Thanks mate from me in New Zealand. Im doing this job tomorrow as well as adding an aluminum rad in my1997 Estima. Many thanks for your time and effort.
My previa has 260k on the clock, recently noticed a slight head gasket leak and did a lot of research and chose the bar's leak head gasket seal product, followed the direction and no more overheating problem for couple weeks. In case, you may run into a gasket problem. Pour that thing before the gasket got to the point nothing can fix except changing the whole gasket. Don't use blue evil stuff, it will clog up your engine. My experience is so far so good, try to get 300k on my beloved Previa. Btw, I put a JDM head light and tail light on my van as well. Like your video, keep it up, mate.
Thanks for your comments buddy, much appreciated. I have never needed to use head gasket repairs ever. Always wondered if they truly worked and how long for. I guess because how hard it is the get to the head on a TCR van I would try head gasket repairs first before dropping the motor. I have change head gaskets many times on cars and easy to get to. How you like your JDM lights? I love mine and how much better they look on the van. I just didn't like the looks of OEM lights - very old and plane looking, the JDM lights really give the van a new look and looks a lot like the next model Previa from behind. I wanted a JDM dash but it looks like they never made one for our vans.
Thanks so much! I'm changing out my water pump on a 93 Previa (US) I just bought and everything you went through was exactly what I needed to know about the cooling system. Mahalo from Hawaii!
I loved my JDM head and tail lights conversion, there is not too many around lk that in states. I do get a lot of compliments at the gas station or middle of the traffic jam from the Previa next to me. Very cool I guess. So far so good on my head gasket band aide job, I think the only way to kill a Previa engine is a blown gasket. This kind of van is much like a tacoma engine with MR2 handling in a VW van capability. Pretty unique combination.
I have not seen another van in person either with JDM lights, Where I live there must be 50 or more Taragos 90-00 but I don't think any of them have seen my UA-cam yet! :) I do get asked what year is my Tarago from a few and when I tell them 92 they are shocked and say how good the lights look. I guess this type of van has had no real super for so long most stopped looking online. I will be very interested and I guess most who have a blown head gasket would be to, how long it last for. Would you mind keeping me posted from time to time just to say still good?
Great video man. I hear you on family and stuff. Its really hard especially if its your primary and only vehicle. I could of used this video yesterday when I replaced the radiater. My Estima has been over heating lately and suspected it was the thermostat so now I know where it is I can check if it is faulty or not. Also didn't realize there was another drain bung so thanks so much for covering that. Had mine for 4 years and flushed radiater twice and not cleared that part.
Thanks heaps buddy & you very welcome. yeah my kids like to try do what I do and climb all over me while trying to make video's :) so I need to look after them 1st and van 2nd. When I refiled my cooling system it took 9.5 liters not the full 11 that the system should take. I believe the hose from the radiator to the thermostat was still holding the other 1.5 liters , that should not be a problem but as it would have just been clean water in it by the time I was ready to add coolant.
Great info. Thanks! I'm having a heck of a time refilling with coolant because of air in the system somewhere, I suppose. Any tips for bleeding the Previa. I read that there are a couple of bleed screws, but no exact location referenced.
Thankyou. Under the right side seat there is a bleeding point on my van TCR11 but a buddy of mine has a TRC10 Gli and doesn't have one. I guess it depends on the make and year. What one of our member on the club page did was cut a coke bottle bottom off and put the on top of the radiator reservoir fill the system as much as he could and the coke bottle then go under the van and squeeze all the hoses to get the air out. this worked for him. Make sure to give the system a really good flush to avoid mixing coolants as mixed coolants can foam up in the engine and create an air pocket that's hard to get out. make sure thermostat is okay and radiator cap is good. Also helps to have the van on ramps so all air moves to the front. Make sure heaters are ON & when warm to temp give the van a few hard revs to really make the pump work and force water flow, you will fill the heat from the heaters if the water is flowing correctly.
@@jimmycuckow3572 Great idea... why didn't I think of that. I can imagine bubbles or air slipping out of the top radiator hose connection (after loosening hose clamps and closing off reservoir inlet tubes) My large top radiator hose always seem filled with an air pocket because I can easily squeeze it when cold or warm. I thought bleeding air from an open reservoir tank would work, but maybe not enough air seeps out by way of the small inlet tube from top of radiator that feeds into reservoir tank. Squeezing bottom hoses also sounds like a great idea, as well as not mixing fluid types to avoid foaming. Blessings
I just changed my coolant on my 1991 Previa and pulled the thermostat out and replaced the o ring. After filling it up I now have a leak on a very small port on the water pump that faces the rear. It was not leaking before I started this project and cannot figure out why it is coming out of the small hole on the pump. All I did was drain the radiator and pulled the thermostat out and replaced the o ring. Have you encountered this problem on yours.
