What's the real coolant capacity?

[janeir36]

Hi,

I already did a search on this one and couldn't quite find what I needed.

My car is a '96 Camry LE, 4-cylinder, automatic shift. (5S-FE?)

The coolant capacity in the manual is 6.7 qts

On the radiator cap, it says "6.0," I don't know if that means the capacity of the radiator. Please let me know which it really is as I'm due to replace the coolant shortly and would like a 50/50 mixture. There's already some water in the rad because I won't be opening up the engine block (I don't know where the drain plug is, and heard it's hard to find). So I really need to be precise with the calculations.

OKay, please let me know which label trumps which.

And also, is tap water really that bad for the radiator? I thought I would let the radiator cool overnight with the "Zerek" flush thing in it before flusing it out with water, but people are saying the insides of the radiator could rust due to just plain water. Please let me know. Thanks!

[CrawlingEye]

There's arguments on whether tap water is bad or not.
The sides are: No sense in buying distilled since anything in tap will be boiled out
Other side: You may prematurely corrode your radiator by using tap water.

My opinion? Distilled water's something like 29 cents a gallon, it's not like it's a huge expense to go with distilled water.

As far as the capacity goes, I don't see why there's a question, you fill it until it's full. It's like getting gas, do you need to know how much gas your car can hold to prevent you from making a puddle under your feet?

[anuthaCamry]

1 gallon is 4.0 qts, 2 gallons is 8.0 qts. You're gonna have to buy 2 gallons either way. If you're not gonna drain and refill get a tester.

capacity 6.7 us qts.

as for tap water, what area do you live at? I used to stay in an area where the tap water was really, really clean and I ran on it for months without much problems in my honda. I wouldn't even flush my car with the tap water where I stay at now.

"6.0" doesn't refer to any specs in the repair manual that I'm aware of, maybe it's the cap manufacturer's code. maybe it refers to the size or the lid, but whatever it refers to it is not significant mechanically or even relavent, don't waste your time on it. What does '420' mean?, where did it come from?

[janeir36]

thank you for your responses! I'll ignore the 6.0 on the cap, 6.7 us qts it is!

anuthaCamry, I wish I could answer your question about "420," but I'm not sure who said that or where it came from, either!

Crawlingeye, I actually changed my coolant recently, but I've since discovered I've probably been running with something like 30% coolant in the mixture! See, when you drain the coolant using only the radiator butterfly tap thingie at the bottom of it, you're only getting out like half the coolant (I got out a little over 1 gallon) because the engine block contains the other half. Then if you flush the radiator till it runs clear (plain water only left in the system), and you add a 50/50 mixture, theoretically you're actually be replacing your entire previous coolant with 25% coolant!

The symptoms I had that got me looking into this was the reservoir's coolant kept turning brown (indicating low coolant concentration). Also, there were a few scales in it when I looked more closely, which is why I decided to use that flush product.

I had no problem buying the cheap distilled water (in my Q, I was actually wondering about all kinds of water, though. Would any water alone in the radiator cause it to rust? I probably still shouldn't worry about this, because, after all, the product in the radiator right now is supposed to lift out rust -- I decided to let it sit and cool overnight, it was getting late, not to mention, cold.......... brrrr.......).

But anyway, back to the distilled water. I guess I could use distilled water, but only if I wanted to use gallons and gallons of it for the flush, which would finally mean there's mostly distilled water in the cooling system when I'm done. You know what, this is probably a good idea.

[88 LE]

You need to flush the cooling system with the car running. Draining and refilling the radiator won't do much.

Use a flush additive if you want.

Either use a back flush kit or follow the instructions below.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t44970.html

[CrawlingEye]

Originally Posted by janeir36

Crawlingeye, I actually changed my coolant recently, but I've since discovered I've probably been running with something like 30% coolant in the mixture! See, when you drain the coolant using only the radiator butterfly tap thingie at the bottom of it, you're only getting out like half the coolant (I got out a little over 1 gallon) because the engine block contains the other half. Then if you flush the radiator till it runs clear (plain water only left in the system), and you add a 50/50 mixture, theoretically you're actually be replacing your entire previous coolant with 25% coolant!

Yes, that's why you have to go on the backside of the block and drain out the block as well (be careful, this gets messy, as it just kind of drains down the side of the block), by removing the 12mm bolt.

You can also buy the 'coolant flush' kits they sell at auto-stores, it's very cheap and worked quite well for me. If your car's older, you may want to replace the upper and lower rad hoses and the thermostat as well. The rad hoses are something like $5 a piece, and a new thermostat won't cost you over $10.

[janeir36]

you're so right about needing to drain the engine block.

I did drain and flush the system with the engine running! I let it run for about five minutes for it to heat up, then another ten I stood there with the heater on high flushing the radiator with a garden hose. The water eventually came out crystal clear. But then when I was done I started to let all the rest of the water come out so I could add coolant. Would you believe I started to see green again. I tried and tried but never could quite get the water clear.

At some point, I allowed all the water to run out with the engine and heater running. When I went to add some more there was steam shooting out because it had gotten so hot. For a while there, it was as if the heater shut off and wouldn't produce hot air. I thought the thermostat broke, because I really wasn't looking to replace that.

Anyway, it's all over. Next time I'll have to find that engine block plug, so I can drain it properly. I tried everything I knew about doing it without removing that plug, and it didn't work.

For now it'll have to do the way it is. I've already put the expensive $16 a gallon red Toyota coolant in it, so whatever the case may be, it'll have to stay there for the next two or so years. All in all a good learning experience. Thanks for all the information provided!

88LE, I'll be reading the other topic now (although I think I may have seen it before. I read almost everything with 'coolant' in it about a few weeks back ).