Hi! Apparently, I have poured the wrong type of coolant in my Gen 3 multiple times over the last year and a half. Toyota recommends Super Long Life Coolant which is a factory pink fluid and comes premixed with water. However, I was unaware and have been topping up with Long Life Coolant which is a factory red fluid and it is recommended to make a 50-50 mix with plain water. How do I make up for it? Should I flush it fully from both chambers and refill as recommended? Thanks in advance.
Did you mix the Red with 50% distilled water or just add it pure? How much did you add? It it wasn't more than a cup or so, I wouldn't worry about it. More importantly is the reason why you needed to add coolant....is it leaking somewhere? Get a bright light and check everywhere for signs of reddish/orangish stains, especially around the bottom of the radiator (most are plastic these days) and around the water pump.
I would say I have already used more than half - at least 500mL of the 1 Liter bottle on engine and inverter coolant chambers combined. But I never mixed it with water, just poured directly.
Funny thing is, you DON'T need to spill a drop of coolant when cleaning the throttle body: the coolant lines have plenty of slack, disconnecting them is unnecessary. Long Life Coolant is NOT a problem; apart from not lasting as long (as mentioned above). And again, it should be diluted 50/50 with distilled water. Long Life Coolant, being full-strength would be great if you had a system that had been flushed with water. To get the coolant percent roughly right, you could: 1. Determine the system coolant capacity. 2. Pour in half that amount, of (full strength) Long Life Coolant. 3. Continue filling the system, with distilled water. The only downside again, I'd replace with Super Long Life Coolant, at 1/2 the normal (subsequent to first drain and fill) service interval (50K miles or 5 years in North America), so say 25K miles or 2.5 years..
I am planning to take some of the coolant out with a long syringe and top it up with a 50-50 mix of Long Life Coolant and Distilled Water. This way, the total coolant inside would be about 60-40 or 70-30 of Long Life Coolant and Water. This might not be very practical but probably the easiest. I am at 100K kilometers mark now, I am thinking to flush the coolants at the next oil change which is due in a couple of months / 2K kilometers. I have two bottles of Long Life Coolant, will use them as the recommended mix. Is it harmful to flush/replace the coolant too often?
No, but uneccesary. Unless you have too much water in the mix, suspect contamination. attachment is repair manual info. One thing, it recommends to drain the block (small spigot round back of engine, hard to reach); I did that and got at most 1/4 cup coolant, would not waste time on that.
Probably be smarter just to drain and refill both coolants (both radiator and hybrid) with the Toyota Long Life (pink) coolant and then you're good for 5-years or 100,000 miles.
Toyota Super Long Life Coolant, after initial drain and fills, has Toyota recommended interval 5 years or 50k miles. Also, it only comes pre-mixed 50/50 with water, so it can be difficult to achieve adequate coolant percentage, in a system if it’s been water flushed, and likely has residual water. That’s where Long Life Coolant (without “Super”) comes in handy; while it has shorter service interval, it can help to achieve correct percent when there’s residual water in system.
