colenzae

Lexus told me they do a simple drain and refill using the red pre-diluted Toyota anti-freeze. My question is this; should I do a flush with a garden hose before refilling? My main concern is my well water. It is hard and chock full of minerals. I thought that since the existing fluid still looks nice and clear (even after 90,000 miles) I would just do a drain and refill.
Anyone have any advice/experience in this area??
Thanks,

Alex

TAMR_GUS98

First of all my friend, the coolant you get from Toyota is not premixed. It would actually make the car run hotter if not diluted 50/50.
Next thing is, if you decide to flush the system with a garden hose, you will need to make sure and catch every drop you flush out and not let it go down the storm drain. EPA won't like that. If you have maintained your car like clockwork, you should not need to flush it. You would only need to drain and fill. You did mention that your fluid is "still nice and clear." If that is the case, then all you would need to do is drain and fill. Making sure you catch all that you drain out, of coarse. Good luck.

-Will

Tammy

The coolant Lexus referred to is the newer premixed pink coolant, the Super Long Life Coolant (SLLC). This coolant is designed to be directly compatible with the Toyota red originally supplied in your radiator. It is now in general use in all Lexus and Toyota vehicles purchased new.

You are correct not to use well or city water supply in your system. It will create problems. Instead, it is recommended if a flush of type is needed, then purchased "steam distilled" water in gallon jugs is best to use.

The new pink coolant pours straight from the bottle, with no water added. You are correct on exchanging the coolant, since it looses it's non-corrosive properties. The Toyota designed aluminum radiators and heater cores will start leaking if the coolant is ignored.

colenzae

Thanks for the replies!! I'm going to tackle this before the winter sets in (along with the timing belt, spark plugs and drive belts). Ugh!!! Wish me luck!!!

Tammy

When I changed out mine ....

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=147551

salimshah

1. Check what you drain. If you have only minor gunk, there is no need to do any thing more than fill. If you see med level of gunk, just flush it out with distilled water. If there is major gunk, then more invasive flush may be needed.

2. Remember to turn on heat after you fill.

3. You may have to purge air from the coolant. Generic method is to "WITH engine COLD" when you fill, leave the radiator cap open and set cabin temp to 80+ (above outside temp). Run the engine till temp goes up [theoratically the thermostat opens]. You should see quite a flow through the radiator cap hole.
With the engine running add additional coolant till the radiator tops up. Screw in the cap.

4. Also clean out the overflow bottle and add fesh fluid.

Caution: Although changing the fluid is a simple process, but care is needed to do this job. ** never open the radiator cap when radiator is warm to touch. *** never add cold coolant to hot radiator, when engine is NOT running.

Salim

Lil4X

Good points Salim! Be sure to recover all of the old coolant. It contains ethylene gycol that has a sweet scent and taste - for which reason it's attractive to pets and wildlife. It's also very poisonous. You wouldn't want to be responsible for an animal licking up some of that tasty fluid and dying very unpleasently.

Like your engine oil, your coolant contains a number of chemicals to lubricate, wet, and preserve the surfaces of your cooling system. These "wear out" in time and should be replaced. Just a tip as we're going into the fall months. It's a good time to check your cooling system.