Well, my 2006 Camry with four cylinders is nearing its 9th birthday in January, so I'm going to do my first-ever coolant drain-and-fill soon. It's amazing how the Toyota dealerships differ in their advice for coolant replacement. Some dealerships will only do a flush, others will only do a drain-and-fill, others will do both. Unnecessary flushes scare me (I think too much potential for hard-to-remove air pockets in the motor, or even damage to components that have been flushed, or coolant rust-inhibiting coatings being removed by a flush, etc.), so drain-and-fill will be my choice.
Prices vary a lot by dealership too. A service writer at the FUSZ Toyota dealership said they charge about 150 for a flush (yesterday they told me 120), and he didn't know the price for a drain-and-fill because they usually just do flushes, but when pressed, he said they could probably do a drain-and-fill for 70 to 90. Even worse, a lady at the WEISS dealership couldn't give me a price for a drain-and-fill because she said they only had a flush price which was 220 (wasn't able to talk to a service writer at Weiss because they were busy). Too bad because I prefer talking to service writers, not intermediaries. And how's this for variability among dealerhsips: A service writer at the ACKERMAN dealership says they don't do flushes, just drain-and-fills (the opposite of Weiss and Fusz). The Seeger dealership (where I bought my car 9 years ago) charges 145 for a flush, and she says they typically don't do drain-and-fills but gave me a price of 115 for dnf when I asked. So dealerships are all over the board on not just pricing, but services offered when it comes to coolant: flush only, drain-and-fill only, or flush preferred but okay we'll dnf it for you if you want.
A gallon of the Toyota Super Long Life pink coolant runs about $22. I've been reading for the past few days online and in books, so I think I'll attempt a coolant drain-and-fill myself, mostly following BlueT's advice in the following thread at TacomaWorld:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/219755-coolant-drain-fill.html
Also found some good advice at TundraTalk.net, especially from deadrx7conv in the following
thread:
http://www.tundratalk.net/forums/tundra-...-000-miles.html
Seems the Toyota Super Long Life coolant doesn't have as long a life as Toyota was hoping for. If I had known that, I would have done the coolant drain-and-fill a year or two ago. I've been draining and filling my Toyota Type T-IV ATF fluid every year or two. Probably shouldn't have waited this long for the coolant dnf even though Toyota claims a 10-year-life for the factory fill and 5 years thereafter. What do you all think about any of this?
Prices vary a lot by dealership too. A service writer at the FUSZ Toyota dealership said they charge about 150 for a flush (yesterday they told me 120), and he didn't know the price for a drain-and-fill because they usually just do flushes, but when pressed, he said they could probably do a drain-and-fill for 70 to 90. Even worse, a lady at the WEISS dealership couldn't give me a price for a drain-and-fill because she said they only had a flush price which was 220 (wasn't able to talk to a service writer at Weiss because they were busy). Too bad because I prefer talking to service writers, not intermediaries. And how's this for variability among dealerhsips: A service writer at the ACKERMAN dealership says they don't do flushes, just drain-and-fills (the opposite of Weiss and Fusz). The Seeger dealership (where I bought my car 9 years ago) charges 145 for a flush, and she says they typically don't do drain-and-fills but gave me a price of 115 for dnf when I asked. So dealerships are all over the board on not just pricing, but services offered when it comes to coolant: flush only, drain-and-fill only, or flush preferred but okay we'll dnf it for you if you want.
A gallon of the Toyota Super Long Life pink coolant runs about $22. I've been reading for the past few days online and in books, so I think I'll attempt a coolant drain-and-fill myself, mostly following BlueT's advice in the following thread at TacomaWorld:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/219755-coolant-drain-fill.html
Also found some good advice at TundraTalk.net, especially from deadrx7conv in the following
thread:
http://www.tundratalk.net/forums/tundra-...-000-miles.html
Seems the Toyota Super Long Life coolant doesn't have as long a life as Toyota was hoping for. If I had known that, I would have done the coolant drain-and-fill a year or two ago. I've been draining and filling my Toyota Type T-IV ATF fluid every year or two. Probably shouldn't have waited this long for the coolant dnf even though Toyota claims a 10-year-life for the factory fill and 5 years thereafter. What do you all think about any of this?
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