Radiator and cooling refresh

[steveash]

My car will celebrate its 20th birthday this year so as a little treat I'm thinking of doing some preemptive maintenance on the cooling system. The radiator looks well used (probably the original) and the coolent due a change. I thought I might tackle it myself and while it's out do some antitrust treatment. Is this realistic for a relative novice?

Should I be refreshing anything else while I'm at it? I'm wondering about hoses and fans?

I'm thinking to do it all OEM but if there are any improvements that can be made (for a mostly stock 1ZZ road car) I'm always interested.

[Alex Knight]

It's dead easy, even for a beginner.

If it were me, I'd be replacing the rubber radiator hoses (which perish after time) with some silicone ones.

Or you can get new OEM hoses here.

[Topdownman]

This guy does another video where he swops all the hoses for silicone ones. I copied him and had mine all changed when it was in the garage, his 10% off code worked for me last year. From memory it was about £157 for over 30 hoses and clips but no doubt gone up now!

[Joesson]

For best prices for OEM parts  perhaps we should consider TCB performance parts, a one time affiliate on here.

PS
@steveash

Is this realistic for a relative novice?
I suggest this depends upon the size/ agility of the novice.
There are hose and pipes under the length of the car, easy enough to access if you have a lift, otherwise it's ramps or axle stands meaning you have to get down and perhaps dirty and probably wet.
I replaced the radiator and, unfortunately ( mentioned in my early days posts) the coolant some years ago, and more recently I gave the system a thorough flushing, and was pleased I did with what I found came out, including the block and replaced the coolant .
Points to note. The drain on the block is a little awkward to access and take care with no undue force when opening it. Similarly with the under car drain points.
The radiator is a straightforward replacement.
Consider new hose clips, various types available.
The hoses on my (2002) car are still OE and appear to be in good order. As above, the price of replacement hoses is the most significant cost.
Coolant, Toyota Long Life is of course recommended, but this time I chose a concentrate, specific for Toyota from Ravenol and diluted this with de ionised water available from Tesco at very low cost.
Refilling has been reported as " trying" but  I have done that on two occasions and did not find that difficult.
I have a sloping drive way and put the car front at the lower end and raised the rear end to assist entrapped air to come out at the rear.
I did determined the quantity of coolant  in my system during the flushing process by measuring the water in and out, once it was all clear. I could then determine the system was empty.
I premixed the coolant and filled with a measured quantity.  The engine needs to be running to get the system fully filled but encourage as much in as you can before starting the engine. Remember to open the bleed valves before you fill and see the coolant exiting before you close them, working from the rear of the car forward. The radiator bleed valve is the last to be closed.
That might seem overly thorough but I did know what the system should hold and it worked well for me.

[steveash]

PS
@steveash
30 years old with a 1zz engine?

Oops! Corrected. Just a sprightly 20.

Thanks everyone for the tips. Looks like this will be my spring project. 

[Joesson]

Oops! Corrected. Just a sprightly 20.

Thanks everyone for the tips. Looks like this will be my spring project. 

My war and Peace description may or may not inspire!

[Dev]

If it was a different make of car I would replace hoses with age but remarkably Toyota hoses have proven themselves to last the lifetime of many cars with high millage. I would do an inspection instead by squeezing the hoses to look for weak integrity. When I owned a BMW a section of hose started to lose integrity at 80k due to heat so I had to have it replaced and the parts person said it was typical BMW.
 As far as coolant goes the Toyota red is all I would ever use. It has shown to work in abused cars that never had their coolant changed but those that have used something different did not fair so well unless it was changed regularly including the Toyota Pink which supersedes it but is not as good.
 Toyota parts and fluids is what keeps the Toyota reputation. My car has miles on with original hoses and so does every local car I know which is remarkable.