Is it critical to change coolant at 100K?

[RMcG]

I have a Yaris Hatchback, base model that has just turned past 100K. It is almost 11 years old. I was just looking at the maintenance schedule and the schedule says the engine coolant should be changed at 10 years or 100,000 miles.

I have to take an emergency road trip of about 1300 miles round trip (all interstate driving) in a couple of days.

Is it critical to change the engine coolant before I go on the road trip?

Would I be taking a big chance if I did not have the coolant changed until after I get back?

Thanks,

R.

[zoidberg444]

I actually ended up changing mine at 110,000 about 3 years ago as i was doing extremely high mileage that summer and fell behind on doing all the maintainance. I doubt 1300 miles will make much difference. You should do it when you get back.

I've done 170,000 miles now and my engine still works. I'm overdue for my second coolant change as they recommend 50,000 miles there after the first. I plan on doing it at my winter service in November. I think the coolant can start breaking down and causing corrosion if you stretch it to much.

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

[ex-x-fire]

You'd be ok, I'd check the water pump for seepage. That's the time I'd change the coolant.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by RMcG

I have a Yaris Hatchback, base model that has just turned past 100K. It is almost 11 years old. I was just looking at the maintenance schedule and the schedule says the engine coolant should be changed at 10 years or 100,000 miles.

I have to take an emergency road trip of about 1300 miles round trip (all interstate driving) in a couple of days.

Is it critical to change the engine coolant before I go on the road trip?

Would I be taking a big chance if I did not have the coolant changed until after I get back?

Thanks,

R.

you will be fine to change it out once you get back from the trip. The issue with coolant after a while is the corrosion inhibitors wear down as due the lubrication components and it becomes more and more like straight water in time. You can do this yourself with a simple drain and fill from the radiator petcock located on the bottom of the rad.

[RMcG]

Thanks to everybody. I don't have a garage, just the parking lot of the apartment I live in. I am inclined to do this myself if it is realistic for me to do this. The cheapest I can find anybody to do it for me at a garage is about $150 (USD). And I think it would be more if it requires flushing, rather than just replacement.

Is this something I can do myself pretty easily?

I was looking at some videos and they were talking about burping the system and other stuff which seemed complex. In addition, the maintenance schedule says it should be changed at 120 months (ten years) and the car is almost 11 years old. So I am thinking that maybe the age is factor in addition to the mileage of 100K.

I just went out and checked the coolant (engine cold). The coolant appears pink and clear, no rust or particulates. And it is about 1 inch above the "LOW" line on the plastic overflow tank.

Any other comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,

R.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by RMcG

Thanks to everybody. I don't have a garage, just the parking lot of the apartment I live in. I am inclined to do this myself if it is realistic for me to do this. The cheapest I can find anybody to do it for me at a garage is about $150 (USD). And I think it would be more if it requires flushing, rather than just replacement.

Is this something I can do myself pretty easily?

I was looking at some videos and they were talking about burping the system and other stuff which seemed complex. In addition, the maintenance schedule says it should be changed at 120 months (ten years) and the car is almost 11 years old. So I am thinking that maybe the age is factor in addition to the mileage of 100K.

Any other comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,

R.

Do it yourself in the parking lot - here's how:

Buy a large oil drain pan (or equivalent plastic container) and slide it under the front of the car where the drain petcock in on the bottom drivers side of the rad. Look for a yellow plastic knob, you can reach it from the top of the engine bay. It may be stuck but be careful because you can break it.

Drain the coolant out from this pet cock (remove rad cap to speed this up and make sure coolant is not hot!). This will take 20 mins or so to fully drain, but once it stops draining close the pet cock and re fill with fresh Toyota coolant (50/50 mix) from the rad cap.

Fill until it over flows. Then squeeze both the upper and low rad hoses a few times and if the coolant level drops at the rad cap, re fill until it is at the top.

Keep the rad cap off and start engine. The coolant level will drop, refill it again until it is full and put rad cap back on then turn off engine. Make sure your overflow reservoir is full of coolant to at least the F line if not more.

Turn the car on and go for a drive. 20 minutes in current temps should be enough to get coolant up to operating temps, go for a jaunt on the highway and back.

Get back home and park the car. Check the coolant level in your overflow reservoir, it likely dropped some. Fill it back up to the F mark. Once your coolant is cool enough, remove the rad cap and if the coolant is not at the top then fill it to the top and replace the cap.

Drive the car as your normally would over the next week but after every day check the overflow reservoir and refill it so it is at the "F" mark. After a week of this you no longer need to keep checking it.

The yaris burps the air out of its cooling system very well by itself as the fill neck is properly situated as the highest point in the system. As it burps air itself it will pull coolant from the reservoir tank which is why you need to check it after you drain and refill the system.

