schmoozer

Hey,

Can anyone give me advice on what I should do about changing the coolant on my 97 es300? I've been reading around and it appears that there are 3 options:

1) Take it to a mechanic
2) Flush it
3) Drain and Fill

Money is generally tight so I'd like to avoid dropping a lot on something that seems relatively simple to do myself.

I am personally partial to the drain and fill method as the car has 130K miles on it now and (much like the transmission) I like to be gentle with everything I do to it.

I've also been doing some reading on how to flush the coolant using a garden hose but this method is now X'd as the water where I live seems to be excessively "hard" and I don't want any residual water crapping anything up. I also have been reading that some use distilled water to do the flush, but I still can't grasp how this is done without buying an excessive amount of water jugs.

This brings me back to just doing a simple drain and fill of the coolant, but need your advice on whether this is going to be that effective or not. The car is approaching 3 years and 20,000 miles or so since its been changed (to my knowledge) so its just about due.

Let me know what you think!

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

The engine have two drain plugs. One in front of the engine block (right of the oil filter) and one in the back/side of the engine. Loosening the drain plug will drain out all the coolant in the engine itself. No real need to use a gardening hose because you're draining practically all the coolant out.

LeX2K

See my post here.

yeldogt

The Toyota coolant has a recommended change interval greater than 3 years 20k - most of the extended coolants have a very long life. Some are over 10 years and 150k.

If the system has been properly maintained -- flushing may not be needed. You need to see the condition of the coolant and what comes out of the system and then maybe do some investigation if you are unsure. All you need to do is drain out a majority of the fluid so as to refresh the freeze protection and the additive pack that protects the parts from corrosion.

What causes the most problems is using the wrong coolant/ water when doing maintenance and repairs to the system.

Do you know what coolant is in the system? Toyota sells two types -- the older type in your car is sold full strength and the later type that was introduced around 2003 is premixed (50/50) - they are not interchangeable and should not be mixed.

If you are unsure what is in the car, you can always drain out the system and refill with distilled water -- run the car for a while and check the condition of the water. Sometimes you have to repeat the water drain. Then you refill the system with the proper 50/50 mix.

The Toyota coolant is about $20.00+ and the water about $1.25 gallon - the system does not hold that much so doing it correctly is not expensive.

Those that try to save $10.00 on coolant are making a mistake.

schmoozer

Well the problem is that I bought the car with 110K miles on it and I'm not too sure of the maintenance history of the car (other than what was filled out in the owners manual). The car was previously owned by a GM at a Mercedes dealership so I *assumed* (bad I know) that everything was taken care of at the time.

So that means the coolant could very well be 130K miles old or it could be, best case scenario, 20K miles old (3 years). The coolant visually looks perfect, but there are some small black particles in the reservoir that caught my attention.

Perhaps I should test it before I do anything drastic.

PFB

Just drain it from both drain plugs, and if it comes out clean, than refill with Toyota pre mix coolant.

You will be fine.

Phil

LeX2K

Pink aka Super Long Life Toyota coolant=premixed, wrong stuff for this car. Use Long Life (red) and mix it 50/50 or higher. BTW, red can be used in cars that call for pink, but not the other way around.

PFB

Toyota red is available premixed as well. Premixed is much easier to deal with.

The Toyota dealer will sell you the right coolant for your car. At least he should.

Phil

LeX2K

You've seen or bought it?
The Lexus dealer here sold me Pink for my car, which I found out later is the wrong fluid.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Actually it's the other way around. Pink is the newer type that is backward compatible with the older red stuff. If your car ran red from the factory, then it'll run pink. If your car had pink, then you continue to use pink. If you end up switching your red to pink, then you have to follow the service interval as if your car ran red from the beginning.


They gave you pink coolant because it works in your car.


I usually buy red for my own car because it came that way from the factory, and it's much cheaper than pink.

LeX2K

No that is not correct. Pink is for systems that are all aluminum, generation2 ES300's have some copper (and possibly other metals like brass) in the system, so Pink is not suitable. Both fluids are compatible with one another and can be mixed, that is not the issue.

BTW this info I got from a Toyota TSB and as well as doing research on the topic.

edit - this is from the TSB

A new pink colored LLC is being phased into production for all 2002 Japan Built
Toyota models. The color change does not affect the maintenance procedures or
intervals established for the red coolant. The new pink coolant is 100% compatible
with the current red coolant and red coolant can be used to replace, top off, or mix in
with the pink coolant with no adverse effects.

PFB

I bought it from a Lexus dealer here in Montreal, for both a 1994 Camry and for my 2001 Lexus. In both cases the dealer looked it up, and said they both take the same coolant. Ie Toyota red,

I used the premixed version.

Phil

LeX2K

That's interesting, in my market (Calgary) there is no such thing are Red pre-mixed. Red here is a pretty good deal, $23.

PFB

If I remember correctly, the premixed red was around $33. I don't think they carry the non premixed.

Just used the rest of it last week, when I did my first timing belt and water pump change on the 1994 Camry. It has only 78,000 Km, but it's 17 years old. The belt was still not bad considering it's age.

Phil

LeX2K

You are sure you used "long life" not "super long life" coolant? $33 is about what the pink stuff here is.