Just a simple question today, I am finishing some work on a 2000 ES300 and I wanted to top off the coolant. I've never had to do it before on this car, do Toyotas require Toyota brand coolant or can I just use a universal coolant and can they be mixed?

 

Your car takes Toyota Super Long Life Coolant aka Pink Coolant. You can get the Toyota one or find an equivalent one from another company.

Usually it’s labeled Asian pink coolant at the auto parts store. I’ve had a good experience with Pentosin Pentofrost A4 (pink).

Do NOT mix any other color of coolant in there.

 

Hello,

Actually, Pink coolant only appeared in about 2002, for this generation, the manual calls for a Red Long Life coolant, here is a link to it, and my 2000 ES300 is filled with Toyota Red coolant as well. Toyota did once say Pink and Red coolants are fully compatible and can be mixed (PG010-02), and Hayk seems to be a good example of it, but I am not sure if it is the latest TSB on the subject, so try it on your own risk..

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Thank you, I have really gotten into this old car lately. When every thing is good it is a pleasure to drive.

 

I personally use Red on the ‘98, but remember reading pink being safe for 2000+ 1MZ-FE’s. Good to know about the TSB. Back in the day people discussed what’s different between Red and Pink and Red having more protection for the materials used in the older 1MZs

 

They both do a very good job at it, so long as they are in good shape, it's just that the Pink one manages to hold its own for a good while longer without breaking up and starting to erode the parts on the inside. TSB says that all Japan built Toyota and Lexus vehicles are safe to use Pink coolant, and there are a few reports of people running it instead of Red one, so the TSB is likely still valid. With that, I would still verify compatibility at a local dealership, there is a reason why Toyota sells Red and Pink coolants side-by-side, while T-I through T-III got discontinued in favor of T-IV transmission fluid, which fully supersedes previous generations..

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

I may get blasted for this, but I use universal Prestone in mine. However, I flushed it 5 or 6 times (driving to temp) and made darn sure the final rinse cycle drained out pure water. Yes, distilled water. No problems. But yes, do not mix it into what you currently have in there, even though the bottle says "mix with all colors."