Your only potential issue may be needing to use pliers on the drain petcock valve to crack it open. It is easier to do from under the car but can be done from above. Just be cautious not to crack it. Warmer temps help keep the plastic more pliable.

You can easily drain the overflow reservoir by removing the small diameter hose from the radiator fill neck. Once it is removed lower it in the engine bay so that is points into your drain pan. Once it is lower than the outlet on the reservoir, coolant will automatically drain from it.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by tmontague

Do it yourself in the parking lot - here's how:

close the pet cock and re fill with fresh Toyota coolant (50/50 mix) from the rad cap.

.

Thanks tmontague for the detailed instructions and the encouragement. I plan to do it myself. It's not just the money, it's --- it's ---- it's, well it's being human.

ONE QUESTION: you say re fill with fresh Toyota coolant. Does that mean I should use a special Toyota brand coolant?

I added to my last post that the car is almost 11 years (131 months), whereas the maintenance schedule recommends a change at 120 months (10 years). But I checked the coolant and it appears pink and clear without particulates. And the level is about 1 inch above the "LOW" line on the plastic overflow container. So I think I am OK to wait until I get back from the trip.

Any more comments will be appreciated.

Thanks,

R.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by RMcG

Thanks tmontague for the detailed instructions and the encouragement. I plan to do it myself. It's not just the money, it's --- it's ---- it's, well it's being human.

ONE QUESTION: you say re fill with fresh Toyota coolant. Does that mean I should use a special Toyota brand coolant?

I added to my last post that the car is almost 11 years (131 months), whereas the maintenance schedule recommends a change at 120 months (10 years). But I checked the coolant and it appears pink and clear without particulates. And the level is about 1 inch above the "LOW" line on the plastic overflow container. So I think I am OK to wait until I get back from the trip.

Thanks,

R.

Most of us YW member recommend Toyota brand coolant instead of other aftermarket brands. That being said, full disclosure - Toyota coolant here is only found in 50/50 mix and is not cheap. I found a company (Recochem) that makes various coolant for all different type of manufacturers and the name they brand it with is "OEM". It is sold locally to me and I can buy a pure concentrate that I mix myself with deionized water. I looked up the MSDS and the ingredient are essentially the same as Toyota's. I go with this instead of Toyota's own coolant and it has worked wonderfully for me.

I would recommend you look at getting Toyota stuff and if it is reasonably priced than stick with that.

Like I said before, you will be fine to do the coolant change after your trip. I doubt the corrosion inhibitors are fully depleted. If they were, driving isn't the issue, worn out coolant will eat away at your engine block regardless of driving or sitting in a driveway. Dip your fingers in the coolant and rub them back and forth, it should feel somewhat slippery.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by tmontague

I found a company (Recochem) that makes various coolant for all different type of manufacturers and the name they brand it with is "OEM". It is sold locally to me and I can buy a pure concentrate that I mix myself with deionized water. I looked up the MSDS and the ingredient are essentially the same as Toyota's. I go with this instead of Toyota's own coolant and it has worked wonderfully for me.

An undiluted OEM Reochem coolant (that is for Toyota, and is compatible with the Yaris according to the website) is sold through Rock Auto, see RECOCHEM 86174POEM

I may buy this as I want to depress the freezing point more than -34 Fahrenheit, and it is also cheaper than the standard pre-diluted Toyota brand 00272-SLLC2 (I think is the correct number). Some websites like Amazon, Ebay and ToyotaPartsDeal.com sell the older undiluted coolant 00272-1LLAC-01 and some Toyota dealerships in cold parts of the US (e.g., Alaska) still stock this older undiluted (00272-1LLAC-01) coolant. These dealerships dilute the 00272-1LLAC-01 coolant 60/40 (coolant/distilled water) to get a freezing point of minus 56 Fahrenheit.

QUESTION: Does anybody have any opinion about whether the (apparently newer) Reochem would be better than the (apparently older) Toyota brand 00272-1LLAC-01 ? They are both undiluted and are about the same price.

Thanks,

R.

[johnwk]

It wouldn't hurt to run a few gallons of distilled water through the system (following the same drain-fill-drive-drain procedure) before filling it with the new coolant.

I'm neither an expert nor a perfectionist, but I just used the Toyota-labeled Prestone stuff from the auto parts store.

A mini-tip: I found that only unscrewing the radiator drain plug part of the way prevented it from spraying all over the plastic under-engine guard (where it will collect and sit).

