Coolant Type

I believe you can put any antifreeze you want pending you do the right mixture which is like 50/50 or 60/50 or some such. Your owners manual should state.

The one reason the 'red' Toyota anti freeze is good is because it does not have the silicate in it that the others do. The silicate is what causes the water pump to go bad sooner than it should.

If I were you, I would stick with the red Toyota stuff. It's really not much more expensive.

Jeff

er, 60/40. Typo.

I had a 92 Toyota Camry LE V6 and I don't recall if it used the Toyota Red Coolant (like the ones starting in 97 definitely do). I would call the Toyota Dealer Parts department and ask them.

you may also want to have the strength of the coolant tested. If the previous owner of the car did this you might end up with coolant that is going to freeze at a higher than normal temperature. This is not a good thing.

The previous owner was smart enough to use Genuine Toyota Long Life Coolant, and it would be best if you used it to top it off. You can mix green antifreeze but you will lose the benefits of Toyota's silicate-free coolant and the resulting mixture sometimes ends up looking muddy.

Replace the coolant every 2 years with Toyota Long Life Coolant to prolong the life of your cooling system.

Thanks for all the help.

I am thinking that it is now a good time to flush the system and refill it with the proper antifreeze.

Jeff

You start with a 5 lb sack. You add 10 lb of red stuff, it will fit but you have to force it.

I've been using Dex-cool in a Toyota and a Ford for the past ten years, changing it every five years. I do realize that Dex-cool and Toyota Red are very different in their additives, despite their nearly identical colors, although both are silicate-free, and I did thoroughly flush the cooling systems with a cleaning chemical before switching. I also used distilled water.

Just add 10% evaporated water - very expensive to purchase, but you can make it yourself cheap.

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You're welcome!

No. Always top off with the proper 50/50 mixture or pre-mixed coolant.

If you want to be really pedantic, you get a coolant specific gravity checker to see whether you need to add more water, more antifreeze, or a 50/50 mix.

If you don't want to bother, you use 50/50 mix.

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