Toyota Corolla Radiator R&R and critical details people forget

Remember, you can't just pour the coolant in and expect to be good to go. You also need to bleed the air out of the system. I didn't show that in this video, but I promise it's the same as when I recently got in and out of my Nissan Frontier's coolant system. I show the technique of bleeding the air bubbles out of the coolant during my changing of the belts. I had needed to change the belts for a while, but when I spotted a light coolant leak out of the thermostat housing, that's when I finally got around to taking care of it all at once!

Link to belts and coolant bleeding

I'll also show what transmission fluids belong in these cars. Be sure to watch until the end to catch it! While I was at it, I also changed the valve cover gasket. I really didn't show much on how to do it, but it's an incredibly easy job, on this car, you only need the gasket, with no sealant, and you should tighten it on to about 20 ft/lbs. Forgive me for not looking that up, but most valve cover gaskets are like 22 ft/lbs. Be sure to follow a nice x pattern starting from the center and working your way out. If you need to see the diagram for the bolts, these often come with the gasket, and if they don't, it's often available as a printout from your local store who sales you the gasket. I'm sure I'll show it on my Chevy Prizm in the future.

From 1998-2002 it was the 8th generation of Toyota Corolla's, and this video will also work for Chevy Prizm owners as these are the only years they were "Chevy's" instead before the Chevy side was discontinued. Prior to this it was the Geo Prizm. My brother has one. Great car. It's one of the reasons I bought a little newer one.

I allude to a few other jobs in this video. I didn't record a transmission fluid change, I just implied it, but you do need to add transmission fluid when you change a radiator, unless of course the transmission was a bit over full. I dropped the transmission pan, changed the filter, without recording, but these other jobs, I recorded and I'll leave the link to them below.

Spark plug balance theory:

Which, I actually called, "BalancingSpark with Spark Plug Gap and an extra secret! Shhh!"

VVT-i Explained (awesome video link)

The transmission fluid, which you should add to these vehicles is Dexron IV or Dexron VI. I've studied some about the differences, and I think that if they had Dextron VI back in the day, they would have never used Dexron IV. Dextron VI seems superior and is backwards compatible. It's deservedly a bit more expensive.

By AutoBravado

Due to factors beyond the control of DE Nichols/AutoBravado it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. DE Nichols/AutoBravado assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. DE Nichols/AutoBravado recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of DE Nichols/AutoBravado, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not DE Nichols/AutoBravado.

Understanding Oil Viscosity and Weather

I've seen this question a lot? What oil should I use?

Easy answer? Use the oil the engineer recommended.

But if you want a harder answer behind the concepts of viscosity and motor oil, then you have some studying to do.

Should I go with a 0w-20?

I don't think that's wise if the engine was designed for 30 weight once it's warmed up. You can get a tiny percent better miles per gallon ignoring the engineering that went into an engine with a thinner weight, but the catch is, this wears an engine down faster. Engine wear contributes to permanent reductions in miles per gallon. So, for example taxi's, having some of the hardest use for their miles? Thinner oil is not a good way to be saving money. Sure, if you didn't care about the next guy or gal when you're done with a car, you could go thinner because it'll save you money, but only a tiny bit, because you can pass the more used engine to the next guy - this assumes you buy new...furthermore, while under warranty, if they discovered your thinner use of oils, then you could lose your warranty. In the case of a heavily used engine like a taxi, even at the number of miles that isn't a big deal for a normal consumer, you'll have already achieved a great deal more wear.

Now, if the engine was designed for that second number to be thinner like the 20 in 5w-20 or 5w-30, then there is no issue, most likely. Some companies went to the slightly thinner oils to get better miles per gallon numbers, not because there was a matching redesign of the engine. Again, bad idea to go thinner if the engine wasn't legitimately redesigned, versus it just being an “environmental decision”.

You see, oil takes more punishment to keep metal parts off each other when it's thicker. You can't replace that protection...but some new valve trains do require it or the THICKER oil of 30, once heated up, is actually damaging those components.

Using a thicker oil is far more quickly damaging.

Unlike the subject above, I have more research to do about the viscosity that's indicated with the w, as in winter. So a 5w-20 and a 5w-30 on a cold engine actually behaves the same. I am referring to an engine that's not warmed up, not just one that's freezing cold.