A word of encouragement for anyone considering doing this for the first time: changing my coolant following tmontague's instructions in another post was the first real job I ever did on any car ("real job" = something I would have normally paid someone else to do), and it really helped me to get over my fear of DIY maintenance.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by johnwk

It wouldn't hurt to run a few gallons of distilled water through the system (following the same drain-fill-drive-drain procedure) before filling it with the new coolant.
.

I plan to use Toyota Brand Coolant, 1 gallon of pre-diluted 50/50 costs about $23 (USD). The capacity of the cooling system is 5.1 quarts, but I think that perhaps much less than 5.1 quarts (perhaps a gallon or less) drains out of the cooling system when you open the plug/stopcock for a standard drain procedure.

So I am thinking that replacing the old coolant with distilled water and running the engine for a few minutes and then draining again (as suggested by johnwk in the quote), would get more of the old coolant out of the system before it degrades.

QUESTION: Does anybody have any comments or suggestions about this?

Thank you,

R.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by johnwk

It wouldn't hurt to run a few gallons of distilled water through the system (following the same drain-fill-drive-drain procedure) before filling it with the new coolant.
.......

A mini-tip: I found that only unscrewing the radiator drain plug part of the way prevented it from spraying all over the plastic under-engine guard (where it will collect and sit).

If I do decide to run distilled water through the system, how long should I let the system run in order to mix & help get the older coolant out of the system? Ten minutes? 20 minutes? Until the engine is hot?

(I know that there is the potential problem of diluting the coolant, since you cannot get all the distilled water rinse out of the system before you add the new coolant.)

Thanks,

R.

[johnwk]

Originally Posted by RMcG

If I do decide to run distilled water through the system, how long should I let the system run in order to mix & help get the older coolant out of the system? Ten minutes? 20 minutes? Until the engine is hot?

I would drive the car for a few miles, until it's warmed up, with the heat on full blast.

Originally Posted by RMcG

(I know that there is the potential problem of diluting the coolant, since you cannot get all the distilled water rinse out of the system before you add the new coolant.)

If you want, when winter approaches, you can do another quick drain-and-fill, which will reduce the dilution while also renewing a bit of the coolant. There's a very cheap and simple tool for testing the coolant dilution.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by johnwk

I would drive the car for a few miles, until it's warmed up, with the heat on full blast.

Thanks John. But why is it necessary to put the heat on full blast?

R.

[johnwk]

Originally Posted by RMcG

why is it necessary to put the heat on full blast?

Having the heat on will make the water flow through the heater core, further rinsing out the old coolant. If the system is properly filled, the heat will stay hot through your ride. If it cools off, there's unwanted air in the system.

PS. In my experience, it takes quite a lot of "burping" the upper and lower hoses to get all the air out while filling the system. Squeeze them each slowly and repeatedly until you don't see any more bubbles at the radiator neck. And over the next week or two, double-check the levels at the radiator neck and the overflow tank. If there was air in the system that escaped, you'll need to top off the coolant.

[RMcG]

Thanks tmontague and johnwk and others,

I just checked the coolant by dipping my fingers in it and rubbing them together and it definitely feels slippery and oily.

Does anybody else have any suggestions as to the best way to dispose of the old coolant? I want to do this in an environmentally sound way.

Does anybody else have any feelings about using distilled water as a rinse as johnwk suggests?

Thanks,

R.

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by RMcG

Thanks tmontague and johnwk and others,

I just checked the coolant by dipping my fingers in it and rubbing them together and it definitely feels slippery and oily.

Does anybody else have any suggestions as to the best way to dispose of the old coolant? I want to do this in an environmentally sound way.

Does anybody else have any feelings about using distilled water as a rinse as johnwk suggests?

Thanks,

R.

Around here our local municipal recycling centers take coolant for free to avoid people being a$$hats and dumping down the drain. Check online, some auto shops will also take it I have heard.

The only issue with adding water to the system to "flush" it is that you will dilute the coolant down below 50/50 as some water will stay in the system that you cannot fully get out. This may not be a problem depending on how cold your winters get. You can buy a tester for cheap to test your coolant when you are done to see what your freezing point is. I personally do this as I use a 10/90 coolant/water mixture in the summer for track use and a 55/45 coolant/water mixture in the winter. I test it to make sure my coolant can handle a bad cold snap throughout the winter.

IMO since you are just replacing Toyota coolant with comparable stuff I don't see a reason to need to flush it out or run water through it. I typically recommending doing that if the car has been given the wrong coolant, or if the coolant looks contaminated with debris or has been in use for way too long.

FWIW most owners never actually change their coolant unless their car breaks down and they need to. Even with this, Toyota's still seem to do well and run ok long term

[johnwk]

You can take the old coolant (and dirty distilled water) back to the auto parts store. They will dispose of it for free.