Camry Long Life Coolant for Camry 2000

[Raj_camry]

Hi Experts,

My car engine coolant oil reservoir(Red) is much below than the Low level. I want to refill the coolant with Toyota Long life Coolant.
Does any one know how much it cost per gallon.


Thanks
Raj

[LynchburgCSI]

It's about $20-30 per gallon, IIRC. That's enough to do 2 gallons with a 50/50 water mix. Remember to use distilled water.

[Raj_camry]

Thanks LynchburgCSI,

i have one more question, does it required to do a complete coolant flush?would it be any harm to refill just reservoir , i mean does the mix of oil would reduce the performance of cooling system?





Thanks
Raj

[LynchburgCSI]

If you haven't done a coolant flush in the past 2 years or so, I'd do it as part of regular maintaince. If you don't want to do that... no harm in just topping off the reservoir with a 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix. It won't hurt the performance of the system. Heck, if your SUPER lazy you could just top off the reservoir with distilled water.

Also, coolant isn't really a type of oil. It's just coolant.

[Raj_camry]

hi LynchburgCSI,

i take that, it's coolant. I am a new car owner and just trying to explore the car maintenance and dont have the right equipment to start with. So i am not comfortable to do a complete flush. Thanks for your valuable inputs.


Thanks
Raj

[fenixus]

yeah, if that's only a little below LOW (not like bone dry) then go ahead and top it off with just distilled water at like 83 cents per gallon in local grocery store or something. no harm will be done per ratio, difference will be minimal.

i checked ratio/mixture with some cheap 4 or 5 ball syringe from autozone and both cars read cooling mixture still good down to -40F or so.

I did that in Summer as both rides had cooling systems flushed one year ('00 5s-fe) and two years ago ('02 1mz-fe). planning to flush them both next Summer and replace some hoses and thermostat (my v6 needs a new one).

[JohnGD]

Get a digital multimeter ($3.49) from harbor freight if you don't have one. Turn to the millivolt mode and touch the positive probe to the negative post of the battery, and the negative probe to the coolant in the radiator (with the engine cold). See if you have anything more than 300 millivolts.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-90899.html

A drain/refill of the radiator is considered sufficient every 2 years. Use the Red coolant with distilled water. It's fairly simple on the 5SFE, so search and read up on the DIYs and understand the necessary precautions before you start.

You need a catch pan (8-qt capacity preferred), a waste coolant container (old gallon jugs), and a 2qt pitcher commonly seen at 99-cent/dollar stores for mixing 50%-50% coolant and distilled water. Dispose of old coolant at your local haz-mat collection center (check front gov section of phone book). And if you need a funnel, Harbor Freight's got them too for $1.99/set of 4:

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece...l-set-744.html

As a temporary measure, adding distilled water is fine too (just for the reservoir). But you should also check to see that the radiator is full (remove the cap only with the engine cold).

Originally Posted by Raj_camry

i have one more question, does it required to do a complete coolant flush?would it be any harm to refill just reservoir , i mean does the mix of oil would reduce the performance of cooling system?

Thanks
Raj

[touringcamry]

The capacity of the 5SFE cooling system is a tad over 7 quarts but less than 7.5 quarts. If you decide to do a full flush, you can just put about 3.5 to 3.75 gal of coolant and then fill with water. You can never remove all liquid in the cooling system due to the heater core. Easier just to put the appropriate amount of coolant and then add water to dilute to the appropriate ratio. The cooling system should be able to mix everything when you drive it.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by touringcamry

The capacity of the 5SFE cooling system is a tad over 7 quarts but less than 7.5 quarts. If you decide to do a full flush, you can just put about 3.5 to 3.75 gal of coolant and then fill with water. You can never remove all liquid in the cooling system due to the heater core. Easier just to put the appropriate amount of coolant and then add water to dilute to the appropriate ratio. The cooling system should be able to mix everything when you drive it.

I think quite good idea described here like a year ago was to drain the radiator only (easy access from top, drain pepcock located at bottom of rad on driver side) and refill it with distilled water only, start engine with heater on set to full blast (so coolant mixes in system) or wait until rad fans spin twice (air in system might be a problem at this point, you don't want to overheat anything, watch the gauge) and then drain and refill again like 2 more times in same manner.

the third time you refill with pure concentrated red coolant and bleed system by burping upper rad hose, refill overflow tank, topping off radiator as needed etc.

in the end you have almost perfect 50/50 mixture of coolant and distilled water and less than 3% of old coolant left overs. worked for me on 5s-fe.

[ajkalian]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

Get a digital multimeter ($3.49) from harbor freight if you don't have one. Turn to the millivolt mode and touch the positive probe to the negative post of the battery, and the negative probe to the coolant in the radiator (with the engine cold). See if you have anything more than 300 millivolts.

Great tip I love stuff like that.

I just checked mine and it was 365mv so I'm good for now. What do you usually see as the upper limit when it's new coolant?

I can't wait until the next time I go to get some parts from the dealer, and maybe walk over to the service area and say to one of the service writers..."hey my coolant level is showing 365mv, do you think it's time to change it?"


.

[peshwa]

Hi Raj
Warm welcome to the forum to you from another 'desi'! I bought a jug of toyota long life coolant for $20.00 from Allied Auto Stores in Fremont in east bay area (If you are in bay area CA).
IMP: Please top off the coolant reservoir only when engine is slightly warmed up. Reason is the coolant level rises in the reservoir on a warmed up/hot engine as it expands into it.
When the engine is cold the coolant sits in the radiator. I dont know if thats by toyota design but its certainly my observation. And I think my car runs really good!

[projektvertx]

Just a quick note, I believe Toyota now has Super Long Life Coolant. I was offered that option a couple of week ago when I changed my coolant.... I would change your coolant every 30K miles, which is 2 years for me

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by fenixus

I think quite good idea described here like a year ago was to drain the radiator only (easy access from top, drain pepcock located at bottom of rad on driver side) and refill it with distilled water only, start engine with heater on set to full blast (so coolant mixes in system) or wait until rad fans spin twice (air in system might be a problem at this point, you don't want to overheat anything, watch the gauge) and then drain and refill again like 2 more times in same manner.

the third time you refill with pure concentrated red coolant and bleed system by burping upper rad hose, refill overflow tank, topping off radiator as needed etc.

in the end you have almost perfect 50/50 mixture of coolant and distilled water and less than 3% of old coolant left overs. worked for me on 5s-fe.

You know you can drain the engine block also right?

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by touringcamry

You know you can drain the engine block also right?

yeah I do. not everybody likes doing so though.

[JohnGD]

When you have above 300mv or higher you have electrolysis and potential trouble.

Read this article. Also, I reversed the probes, the positive probe goes into the coolant, but I recall reading the other way too.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/coolin..._corrosion.htm
"If you see a zero reading, that's good because it means there is no stray electrical current flowing through the coolant. But if you see a reading of 0.300 volts (300 millivolts) or higher, you've got electrolysis and potential trouble."

Originally Posted by ajkalian

I just checked mine and it was 365mv so I'm good for now. What do you usually see as the upper limit when it's new coolant?

I can't wait until the next time I go to get some parts from the dealer, and maybe walk over to the service area and say to one of the service writers..."hey my coolant level is showing 365mv, do you think it's time to change it?"


.