Just to say that I've recently changed the thermostat on a 1992 Toyota Estima Lucida imported from Japan to UK. The thermostat is on top of the engine, not the bottom as shown in the vid. I also couldn't find the coolant engine drain plug from this video. Are you showing the same vehicle?
Bought a new thermostat and when I put it in I have to slightly compress the spring by pushing the housing back together , then the nuts hold the pressure of the spring. Is this normal or did the parts store give me the wrong thermo? When I was purging the system, it started leaking at the thermo housing.
I have a 1991 Previa and just removed the thermostat housing that is held on by 2 bolts. Do you know if the housing elbow itself has a gasket to keep it from leaking. It did not look as though it had a gasket. However, it does have a rubber gasket that goes around the rim of the thermostat.
From what I read, parts with gaskets should only have one gasket because 2 gaskets together can leak. I'm unsure if the housing elbow connects to the thermostat; but I think 1 gasket is sufficient, though unsure.
Sorry to bother you again (spark plugs aside). I took out the engine plug and nothing came out, I've taken about 6-8L from the radiator drain plug and am a bit concerned. Have you come across anything similar? cheers.
TheApothecaryAus You will find there is about 2L still in the hose that connects to thermostat. Don't wary if not much water came out from the engine plug if your on a flat surface, You can't really tell but my van is slightly up hill and the driveway is not flat. You will want to run water in the engine with that plug out to flash all the old coolant out. I have heard sometimes the engine plug gets built up on the other side and if that happens you can do the same thing by taking bottom part of the radiator hose off. It's important to make sure all old coolant is out. I mixed 2 types once before in my old car and spent about 45 minutes running water into the engine while car was running to clean out all the foam bubbles.
Ahhh, you're on a hill, right. I've got the van on jackstands at the front and was concerned when nothing came out. I'll try taking the thermostat out and blasting the hose through there. Cheers again, I owe you something for your awesome videos and quick replies! I do a lot of car work and finding myself working on one of these vans that's A) a country car B) neglected and C)infinite KMs is quite tricky, lucky you were there to help!
TheApothecaryAus Your welcome mate, Help about these vans is why I started it & I am happy they have helped. When I got mine there was hardly any support. Now you will find answers to a lot. My channel is only for TCR I have other channels for other things. I would love to work on a later Tarago to make some TY video about but I don't know anyone who has one.
I was going to ask this very same question! Flushing and flushing and nothing is coming out of the drain hole so far. I'm jacked up in the front enough to go in from the front (on jack stands) to get the thermostat / oil filter etc. but it seems like I should have some flow through that drain hole. The plug was gritty when I took it out. My thermostat is out for the flush. (I tested it on the stove top! Still works but it looks rusty so I'll replace it.) Thank you so much for your channel :)
@@TaragoPreviaEstima Does it have to be the bottom radiator hose or can you just unscrew the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator while running and engine and water hose in the reservoir?
+aprlem75 if you took the water out from hose and radiator then that's normal. you might have 100mill come out and if front of van is tilted forward then maybe nothing.
Thank you for responding. However, I do have another question please. We managed to go through the whole process and completed. But now we have another problem. The coolant is leaking from the hose all the way down just below the gear box. It wasn't leaking before we drained it out and suddenly it is. What did we do wrong? Arghhh! Please help!
+aprlem75 Hi, there is no water hose near transmission. what hose are you referring to may I ask? an A/C water drain is 1/2 way of the transmission. Join the our channel on Facebook please [ Tarago Previa Estima Club ] please post a few images... there are others like me who can help.
Thanks mate from me in New Zealand. Im doing this job tomorrow as well as adding an aluminum rad in my1997 Estima. Many thanks for your time and effort.
My previa has 260k on the clock, recently noticed a slight head gasket leak and did a lot of research and chose the bar's leak head gasket seal product, followed the direction and no more overheating problem for couple weeks. In case, you may run into a gasket problem. Pour that thing before the gasket got to the point nothing can fix except changing the whole gasket. Don't use blue evil stuff, it will clog up your engine. My experience is so far so good, try to get 300k on my beloved Previa. Btw, I put a JDM head light and tail light on my van as well. Like your video, keep it up, mate.
Thanks for your comments buddy, much appreciated. I have never needed to use head gasket repairs ever. Always wondered if they truly worked and how long for. I guess because how hard it is the get to the head on a TCR van I would try head gasket repairs first before dropping the motor. I have change head gaskets many times on cars and easy to get to. How you like your JDM lights? I love mine and how much better they look on the van. I just didn't like the looks of OEM lights - very old and plane looking, the JDM lights really give the van a new look and looks a lot like the next model Previa from behind. I wanted a JDM dash but it looks like they never made one for our vans.
