How to Drain and Fill Your Radiator 1997-2001 Toyota Camry

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In this video, we're going to be working with a 1998 Toyota Camry, 2.2L 4-cylinder. We're going to be showing you how to drain and refill the radiator in case you have some fluid contamination or you need to drain it to work on some part of the cooling system. We'll show you how to do that, refill it and bleed it properly. If you like this video, please click subscribe. We have a ton more information on this vehicle, as well as many other makes and models. If there are any parts you need for a repair, they're available from 1AAuto.com. You can follow the link down in the description.

Here are the items you'll need for this repair: 10mm socket, ratchet and extension, drain bucket, funnel, antifreeze/coolant, jack and jack stands.

Open the hood and secure the hood prop. Remove the radiator cap to allow the radiator to drain properly. We've put our vehicle on a lift to make it easier to film for you, but this job can be easily done with a jack and jack stands.

We'll have to remove this skid plate here on the bottom of the radiator so we can drain it and access the hoses on the bottom. Ours has six 10mm bolts. Your vehicle may have more, but we're missing an inner fender weld on the driver's side and several other pieces of hardware. The inner fender weld on the driver's side will be removed the same way the passenger is. You'll need a 10mm socket and ratchet. When removing the last bolt, you'll have to support the skid plate with your other hand. Remove the skid plate and place it off to the side.

We've placed a drain bucket underneath our radiator drain here, which is located about 3/4 of the way over to the driver's side. We'll unscrew that and allow our coolant to drain. To prevent from making a mess, we're going to go ahead and close off the drain on our radiator now that it's done dripping. Wipe off the bottom, line up your skid plate, and start your 10mm bolt. I like to start in the center because it keeps it balanced. We'll start the rest of the bolts by hand to ensure that it's lined up properly before tightening it down with our 10mm socket and ratchet.

Place a funnel in the radiator and then fill it with proper Toyota-approved coolant, mixed 50/50 with water. Once it's full, we'll start the vehicle, let it run and get up to operating temperature, at which point the thermostat will open and allow air to bleed out of the system. We'll top off the coolant if necessary.

Start your vehicle, turn the heat on to the lowest fan speed setting and wait for the temperature to come back up to operating temp. You can see the air bleeding out of the system here. Once the system is properly bled, you should see a full coolant level inside of the radiator. Top off your expansion tank if necessary. Turn up the fan speed and ensure that the heat is working properly in your vehicle. Reinstall your radiator cap and drive it to ensure proper function of the cooling system. Be sure to monitor the temperature gauge and the heat to make sure that coolant is cycling properly.

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