The portion that I need to do more research in, is if going with a lower w or winter weight for extreme cold...is it only protecting better at startup because it can flow? Is it causing more damage as the oil heats up because vehicles that are in the middle of warming up don't have the right viscosity? Whether it's harmful after initial startup but fine after a complete warm up or not, then the gain first thing in the morning would only be balanced as a help to drivers who keep their engine warmed up for longer – if however going thinner on the w or winter side of the house, has the oil behaving well into a warm up, the it'll greatly benefit those who are frequently short tripping in their car, just like me.

- by AutoBravado

On a related subject, here's an oil additive by Lucas. It's called Lucas Pure Synthetic Oil Stabilizer:

Many of these questions that came up, came up on this video, which better illustrates the colds effect on different engine oils. So take a look at a fellow YouTuber's video called "Cold Engine Noise = OIL WEIGHT".

Success Tips for YouTube Creators, a response to the Steve Rob channel

9 Response tips and my 2 most viewed videos:

YouTube Success tip 1 by Steve Rob, don't go by videos that "teach" you how to be successful:

Great advice Steve. If I were to rewrite your foremost tip, I'd say, "Don't do it "their" way. Do it your way." Steve said there is no magical formula for what works. Hey, I have a couple ultra successful videos. They get watched and watched and watched. I call it luck and a bit of skill. I realized people wanted those videos. Usually, the videos I think people "want" (because you can't really know) are videos that are harder to do, but then my water decarbonization video. I was nervous, it was my 3rd video, and it's still going viral relative to my channels size. It's something I knew a lot about and I felt it was a good video.


YouTube Success tip 2 by DE Nichols (aka myself/AutoBravado):

Thumbs up versus thumbs down. Hey. If people bother to watch enough to give you a thumbs down then it's still success. I've noticed that when videos first come out, that's when most of the thumbs up happens. The longer a video is popular the more haters come out. Don't take it personal. The people who most appreciate you are usually the first people to watch. Focus on them.


YouTube Success tip 3:

I sometimes think some of my channel ideas that are the most successful may not be what my subscriber base wants the most. I don't really know, but I put out serious videos and then reviews on things here and there. The reviews, especial about easy chemicals, which keeps the lights on so to speak while the other often less popular videos are the guts and the glory of why I got into YouTube.


YouTube Success tip 3a:

What I mean is, reviews on easy to use chemicals? Automatically popular. Car repair videos, why I'm here, less popular, but if developed deeply enough, I could get a paid channel one day. That's where the money is at assuming you can do something that professionals of the automotive world will pay for, or even serious DIY (do it yourself) automotive enthusiasts.


YouTube Success tip 4 based on my favorite advice that Steve Rob repeats:

I find that money isn't much of a motivation, not that YouTube pays much without TONS of views, so yes, absolutely, do what you enjoy most. If you enjoy many things which can't be related together in one niche, or truly related content, you'll need to let go of them as a channel needs one focus or ultimately future subscribers will be confused as to what they should be getting. When they're confused, they don't subscribe.


YouTube Success tip 5:

I find that when people are generous and they give to you, give back. I can't count how much I've mentioned Steve Rob on my videos. I mention other subscribers too. When they influence my thinking on making a video, I think they really appreciate hearing it in a later video.

YouTube Success tip 6:

Get involved in the community of videos that you're in to make videos for. There are other YouTube creators out there with similar content. You should reach out and support each other. Be genuine about this and you'll get support from each other, that you may not find anywhere else until your channel has grown more.

Some YouTube creators make the best comments because they're quicker to communicate like you. Steve Rob mentions that he doesn't review channels that aren't involved with their audience. A YouTube creator like that may not ever notice you exist.

YouTube Success tip 7 (Directly by Steve Rob):

Focus on views and likes instead of how many subscribers you have. Some channels have many subscribers but hardly any views in comparison. Take my DE Nichols channel for example. Most of my videos have a hundred views plus or minus given enough time, but I also have videos with tens of thousands of views because I made something the people really want, that they're looking for.

