red coolant how much

[Bry838]

Yeah TheDurk is right, water actually cools better than coolant does and having a tad bit more water to coolant wont hurt a thing but slightly affect the freeze point which would still have to be crazy super cold before it would even think about freezing up.

 

[Mgyver1]

So why does the maintenance schedule for my 2000 show to replace the coolant every 30k miles?

 

[swampy_swimmer]

Can you top off original Toyota red with zerex Asian red? Because that's what I did recently.

 

[kolelt]

A gallon of red straight coolant from my dealer was $20 bucks. That's $20 bucks for 2 gallons of toyota red coolant basically after you distill it.

 

[BamaDrewski]

I just did the coolant replacement as part of the timing belt and water pump job. I purchased several gallons of distilled water. With one half full jug of water, I added the other half as TOYOTA RED. This was an easy way to "eyeball" the 50/50 mix.

I have always run 50/50 here in the Hades Hot state of Alabama. Taking the water pump out and thermostat, they were clean as a whistle. No corrosion or white powedery buildup anywhere.

I know it might be my OCD, but I ALWAYS use distilled water and I think this has a lot to do with the cleanliness of the cooling system. City water/tap water/well water can all have significant amounts of chemicals and mineral deposits. (These are not good for any cooling system). The distilled water is just about as "pure" as it gets. I would recommend using distilled water and Toyota red. You can't go wrong doing that! (I'm saying that with my rig being 18 years old and on the brink of 300K miles....she still purrs like a kitten and gets good gas mileage)

 

[thatoneguy]

I was thinking this exact thing, glad I came across this thread. It's anti-pink-milkshake radiator replacement time. I've got rear heaters, so apparently my capacity is 9.3 quarts. Half of that is 4.6 quart. Buying a second $25 gallon of Toyota red for that 0.6 quart (if I were to drain the block, which I'm not planning on), is an annoying thought. My current red looks very clean as it is, and my area virtually never gets below -10F. I very well might use extra distilled water or a little of the old stuff to get that last ~1 quart.

 

[Malcolm99]

I realize this is an old discussion, but one point that wasn't touched on and it should be noted, yes water is better for cooling, but anti-freeze/water 50/50 raises the boiling point to about 220*F, our motors should run between 190-200*F for optimal fuel efficiency at operating temp, this becomes even more important for those of us travelling in high altitude. It also should be noted that pressure inside the cooling system also raises the boiling temp, but a 50/50 mix is ideal in almost all situations/conditions regardless of outside temp and elevation.