ok I've been slack recently, but this weekend got some stuff sorted on the car.
 
installed the cold start injector switch (finally) which is going to be useful this weekend at the snow....
found that a connector was disconnected... turns out it was the temp gauge sender (Woohoo it works again).
 
Then did what I can only describe as f**ked up coolant change procedure I have ever done.  Had to use a BREAKER bar to get the engine coolant drain plug off - and WTF it's in such a retarded place.  Ended up "power bleading" the front two bleeders by using a vaccume cleaner (lol) made things a little faster.
 
All in all not a bad day's work on my birthday :P pitty I got rained out twice, and am fighting off a cold atm.
 
Car runs a lot better now too,  There's no oil in the coolant, was all good. so no BHG.
 
Next up I'll be degreasing the engine to find the source of my epic oil leak (looks like rocker is 100% the source), but I want to confirm this.
 
and also need to fix the IC fan and get a couple of new clamps....
 

a breaker bar, lol im assuming this is on the engine block and not the one in the radiator.
did you drain from all 4 places, radiator, block and two in the pipes that run under the car??
i guess you can jack the front end up and let it all drain out the back
theres about 13 lires in there all up

lol yea the one on the engine didn't wanna move! I think the coolant is going to be needed to be changed a bit more regularly for a few changes and get a full flush and treatment. - rust bits suck.
 
  
Yeah drain points I used was the front rad, two mid points and engine. the two mid and engine points are freeking dangerous that u don't get coolant in the face!
 
 
 
 

hahah yeah i got coolant all over me from the one in the block but luckily i left the car sitting overnight so it was nice and cold.
 
keep an eye on the coolant as it will drop slowly, which has always happened to me and eventually it will settle. might need to top up about 50mls or so everyday until it eventually settles keeping an eye on the overflow as well 
 
just a tip dont open the presure cap when the cars even warm, wait till its cold pref. overnight and then open to check the coolant level otherwise the coolant will get sucked into the engine and you will keep topping up and it will end up in the overflow and spill out of that, learnt that the hard way.
if you park on a reallt flat surface then the settling proceduere takes less time. thats what i have found out anyway. 
cheers

cool - thanks for that. Will check when cold only.  yah I've got the coolant bottle with my atm, and it will stay in the boot just in case.. better safe than sorry...
 
Definitely only one to do when cold that's for sure!
 
next time it's getting a coolant flush mixture put through it.  someone really didn't like looking after my car before me :(
 
 

be careful with coolant flush stuff, i used some once that came with a new rad in my missus camry.
 
the stuff ate the toyota rubber seals on the thermostat and the rad cap. even after i flushed the stuff out of the car. must've been a residual as its all but impossible to remove it all.
 
i ended up having to buy 2 new thermostats and caps.

oh wtf... yeah forget that then.
 
will just change the coolant more regularly ... it's cheap anyways.. just a pain to do.

What coolant did you use?

just the green stuff... kinda figgured I'd have to change it more often.. so didn't wanna stick with the red.

Why do you have to change it often? regardless if you change it often, techtaloy or any other green silicate based crap isn't ideal.
Most red OAT based SLL coolant should be good for (max) 5 years/250,000 kms which is a ****load.