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So I have 129,000 miles and went to have my coolant drained and filled since it's the original from 2001. I read about the pink stuff causing leaks online. So; I got the jug of Toyota factory red fluid. The parts counter guy said the techs just pour the jug of red in and fill the rest with water. So I told the mechanic that and it's how he did it. I got to thinking I didn't read the jug myself- that bothers me. My question is, one jug of factory red fluid and remaining fill with water in our radiators and cooling system correct? Is the mixture strong enough for winter? We see temps of 0 for 2-3 days at a time. Summer now and we see 94 today- Tennessee weather.. I drive across the Blue Ridge mountains everyday to go to work. A 3500ft elevation across the mountain. It gets 10-15 below. Parts counter guy said the jug of red fluid is more than enough to do one car? You guys agree?
Depends how much of the prior coolant was drained out so the ratio may be a bit off if when pouring it in straight. I pre-mix a 50-50 ratio into one of the spare jugs so I know how much is going in. I've heard of people going 70-30 and 40-60 depending on climate, you are fine. The thermostat was changed too?
No, they did a full drain with some machine.. Same thermostat.. Hope it's ok with 129k- I've never even pulled any of those black covers away from the motor to look at the reservoir- think I will tomorrow. I assume when the red is diluted properly it will look the same color as the factory coolant that was drained. Knock on wood there's not one single thing that doesn't work except my rain sensor now with the new windshield.. Another story.. I try to drive easy and never much over 2200 rpms. Hope it will last me many more miles
No, they did a full drain with some machine.. Same thermostat.. Hope it's ok with 129k- I've never even pulled any of those black covers away from the motor to look at the reservoir- think I will tomorrow. I assume when the red is diluted properly it will look the same color as the factory coolant that was drained. Knock on wood there's not one single thing that doesn't work except my rain sensor now with the new windshield.. Another story.. I try to drive easy and never much over 2200 rpms. Hope it will last me many more miles
sometimes you have to red line it every 1000 miles to clean out the combustion chambers from all that build up.
So they used the machine to do it? I figure...one gallon of coolant and one gallon of water (2 gallon exchange). Yeah it's probably somewhere around being right, give or take a half gallon. I'd just be worried that they used tap water instead of distilled, because a lot of places are just going to grab a hose and fill it with tap. I like the premixed stuff because you don't have to worry about that stuff.
So they used the machine to do it? I figure...one gallon of coolant and one gallon of water (2 gallon exchange). Yeah it's probably somewhere around being right, give or take a half gallon. I'd just be worried that they used tap water instead of distilled, because a lot of places are just going to grab a hose and fill it with tap. I like the premixed stuff because you don't have to worry about that stuff.
For your 2001 LS430 the Toyota Red was the way to go. However, as Doublebase mentions, you have to worry that it might be likely the lazy techs just add tap water instead of distilled. It's sort of a catch 22 here. A few weeks ago I had my radiator replaced a second time in 9 months by Lexus and specified the Toyota Red and looked for the part number on the work order/invoice. It was there. In addition I checked it after with a turkey baster to see if the color looked correct which it did. However I won't know about the distilled water but will just assume they used tap water as who's watching them anyway??? Unless you are doing the work yourself there is always a trust issue, and unless you know the service manager and/or tech you will never know. I always ask for my old parts whenever any parts are changed.....always.
The capacity of the LS430 cooling system is 9.8 liters. In your case, you have 3.78 liters (1 US Gallon) of coolant and 6.02 liters of water, or 3.78 / 9.8 = 38.6% coolant. Lexus recommends a range of 50% (4.9 liters of coolant and 4.9 liters of water) to 70% (6.86 liters of coolant and 2.94 liters of water). Your current mixture is slightly over-diluted.
You can buy an inexpensive antifreeze tester (around $3) that will tell you how low you can go on the temp before freezing. It has a series of ***** that float with a meter.
For Tennessee weather, I honestly wouldn't be that worried with what you described. If it was something like Alberta, Canada, it would be a different story.
If they did the machine, what machine are we talking about?
Normally the driveway mechanic change is what the parts guy mentioned. Most people dont really touch the block plug, so they simply empty out the radiator + reservoir. Then run the system with distilled water a couple times to cycle out the coolant trapped in the block. By the end of three times, the block is basically filled with ultra diluted coolant that most consider "close enough to 100% distilled water" in the system. From there people just dump coolant into the rad and top of the reservoir with 50/50 mix (red and distilled) to the reservoir.
Thats as close to the 50/50 most people are set on.
You can buy an inexpensive antifreeze tester (around $3) that will tell you how low you can go on the temp before freezing. It has a series of ***** that float with a meter.
For Tennessee weather, I honestly wouldn't be that worried with what you described. If it was something like Alberta, Canada, it would be a different story.
If I were even able to obtain this antifreeze tester here in florida, theoretically I should be able to check to see what percentage of antifreeze to water was used (Toyota Red was used) by seeing how low the car is protected to correct? What temp would correlate to a true 50% mixture? -31F?
If I were even able to obtain this antifreeze tester here in florida, theoretically I should be able to check to see what percentage of antifreeze to water was used (Toyota Red was used) by seeing how low the car is protected to correct? What temp would correlate to a true 50% mixture? -31F?
It needs to be able to test HOAT type coolant. Most of the time MNCs carry a similar Prestone floating ball tester. Works with the green stuff, but not Red.
It needs to be able to test HOAT type coolant. Most of the time MNCs carry a similar Prestone floating ball tester. Works with the green stuff, but not Red.
Just picked up a Prestone antifreeze/coolant tester at walmart for 3 bucks. Says on label it works for all Ethylene Glycol coolants including Prestone, GM, Dex-cool, 5/150 extended life antifreeze/coolant. The Toyota Red is based on Ethlene Glycol. Shouldn't this tester give me an "idea" of what percentage of water to red coolant by the boiling point listed? How far off could it be?
Mechanic did coolant exchange like this-
