With this engine design you don't have to worry about getting air trapped in the system if you simply drain the radiator and petcocks judging simply from my experience doing it one my car one time. I was actually amazed at how much fluid I was able to get back into the system before I even ran the engine once. I took the car out for a 10 mile test drive and let it cool down overnight and the next morning I probably only needed to add less than a half pint back into the reservoir and radiator.

You can take any DIY project and analyze it and come up with some kind of doomsday scenario if you think about it hard enough. I'm confident in my wrenching abilities to tackle almost anything that comes up in any of my vehicles. I like most folks, have learned some important lessons through the school of hard knocks over the years. Now, if you don't have much experience working on cars and you have any doubt about something, go to the forum and ask questions or go to you tube and your likely to see many examples of how to do it.

I do get it, some people just don't have any mechanical aptitude to work on their cars and they should pay someone to do their work for them. I would rate this job as one of the easier things to do on this car.

Looking at my 3rd coolant bottle this morning I'm sitting at 2 quarts left. I only drained 9 quarts out of my system and I kind of expected that as I had none in my reservoir and the radiator was down some. But in the end I put in close to 10 quarts back into the system which is almost what Lexus says the capacity is. If you drain a full radiator and the reservoir you are only going to get 5 quarts at best out of there. Meaning that you left half of the old coolant stuck in there. I don't understand why you would not want to drain all the fluid out that you possibly could?

 

haha I paid an indie to replace a brake hose on my Maxima....the right front caliper would lock up completely, and I'd have to hope the motor could overpower it so I could reach home. There would be smoke pouring out of the RF wheel well. The indie goes, "You replace your own calipers, and you did the ABS pump on your BMW. You're more than capable of replacing a brake hose."

I said yeah but I'm not setup to flare a line nor have I ever done that, if it breaks (18 y.o.). So he goes ok, we'll do it for you. now bend over....

 

I had to replace all of the brake lines in a car that my mother gave to me. 1995 Buick Century with only 85,000 miles but one of the rear coil spring retention pads on the rear beam had rusted away so it was unsafe for her to drive anymore. Anyway, I found that the el cheapo brake flaring tools that you can rent from the auto parts store worked like crap so I ended up buying a hand held hydraulic flaring tool which really worked wonderfully. When I was done with the job I ended up selling it on eBay for close to what I paid for it so I considered it similar to a rental charge. Wished I could have kept that tool but its been five years now and I have not had the need to use a flaring tool again

 

Because it's not necessary to get 100% of the old coolant out of the system every single time. And most of it gets changed every 100k miles anyway when the timing belt/water pump is swapped out.

The pink coolant is good for 100k miles and so usually these coolant changes are in between the major service anyway.

You can be as **** on maintenance as you want to be, but just draining and filling the radiator every few years in addition to changing it when you do the water pump is going above and beyond what the service manual recommends.

You can also change your spark plugs every year if you want, just isn't necessary for these vehicles.

They also sell coolant flush kits with an acid type chemical to deep clean the radiator for people that really want a clean cooling system. At some point, I think just replenishing most of the coolant every few years is good enough.

 

Well if you go by the "book" its not a given that the water pump is changed out when the timing belt is at 90K miles. I'm sure the dealers push for this when they change the timing belt and its probably what I would do if given the opportunity but in the Acura TL world in which I'm more familiar many do not change out the water pump because they are so reliable. Assuming that the water pump was not changed out when 100K miles roll around and its time to replace the coolant I sure would want whoever I was paying to do the job, to do it the way Lexus specifies it and drain the complete system, radiator and petcocks. Doing it any other way is just half-baked in my opinion.

The pink coolant is only good for the first 100K miles of the car. Thereafter it is due to be changed out at 50K miles or 5 years.

I'm not trying to stomp on anyone's toes but draining the petcocks isn't difficult and it gets the other half of the coolant out of the system. Do whatever you feel comfortable with...

 

By rear lower shield, does it mean remove rear shield just before the transmission pan in addition to front shield? I am just unable to locate the block drain plugs

Edit: Never mind. found the pictures. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10030629

 

Anyone have a basic idea on how much fluid I would need for just a radiator drain and fill? I have a gallons worth right now but I'm wondering if I might need another 1/2 gallon.

 

You probably close to what you need , If you start draining the engine that's a different ball game , also they are 2 type of radiators same they are 1" thick and some are 5/8" .

 

Coolant specs:
2002-2004 LS430 Australia: 9.9L (10.4 qt, 8.7 Imp.qt)
2002-2004 LS430 Type A (pressurized): 10.1L (10.7 qt, 8.9 Imp.qt)
2002-2004 LS430 Type B (unpressurized): 9.5L (10.0 qt, 8.4 Imp.qt)
2000.8-2001.12 LS430: 9.8L (10.4 qt, 8.6 Imp.qt)

I don't have the official 2005 quick spec sheet, but surely it's going to be around 10L. If you want to do a proper drain and fill, you need to drain the radiator at the front and then the 2 engine drain plugs that are covered by the rear splash shield. Make sure your heater is set to max heat before and after the job. Fill radiator and side reservoir to full, go for a drive with the heat still on max (and a full jug in the car just in case), and then top up both radiator and reservoir after it has cooled down.

 

Picture showing drain pan is exactly what it came out from the engine drains , what came from radiator it's in a different can .

Drain plugs made out of brass .

Drain location on driver side .
I just finish mine 430 and just for a radiator drain I got 1/2 gallon , for the reservoir 1 qt .
I open the engine drains and the bulk of the shmuuu was there , probably 1 1/2 gallons come out from the 2 drains .
The drains are made of brass, best to loosen them is a 3/8 10mm 6 point socket , DON'T USE A 12point .
I'll post same pictures later ....
I'm adding few pictures :

 

Ther are two block drain **** plugs on either side of the oil pan (2006 LS 430) that need to be drained also.

 

Can someone please update the locations of the engine drain plug with pictures? I looked into the previous post and dont find any picture for 2004-2006 LS430 engine drain plugs location.

Below is what I find and don't seem to be for 2005 LS 430

file:///C:/Users/lucas/Downloads/Coolant%20Replacement.pdf

https://diy.icydesigns.com/article/2...ngine_Coolant/

 

Coolant drain plugs are in the same location for every year 430.

Pics here- https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10030629