YouTube Success tip 8:

Have a website. I already did. It's a lot harder to make money off of adsense on a website then it is on a YouTube channel because you can ignore ads on a website, while on YouTube they have to watch some commercials. I think I'd be a lot less successful without websites pointing at my YouTube channel (DE Nichols), but it's hard to judge seeing as how I've written websites for years.

YouTube Success tip 9:

If you aren't aware of it and you're thinking about getting started int YouTube. YouTube has raised the bar a lot. Without 4,000 hours of watch time in the last year and 1,000 subscribers, you aren't getting into the YouTube Partner Program and you aren't getting paid. Lanny Ross from Ferinitosh Farms Photography has made multiple videos about how to get going with Rumble. Rumble is a new video platform. I'm not sure how successful they are as a platform, but as a service who copyrights your content and makes YouTube turn the ads on, they are a way to get paid sooner than those requirements set forth by YouTube. I don't know yet if long-term this was a good idea yet, but I've dived in and sold them rights to a lot of my top content. Feel free to explore Lanny's videos to learn about how Rumble works, but since I sent you to him, I'd appreciate if you use my referral link if you chose to sign up. Register with Rumble and get started.

My highest successes by views. Initially they were very liked but as time went more people showed up with their thumbs down. Take another look at tip 2 as to why I think that is.

My two viral videos relative to my current level of success:
I think they're popular because they're what people want. That said, in the Cataclean works video, I shared tons of other real repairs I did first and when all the conditions were right and the dumb PCM still thought the brand new catalytic converter was no good, it was time for a little help. Hardly a rave review, but very honest. Yes, you have to fix your car, and if it's not quite there, this can help.

Source: Port and Airflow Theory, PolyQuad cylinder chambers, Creating Swirl by DENichols

This Water Decarbonization video has been ultra successful because people are looking for a video like this all the time. It was only my third video and there were many months where it was half my traffic. Again, instead of just talking about how it works, I covered all things I've noticed that it causes problems with.


By AutoBravado - Happy New Year!

I'd be proud to have a YouTube logo mixed in with my ASE patch, lol. :) Let me explain:

Eric, for years, this has been my absolute favorite, talkative, automotive YouTube channel. ETCG1 is where Eric talks about cars instead of showing automotive repairs. Personally, I pretty much do cars, and I've started to dabble in motorcycles with my YouTube channel (DE "AutoBravado" Nichols)..., but still, this video and community is the place for the best discussions (I know, I know, you have a lovely forum, lol, but I like it here).

I'm a legitimately a certified ASE technician. I picked a couple of the harder ones to certify in even though I'm competent in easier ASE's (yikes, haven't touched transmissions though!)...anyway, I digress like I love that you do too...when I saw this, I wasn't thinking arm chair mechanic, I was also thinking about me. Without YouTube I would have become a competent professional much slower, and I certainly wouldn't have thought A8 Engine Performance, was easy. (I got brakes certified too, because even though they're often easy to fix up, knowing deep stuff that you need for an ASE could seriously save someone's bacon! (aka life)).

I certainly didn't put it on my resume, but if I was close enough to someone running the shop I worked at, I'd tell them honestly, "I know most of this thanks to YouTube."

The conversation could continue like this: sure, I study, I read professional articles, I talk to professionals, and I even study for the ASE tests because the engineers that make those tests are brilliant people. The master tech at my first shop knew one of them. Seriously smart man he'd say, though I forgot how he said it.

I recently made a video about tips on how I got my ASE certifications. It isn't popular. It seems like most people online aren't worried about getting certified when they learn on YouTube, for whatever reason that is.

But yeah, I'd be proud to have a YouTube logo mixed in with my ASE patch, lol. :)

Porting Cylinder Heads, What's Stage 1 and 2?

Dart heads has put up some information about porting, that you'd enjoy. Especially David Vizard's work. He put out a seminar about how small shops can be profitable on porting cylinder heads. He really didn't help on the business side of it, like the title suggests, but he sure helps people know what they are doing!



I made 2 videos about porting heads (see my previous two articles, each has a related video). I'm concentrating on theory right now before I dive in to it. Sure, there's no substitute for practice, but I'm still missing some tools, so I'm learning for my mind first. The first video is about David Vizard's concept of swirl. Weather you have a 4 valve or a 2 or 3 valve head, my video has something for you there, that I haven't found anywhere else, besides buying his book. He has a patent on it, so we can't sell a cylinder head with his idea on it without giving him something like 7%, I don't remember.