Thanks so much! I'm changing out my water pump on a 93 Previa (US) I just bought and everything you went through was exactly what I needed to know about the cooling system. Mahalo from Hawaii!
Thank you for taking the time to put this on here, just done my 96 Toyota estima x, awesome.
I loved my JDM head and tail lights conversion, there is not too many around lk that in states. I do get a lot of compliments at the gas station or middle of the traffic jam from the Previa next to me. Very cool I guess. So far so good on my head gasket band aide job, I think the only way to kill a Previa engine is a blown gasket. This kind of van is much like a tacoma engine with MR2 handling in a VW van capability. Pretty unique combination.
I have not seen another van in person either with JDM lights, Where I live there must be 50 or more Taragos 90-00 but I don't think any of them have seen my UA-cam yet! :) I do get asked what year is my Tarago from a few and when I tell them 92 they are shocked and say how good the lights look. I guess this type of van has had no real super for so long most stopped looking online. I will be very interested and I guess most who have a blown head gasket would be to, how long it last for. Would you mind keeping me posted from time to time just to say still good?
My previa recently started overheating so will try to remove the thermostat and see if that helps. Really great videos!
Cheers for that. One of the best tarago how to's I've seen.
Thank you! That was the exact thing were had trouble locating. And I found the right video to show me where. Thanks heaps.
Great video man. I hear you on family and stuff. Its really hard especially if its your primary and only vehicle. I could of used this video yesterday when I replaced the radiater. My Estima has been over heating lately and suspected it was the thermostat so now I know where it is I can check if it is faulty or not. Also didn't realize there was another drain bung so thanks so much for covering that. Had mine for 4 years and flushed radiater twice and not cleared that part.
Thanks heaps buddy & you very welcome. yeah my kids like to try do what I do and climb all over me while trying to make video's :) so I need to look after them 1st and van 2nd. When I refiled my cooling system it took 9.5 liters
not the full 11 that the system should take. I believe the hose from the radiator to the thermostat was still holding the other 1.5 liters , that should not be a problem but as it would have just been clean water in it by the time I was ready to add coolant.
Lol yes family first. I have a home brewing hobby on here and the kids constantly bomb my videos lol. Cheers!
Gracias!!!
Very specific for what I need.
Saludos desde Tijuana, Mexico!!! ✌🏻
Love the respect around your car repairs . Top video mate , thanks.
good one.It will help a lot of tarago owners
Great info. Thanks! I'm having a heck of a time refilling with coolant because of air in the system somewhere, I suppose. Any tips for bleeding the Previa. I read that there are a couple of bleed screws, but no exact location referenced.
Thankyou. Under the right side seat there is a bleeding point on my van TCR11 but a buddy of mine has a TRC10 Gli and doesn't have one. I guess it depends on the make and year. What one of our member on the club page did was cut a coke bottle bottom off and put the on top of the radiator reservoir fill the system as much as he could and the coke bottle then go under the van and squeeze all the hoses to get the air out. this worked for him. Make sure to give the system a really good flush to avoid mixing coolants as mixed coolants can foam up in the engine and create an air pocket that's hard to get out. make sure thermostat is okay and radiator cap is good. Also helps to have the van on ramps so all air moves to the front. Make sure heaters are ON & when warm to temp give the van a few hard revs to really make the pump work and force water flow, you will fill the heat from the heaters if the water is flowing correctly.
@@jimmycuckow3572 Great idea... why didn't I think of that. I can imagine bubbles or air slipping out of the top radiator hose connection (after loosening hose clamps and closing off reservoir inlet tubes) My large top radiator hose always seem filled with an air pocket because I can easily squeeze it when cold or warm. I thought bleeding air from an open reservoir tank would work, but maybe not enough air seeps out by way of the small inlet tube from top of radiator that feeds into reservoir tank. Squeezing bottom hoses also sounds like a great idea, as well as not mixing fluid types to avoid foaming. Blessings
Hey! Just to clarify, is it not 100% necessary to drain from the engine. i can get away with just draining from the radiator itself?
Thanks
Yes but to get whole system cleaned out and changing $12
thermostat could prolong van's life and keep cooling system running efficiently.
Should I flush the block out of contaminates first so that for the new radiator has clean fluid throughout?
You don't need to but if you feel better about doing it or if you see signs in the coolant of foreign particles I would suggest to do a flush.
