I own a 04 Toyota Camry.The owners manual say's to change coolant at 100k miles.I allso just bought a Haynes repair manual.Haynes allso say's under tune-up and maintance,to drain,flush and refill,at 100k.But then in the cooling,heating section Haynes say's to drain,flush and refill at least every other year.To prevent rust and scale in the system.I have not asked toyota garage what they do. Just wondering what BITOG guy's do whith 100k coolant,and when you flush and drain?
When to flush and change 100k coolant?
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I suspect the Haynes manual editor either let slip old information about traditional cooling system maintenance or he's just very conservative. That said, decent long-life antifreezes are now cheap enough that changing out at 50,000 to 60,000 miles or three or four could be justified if only for peace of mind*. There are those who've posted they went the full five years or 150,000 miles on DEX-COOL and when finally drained, the juice was still crystal clear except for the coloring agent. I'm just not that brave. I've been running SuperTech's "dexclone" for a little over a year and a half in my '03 Sonata - I haven't decided whether it'll come out next September when two years rolls around or run it a third year. I definitely won't go over three years.
*I very stupidly mis-read the owner's manual on my '96 Accord and left the OEM juice in for four years - a full year over Honda's stated interval. When I dumped it, it drained bright, clear green. There was no evidince of corrosion or scale in the radiator. The L0RD, indeed, looks after drunks and fools.
*I very stupidly mis-read the owner's manual on my '96 Accord and left the OEM juice in for four years - a full year over Honda's stated interval. When I dumped it, it drained bright, clear green. There was no evidince of corrosion or scale in the radiator. The L0RD, indeed, looks after drunks and fools.
I would run it to the 100k mile mark. Changing early would be wasteful, IMO.
I do a drain and refill once a year. Coolant is cheap maintenance. Old habbits die hard.
At three years you could assess the state of your coolant and decide then. If it's still clear then, I wouldn't even do a flush, just drain (or leave in for another year). Some cars are harder on coolant than others.
Change it now, Bully. Get some of the official Toyota "pink" 50-50 pre-mix. Don't bother with the full-strength red, as it's too much hassle.
It's really easy to flush and replace the coolant on these cars. First, turn the heater to hot, and if you can, park the car with the front slightly downhill. Then, loosen the block drain bolt on the petcock (down to the left of the exhaust manifold while standing in front of the vehicle), loosen the radiator drain (lower right), and pull the fill cap.
I used a low-profile mop bucket to catch as much coolant as I could. Be patient, because the draining will take a while (the block drain is tiny). When no more is coming out, close the petcock and radiator drain and re-fill with the pink. Now you're ready to flush.
Note: In the OEM service manual, Toyota recommends NOT flushing with distilled water -- use only the 50-50 mix.
Run the car until warm, let it cool a bit, and then drain again. Refill with the pink with the cap off, get the engine warm, and then top-off. You're done!
Don't forget to remove and flush your radiator overflow tank. Fill it about 4/5ths of the way with the pink so that as the engine cools after the final fill, the level will end up just about right.
You might hear some gurgling in the heater core for the first few times you drive the car, but with each cool-down, more coolant will be drawn back into the system, and eventually the gurgling will stop. There is no bleed-valve on these engines, so just keep an eye on the cooland reservior, and add more as needed.
Two gallons of the pink'll do ya fine, including the flush.
It's really easy to flush and replace the coolant on these cars. First, turn the heater to hot, and if you can, park the car with the front slightly downhill. Then, loosen the block drain bolt on the petcock (down to the left of the exhaust manifold while standing in front of the vehicle), loosen the radiator drain (lower right), and pull the fill cap.
I used a low-profile mop bucket to catch as much coolant as I could. Be patient, because the draining will take a while (the block drain is tiny). When no more is coming out, close the petcock and radiator drain and re-fill with the pink. Now you're ready to flush.
Note: In the OEM service manual, Toyota recommends NOT flushing with distilled water -- use only the 50-50 mix.
Run the car until warm, let it cool a bit, and then drain again. Refill with the pink with the cap off, get the engine warm, and then top-off. You're done!
Don't forget to remove and flush your radiator overflow tank. Fill it about 4/5ths of the way with the pink so that as the engine cools after the final fill, the level will end up just about right.
You might hear some gurgling in the heater core for the first few times you drive the car, but with each cool-down, more coolant will be drawn back into the system, and eventually the gurgling will stop. There is no bleed-valve on these engines, so just keep an eye on the cooland reservior, and add more as needed.
Two gallons of the pink'll do ya fine, including the flush.
I am missing something there IVM, because it sounds like you're wasting a complete fill of nice new Genuine Toyota 50/50 for the flush? Why not just drain and fill twice as often?
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