I'm writing in response to this question byDynamic Productions DIY Head Porting Small Block Chevy Vortec 062 Part 1 of 3 

"[I'm] thinking about doing this to the heads on my iroc i was a little unclear on this process and was wondering if you could clear it up, when u take this on are you just going for smoothing out the factory stamping and knocking out the carbon build up and taking the rough lines out of the factory casting or making all the ports bigger the whole way down through or is it a bit of both, id like to know as much information as [possible] i got 2 sets of heads but id rather not [#*&$] either one up"

To be more directly about what you asked, you're first suggestion, being minimal, is a porting that would be considered stage 1. Finish up by smoothing with 80 grit sand paper. Anymore and you're making things worse.

Stage 2 is where you open things up more rather than just some shaping and smoothing work.

I've only watched over half of TPV's video so far, but his information is dead on with what I've learned from other creditable sources.

Stage 2 requires that you know how much metal is everywhere or you could punch a hole in something else that the engine needs!

So, you'll either have to learn from someone else knowing your exact heads, or buy an ultrasound device meant to check how thick metal is, and you'd have to check everywhere, and stay away from thin spots.

More that I learned from David Vizard, that didn't get put on TPV Production's video:
Note: I originally wrote the below as notes, I may have quoted David, I may have only paraphrased, so I give credit to him and the video I embedded in the video above.
When you're porting your cylinder heads, don't let that customer walk away without getting a good exhaust.

It isn't the piston that draws in the charge, it's the exhaust.

When the piston is at bdc there is only a 1 pound drop of pressure, it's the exhaust that makes for 14 pounds of pressure. Don't worry about your intake only...this made me feel great about upgrading my exhaust before my intake by the way...so don't just worry about the intake on your porting work, the exhaust needs velocity, it needs high, more laminar flow too, or your intake work will look less stellar than it is.

Understand, these are lessons a flow bench can't teach you. The above paragraph are observations by David, and those he's learned with watching actual engine's function. Flow benches are a tool to test flow yes, but you couldn't learn that the exhaust is primarily what brings in the intake charge from a flow bench! This makes me want stage 2 cam's for my project. The increased lobe overlap would assist in bringing the exhaust's flow into the intakes flowing moments even more!

Would it increase emissions and lower idle quality? Probably. But I have an awesome catalytic converter that is already pushed leaner than most, it could use more fuel for cleaner air...may not be so good for my car's miles per gallon! LOL

By AutoBravado

Port and Air Flow in practice and in theory II

In my last article, I talked in some paragraphs about how porting will get you more flow. I also discussed how for a street ride, removing a lot from the ports is probably not the best idea as it can reduce torque at lower RPM.

That said, most of how the Eastwood video presented porting, shouldn't be taking anything away from a street ride or "streetable ride". This was also in my first article:Port and Air Flow in practice and in theory.

Streetable ride approved technique:
Reducing the machinist ridge in the combustion chamber in his example wasn't aggressive enough for me, because those create turbulent air. This is something that won't take away for a streetable ride.

Streetable ride approved technique:
The smoothing of the casting down to 80 grit sand paper? That's perfect from what I learned from David Vizard's book on this subject. The tiny imperfections and roughness may pick up carbon, but that'll happen anyway, you might as well have a desirable roughness to create small vortices, which make small roller bearings to make for faster.

Another item I disagree with on Eastwood's video on my last article, is that you should have spare valves that go in to protect the valve seat while you remove machinist ridges. That way, you can get right in there, next to the valve, and make a trench and then smooth that out.

Here's an example picture of the areas in question for a machinist's ridge: (be sure to click on the another article of mine. It has a lot more pictures, and when you click on them there, they get bigger; head gasket)

Port and Air Flow Theory III

A couple of points of re-study for me since video I made and embedded above, as this subject can make me feel left wanting again and again...
...David Vizard says that focusing on the points of the most restriction will make a port much more efficient. While hogging out a port where the air is already the slowest is likely to make a port simply lazy.

