to it is the inlet right?

Generally, the heater valve is in the inlet side. You can test this theory by getting the car WARM, running the heater on full blast, then feeling the hoses right at the firewall. They will both be pretty hot, but the inlet side will be HOTTER. You may not be able to tell the difference; you may in fact go running into the house for ice packs if you let it warm up too much :slight_smile:

Thanks a bunch for the help, just to be safe I’ll get my wife to check the hose temps… :wink:

Well it’s all done, worked like a charm. I’m pretty sure the reason for the old fluid being brown was some sealant added to it. The radiator is in horrid shape and now has a couple pinhole leaks. Not concerned though, couldn’t leave it the way it was, better to know the situation now and get it fixed than find out on the highway.

Brown is not necessarily caused by sealant. As the corrosion inhibitors get used up, the antifreeze turns cloudy and in its totally worn out/way past used up stage, it turns brown. If you used a chemical flush, it could have caused the pinhole leaks, but they would have shown up soon anyway. The thing I don’t like about chemical flushes is the damage they do to rubber hoses and seals.

Gotcha. BTW I didn’t use any flush product, just plain garden hose water. On a car this old that’s otherwise running great I’d avoid anything like that. The only thing I’ve used was a bottle of Techron when I first got it and some drygas when the weather got cold.

These old Camry’s are nice little cars and using the stick wisely I get incredible mileage. Was spending over $60 a week on gas with an Explorer now this lasts 10-12 days on $35. Gave the Explorer to my sister in law when I got this cheap.