Coolant Flush Corolla Ce110

[Amila G]

Hi,

I have a 96 CE110 and its time to refill the radiator coolant. Here are my problems

1. I currently use a regular green color coolant and was thinking about using toyota/caltex red coolant but read in some places that you should not use the newer organic acid coolants in iron block engines and brass radiators. What do you guys say about this ?

2. Do I need to drain the old coolant from the engine block too ? Is it not enough to drain it from the radiator only. and how hard is it to drain the coolant via the engine block drain in a 2c engine ?

3. Do I need to do a coolant flush from a place like pitstop. Is it really worth it? How many of you do it ?

My current coolant has been there for almost 30k km now and it does not have the green color anymore Also as I remember it was a local brand. (Not sure though). The engine is almost on the 200,000km mark now.

Thanks.

[fonfe]

I'm not sure on the specific car but you cannot mix different colour coolants. It will cause a chemical reaction which will increase corrosion in the coolant system. If you do decide to use a different colour of coolant you must totally flush the system so it must be drained the filled with fresh water, run upto temp then drained again twice before being filled with the new coolant water mix

[luckey007]

1. Why? Do you like red? [For me both of them are almost same by now ]

2.It 's easy . just open the tap under the radiator. then put[running] water to the radiator.Crank the engine till [and after some time] clear water comes from the tap.Then if you need put a flush and run engine for some time. again wash with water as above and drain. Then put new coolant.

3.Not sure. It's a DIY job AFAIK.

[CARBON B4]

I did the radiator flush, they used some brand for the flushing of the system and filled it with a green coolant. Cant remember the name but was not a local product , think it was German or something, It mentioned as "summer", so my guess it did not have anti freeze which is really not required for SL. Since it specifically mentioned as Summer I thought it may have a lower boiling point.

To share the full story, I made a big mistake of just giving the car to the service station guys ( A well known service station in Nawala ) told them what to do and I went to the customer lounge and was relaxing reading the motor mag article on Darins GTR. After sometime I went to have a look at the car and the guys were trying to fill up the entire system with the coolant ( without diluting it ). When I told the guys what there were doing is wrong they said that's what they do to all the cars. Then I picked up a empty can and showed them the instructions, where it was clearly mentioned about the % mix with water. So I got the guys to mix it with battery water and it was done.

I honestly cant understand the stupidity of these guys or were they just trying to earn more.

[The Don]

  On 12/6/2011 at 8:51 AM, CARBON B4 said:

I did the radiator flush, they used some brand for the flushing of the system and filled it with a green coolant. Cant remember the name but was not a local product , think it was German or something, It mentioned as "summer", so my guess it did not have anti freeze which is really not required for SL. Since it specifically mentioned as Summer I thought it may have a lower boiling point.

To share the full story, I made a big mistake of just giving the car to the service station guys ( A well known service station in Nawala ) told them what to do and I went to the customer lounge and was relaxing reading the motor mag article on Darins GTR. After sometime I went to have a look at the car and the guys were trying to fill up the entire system with the coolant ( without diluting it ). When I told the guys what there were doing is wrong they said that's what they do to all the cars. Then I picked up a empty can and showed them the instructions, where it was clearly mentioned about the % mix with water. So I got the guys to mix it with battery water and it was done.

I honestly cant understand the stupidity of these guys or were they just trying to earn more.

There are coolants which are pre mixed and do not need to be diluted with water. I think the BP coolant that used to be available was a good example. Perhaps the guys mistook the brand they were using for something else.

From the little I know you can mix different brands of coolant together (like oil) though I am not sure if you can mix red and green together. Could somebody please confirm what fonfe has mentioned above.

Also a little pointer on older engines. Particularly on older engines where there would have been corrosion happening over some period, you have situations where debris are actually keeping the system watertight So chemically flushing the cooling systems of older engines is not recommended. What I propose is get your radiator cleaned using the manual method used by radiator repair places and then flush the cooling system a couple of times with fresh water. That way you will get the lines reasonably clean without any adverse effects. Particularly if your coolant/ water has turned a dark brown colour this is highly recommended. I had a slight overheating problem in my car when revved hard and it just turned out to be a radiator that had not been cleaned for many years! Cleaned the radiator, problem solved!

Also I think most radiators from the 1990s onwards are made of aluminium not copper.

[fonfe]

In dealerships we don't even use the commercial coolant flushes, just plain water flush is all that's required unless it's being flushed due to heavy sludge or after a head gasket failure. Even then use washing powder then flush through with water each time until it runs clear and soap free.

You can mix different brands together but due to chemical make up I personally would use one brand and stick with it.

Colour variations that i have used whilst working in dealer have been green/blue, red/pink/orange and fords latest stuff is a very light purple. All require a 50% dilution with normal water and the colours should never be mixed.

[CARBON B4]

Normal water ? , but shouldnt you use distiled water as the stuff in the water will start scaling inside the system. Best is to use battery water, but for the flushing normal tap water should be ok.

[The Don]

  On 12/6/2011 at 11:54 AM, CARBON B4 said:

Normal water ? , but shouldnt you use distiled water as the stuff in the water will start scaling inside the system. Best is to use battery water, but for the flushing normal tap water should be ok.

Normal water does have carbonates that can cause scaling, but using distilled water for the cooling system is a bit over the top I feel. To be honest this is the first time I heard anybody mention distilled water for radiator coolant. Remember over time we have other metal oxides being introduced into the system and since its moving the water around the threat of blockage due to scaling is reduced. Mixing with coolant reduces this even more.

[fonfe]

  On 12/6/2011 at 1:44 PM, The Don said:

Normal water does have carbonates that can cause scaling, but using distilled water for the cooling system is a bit over the top I feel. To be honest this is the first time I heard anybody mention distilled water for radiator coolant. Remember over time we have other metal oxides being introduced into the system and since its moving the water around the threat of blockage due to scaling is reduced. Mixing with coolant reduces this even more.

exactly what you said, distilled water is one expensive way to fill your coolant system!