Back cut valves, rolled valve seats? Huge. It's been a while since I was in his book instead of on YouTube where I couldn't see the charts, but he made an example of how much air had to get past valves. In the picture, most of it is air, and beside it, is a little man to scale for how much air goes through a particular race engine. Yet, of course, still, there is that little valve, which is smaller still than the man when you see the math for how much "surface area" an imaginary cylinder from the valve seat to the cuts on the valves. That little sideways space, where all the action has to take place. Can you imagine it?

What is next to that moment of greatest restriction is often a machinist ridge in the combustion chamber. Most people won't touch it. The trick is to have a set of valves you don't care for as a guide to your single cut burrs, and round out a small trench around the valve, exactly the size of my smallest burr. Then blend it. Surely, everyone's fear is you've made the combustion chamber bigger! The tiny drop in size, vs. having air and fuel tumble and bounce through this section, which forms larger droplets, is more my worry. Plus, with the increased flow, while static compression is slightly lower, dynamic compression will be higher.

Make effort on the port side of the valve, working in the bowl ... I'll continue my thoughts on this at a later time. :)

Source: DON'T POLISH when Porting and Airflow Theory III by DENichols
By AutoBravado

Port and Air Flow in practice and in theory

This the best practical video I've seen on this subject for quite some time. I'd call this a very light porting job. That's safest if you don't know how thin the metal is in different places, but a way around that is to get a metal ultrasound tool and find out where it's thin, so you can do a more aggressive job.

Personally, I'd remove more in the combustion chamber. Get rid of those machinist ridges more. Sure, it's a small compression loss, but you're probably getting the cylinder head shaved anyway, right?

It takes a lot more skill, but if all you're going to do is a slight smoothing of the port, why scribe for the gasket? Sure, you don't want to go beyond the gasket line, but my point is, matching better to the gasket is a tougher way to go, but an industry standard for a more aggressive porting job.

Could be more like a stage 2 to do that.

If you go bigger, you have to use T tools to measure the inside and make sure those ports are matched.

I bet they weren't matched at the factory! According to headbytes, the more points of measurement to have them even, they higher the stage, more so than how much material is removed. Kind of a balanced way of looking at the stages. Please understand, this is not slander, there is a lot of evidence stacked up on YouTube and many websites, which mention that headbytes of YouTube isn't in good business practices. I learned a lot from him. His engine knowledge isn't perfect, but it's among the best. I've learned a lot from this artist. Some artists don't make good businessmen. Maybe he has a lot of personal issues that have prevented him from keeping up with his promises in porting engines, but a lot of people have lost money and they aren't getting their sometimes rare and original parts back that belong on their classic rides.

Lets get back to something prettier.

More flow, smoother flow. These are common concepts. People sometimes worry about losing torque at lower RPM because making ports larger, while it can increase flow (it can lose flow as well if you do it wrong), it also lowers the air velocity in your ports, which is more needed at lower RPM. Know though, that people porting for racing aren't worried about a little loss down low when they're getting better flow bouncing off of red line and back up to it with each gear shift.

So while I'm working toward a cylinder head project of my own, I probably shouldn't open the ports up much as the automatic transmission keeps my RPM low most of the time. This would cost me power, even if on the on ramp to the freeway the higher possible RPM, which won't ever happen in the city, lets me have more power there, the car would be less driveable in every other way...at least that's how the theory goes. I so want to put this in practice! I still don't have the electric die grinder or bigger air compressor which I need.

In the video above they talked a little about how to get swirl, but this was one of the video's down falls as I don't think the technique they're talking about would actually create more swirl. To learn more about that, go from watching the practical example above to my theory video below.



Source: Port and Airflow Theory, PolyQuad cylinder chambers, Creating Swirl by DENichols

When it comes to swirl, on single valve intakes you need a different technique than you do in dual overhead cams or DOHC.

David Vizard's concept in the video above is to make one of the vales larger, support that valve with more porting. The idea is to make for more flow on one valve so that as it's great velocity air goes into the chamber, it causes a swirl. Swirl also squeezes more air into the combustion chamber. Swirls prevent fuel molecules from colliding as much. Turbulent air, like what is shown to be reduced in the first more practical example video above makes fuel droplets collide more, which makes them less atomized and less burnable.

By AutoBravado