I just changed my coolant on my 1991 Previa and pulled the thermostat out and replaced the o ring. After filling it up I now have a leak on a very small port on the water pump that faces the rear. It was not leaking before I started this project and cannot figure out why it is coming out of the small hole on the pump. All I did was drain the radiator and pulled the thermostat out and replaced the o ring. Have you encountered this problem on yours.
Hi Greg, did you ever fix water pump leak? What is that hole from ? Cheers
Thank you ...well done ...informative
Just to say that I've recently changed the thermostat on a 1992 Toyota Estima Lucida imported from Japan to UK. The thermostat is on top of the engine, not the bottom as shown in the vid. I also couldn't find the coolant engine drain plug from this video. Are you showing the same vehicle?
TCR10 2TZFE Pratol Engine.
Bought a new thermostat and when I put it in I have to slightly compress the spring by pushing the housing back together , then the nuts hold the pressure of the spring.
Is this normal or did the parts store give me the wrong thermo?
When I was purging the system, it started leaking at the thermo housing.
Any new developments Tyler? I'm about to change my thermostat. Maybe it needs a thermostat gasket. Also bolts may need proper torque wrench pressure.
When you flushed it did you just use water I couldn’t really tell but it just looked like you were using a hose?
I always just use tap water to flush. Fill with Distilled water and a coolant with Radiator Corrosion Inhibitor.
Do I need a jack for this? I have never jacked up my van before.....
I have a 1991 Previa and just removed the thermostat housing that is held on by 2 bolts. Do you know if the housing elbow itself has a gasket to keep it from leaking. It did not look as though it had a gasket. However, it does have a rubber gasket that goes around the rim of the thermostat.
From what I read, parts with gaskets should only have one gasket because 2 gaskets together can leak. I'm unsure if the housing elbow connects to the thermostat; but I think 1 gasket is sufficient, though unsure.
mine runs for about 40 mins then starts to get warm if I turn heaters on the temp drops down
Same with me, so I'm looking to changing thermostat and completely bleeding all air pockets out of cooling system.
Legend
Sorry to bother you again (spark plugs aside). I took out the engine plug and nothing came out, I've taken about 6-8L from the radiator drain plug and am a bit concerned. Have you come across anything similar? cheers.
TheApothecaryAus You will find there is about 2L still in the hose that connects to thermostat. Don't wary if not much water came out from the engine plug if your on a flat surface, You can't really tell but my van is slightly up hill and the driveway is not flat. You will want to run water in the engine with that plug out to flash all the old coolant out. I have heard sometimes the engine plug gets built up on the other side and if that happens you can do the same thing by taking bottom part of the radiator hose off. It's important to make sure all old coolant is out. I mixed 2 types once before in my old car and spent about 45 minutes running water into the engine while car was running to clean out all the foam bubbles.
Ahhh, you're on a hill, right. I've got the van on jackstands at the front and was concerned when nothing came out. I'll try taking the thermostat out and blasting the hose through there. Cheers again, I owe you something for your awesome videos and quick replies! I do a lot of car work and finding myself working on one of these vans that's A) a country car B) neglected and C)infinite KMs is quite tricky, lucky you were there to help!
TheApothecaryAus
Your welcome mate, Help about these vans is why I started it & I am happy they have helped. When I got mine there was hardly any support. Now you will find answers to a lot. My channel is only for TCR I have other channels for other things. I would love to work on a later Tarago to make some TY video about but I don't know anyone who has one.
I was going to ask this very same question! Flushing and flushing and nothing is coming out of the drain hole so far. I'm jacked up in the front enough to go in from the front (on jack stands) to get the thermostat / oil filter etc. but it seems like I should have some flow through that drain hole. The plug was gritty when I took it out. My thermostat is out for the flush. (I tested it on the stove top! Still works but it looks rusty so I'll replace it.)
Thank you so much for your channel :)
@@TaragoPreviaEstima Does it have to be the bottom radiator hose or can you just unscrew the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator while running and engine and water hose in the reservoir?
HI just want to ask, we removed the motor drainage plug but no water at all coming out of it. Is that good or bad?
+aprlem75 if you took the water out from hose and radiator then that's normal. you might have 100mill come out and if front of van is tilted forward then maybe nothing.
Thank you for responding. However, I do have another question please.
We managed to go through the whole process and completed. But now we have another problem. The coolant is leaking from the hose all the way down just below the gear box. It wasn't leaking before we drained it out and suddenly it is. What did we do wrong? Arghhh! Please help!
+aprlem75 Hi, there is no water hose near transmission. what hose are you referring to may I ask? an A/C water drain is 1/2 way of the transmission. Join the our channel on Facebook please [ Tarago Previa Estima Club ] please post a few images... there are others like me who can help.
It is good to hear it filled o k
tks a lot !