servicing a camry

[quantum]

Hi, I just bought a v6 camry and its due for servicing.....my friend says that he can help me change the coolant but he is asking what type of coolant the car uses? He's asking whether he can use a concentrated coolant, and what colour should it be? He says he uses a green colour one on his mazda 6. It'd help if you could give me a specific code for the coolant. Thanks!

[Rolla Boy]

Your car will take the Toyota LLC which is red in colour... You'll need 4 Litres which you can get from Toyota, will cost around $45 - $50...

[quantum]

can I buy a 2.5l bottle and add water?

[Topdog]

I use Nulon Long Life but be warned it is GREEN and MUST NOT be mixed with RED coolant.

Give the cooling system a good flush to get rid of any old coolant. tip in the Nulon and add water, read instructions/ service manual re mix ratio Usually around 60% coolant to 40% DISTILLED/DEMINERALISED water.. Good for 4 years. Just replaced mine and on second lot, never had a problem.... Also go through the normal bleeding, get rid of any air etc.. and you're done. Or you could stay with the Toyota LL it's very good.

Edited June 11, 2008 by Topdog

[Rolla Boy]

Better off staying with Genuine Long Life Coolant...

And no, you can't get 2.5L... Get the 4L Bottle cause thats what it needs...

[Whip Cracker]

I use the Nulon long life... red stuff. Camrys only like good coolant. I'd really be pushing the genuine stuff here though - can't stinge out on coolant for a Toyota.

You can get the 4L containers made up from Nulon, available from Supercheap. Works for me, but next time I'm going Genuine product mate, and I suggest you do the same.

[STYLSH]

I too would advise you to just get the Toyota LLC. Think of it as insurance. $50 now could save you on $xxxx later on in the track.

[WellsieTRD]

Agreed. Just get the Toyota LLC, your wallet will thank you. V6 head gaskets are fairly expensive and time consuming to repair which is mainly caused by using green stuff. If you absolutley must use green coolant, get castrol anti freeze.

[lexce]

I dnt know if the coolant in my camry is still okay.. is there any ways to check it.. But still pretty red for me and my tempearture is very stable..

[Rolla Boy]

There are coolant test strips available, I think the ones I have are distributed by Castrol...

Start the car and get it to normal operating temperature... Open the radiator cap, dip a test strip into the coolant for one second...

Shake off the excess coolant, leave for approx 3 seconds and then compare the colour of the tabs to the label on the bottle and it'll tell you the condition of your coolant and the approximate boiling point...

Should be able to find them at your local spare parts joint :) :) :) ...

[lateralus]

i would stay only with the toyota red coolant, no other coolant even if it is red. green coolant will corrode your cylinder head and stuff your gaskets, which is big bucks.

make sure that the coolant system is flushed properly with force though to get upto the heater core, not just drained and refilled. otherwise it sort of defeats the purpose of changing it.

[Steve gee]

Hi, I just bought a v6 camry and its due for servicing.....my friend says that he can help me change the coolant but he is asking what type of coolant the car uses? He's asking whether he can use a concentrated coolant, and what colour should it be? He says he uses a green colour one on his mazda 6. It'd help if you could give me a specific code for the coolant. Thanks!

I run two VZV21's and we use the $4.50 5 litre green suff from Safeway.

Or you can buy the concentrate for $18 to make 20 Litres.

All the expensive stuff has same chemicals and not worth the ripoff.

I have no corrosion or electrolysis.

VZV21 no 1 has been in family since 42000 km in 1998 and has 180000.

I cooked VZV21 after 30,000 when a spike went throu the radiator and I am up to 10000 again.

When I pulled the engine you could eat off the water pump impellar which I reused in the new engine which had rust in it.

It is clean as now.

I always top up with deionised water on which I have access to litres and litres.

I dont use tap water.

We use the same concentrate in the 650KW V16 CAT diesel on my TV site.

The comment about anti freeze use it at your own peril..

I am TV broadcast engineer and we used to run 70 litres of antifrogen (antifreeze) in the new water cooled DTV transmitters and all we got for our rouble

was build up of cupric oxide which coated the insides of the aluminium power amps which started to fail and overheat.

We now run PLAIN DISTILLED NON IONISED WATER it goes in at 25C and comes out to the heat exchangers a 38C.

We have litres and litres of anti freeze we cannot dispose of as it is TOXIC.

The containers have a skull and cross bones marked on them and they are labelled anti-froegen.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Steve gee