coolant change

[Silver-Aurion]

My car is now on 73K and I'm thinking of changing the coolant fluid. Has anyone done it before, is it an easy process? Does anyone have a proper write up on how to change the Aurions coolant.

I'll be buying the super long life coolant from Toyota.

how many litres does the aurion take btw?

[Buff Hamster]

I think you don't have to change it for a while. Nulon long life coolant is meant to last 250000km or 5 years so i'm guessing Toyota super long life version will last even longer.

[DJKOR]

You only really need to change it around 120,000km-160,000km (dependent on use), and even some people have found this to be early on a daily driver with the Super Long Life Coolant. Changing it now is probably just going to be a little excessive because believe it or not, the Super Long Life Coolant actually does last a while.

Changing it it no different to changing it on any other car. Just look up some procedures on Google/YouTube and you'll get the idea. If you remove the plastic trim underneath the engine bay, you will find the stop-cock to drain the oil coolant.

It will take about 9 litres.

[menco]

Like others said I wouldnt bother until atleast over 100,000 as with my experience something always wants to leak after you touch it.

[Silver-Aurion]

Interesting being told to wait longer. Only reason I asked was because it came to my mind that night that I have never touched the coolant. When I googled most people said to do it about 80K and to never leave the drains as long as the bottles state because doing it earlier will help stop corrosion and doing it earlier will save you from doing a flush.

[Adamsy]

Guys the factory fill of SLL coolant doesnt need replacing untill 160,000kms :)

[CONROD]

Mate if you feel the need to do a coolant change,well do it. To satisfy your curiosity as to the state of your coolant in your vehicle at present go and have a test done on it using a hydrometer and see what the specific weight is, if its below what it ought to be change it, if its all honky dory leave it.Hopefully someone who works at a dealership will reply as to how effective/longevity the original Toyota Long Life coolant is. As in my 4.0V6 Hilux ,the little sticker says its good for 160,000km before a change.I take it that it is the same coolant that is in the wifes ZR6.On the subject of coolants I was advised that the RED coolant is specifically for vehicles with an alloy radiator (is this true ) Where are you ADAMSY;;;;;;;;;

Edited May 26, 2011 by CONROD

[Adamsy]

Mate if you feel the need to do a coolant change,well do it. To satisfy your curiosity as to the state of your coolant in your vehicle at present go and have a test done on it using a hydrometer and see what the specific weight is, if its below what it ought to be change it, if its all honky dory leave it.Hopefully someone who works at a dealership will reply as to how effective/longevity the original Toyota Long Life coolant is. As in my 4.0V6 Hilux ,the little sticker says its good for 160,000km before a change.I take it that it is the same coolant that is in the wifes ZR6.On the subject of coolants I was advised that the RED coolant is specifically for vehicles with an alloy radiator (is this true ) Where are you ADAMSY;;;;;;;;;

welllllll lol the cross over point from red LL coolant to the pink SLL coolant is mid 2003 or around when VVT-i started becoming the norm in Toyota's. You can however run SLL coolant in older cars if you like although i always preferred to sell LL coolant for the older cars as it was also cheaper and technically what there meant to run but we never had any issues with running the pink stuff. However you can't run LL coolant in say the Aurion as it's meant to have the SLL coolant. Make sense?

[Silver-Aurion]

Got a couple of these today:

On the back of the bottles it says that coolant should be changed every 80,000kms. Everyone was saying to do it 100,000kms+ but Toyota says otherwise apparently.

Just for anyone's curiosity. I got it for $29ex gst.

[DJKOR]

On the back of the bottles it says that coolant should be changed every 80,000kms. Everyone was saying to do it 100,000kms+ but Toyota says otherwise apparently.

Before you go say "Toyota says otherwise apparently", why don't you actually look at your service specification book and tell me what it says.

Edit: For the benefit of others so they aren't confused between what has initially been said and what you have now said.

[Noodle Boy]

On the back of the bottles it says that coolant should be changed every 80,000kms. Everyone was saying to do it 100,000kms+ but Toyota says otherwise apparently.

Before you go say "Toyota says otherwise apparently", why don't you actually look at your service specification book and tell me what it says.

Car companies can be quite confusing can they? The advice on the bottle probably applies for all Toyota's in general, because not every car is the same, where the manual for the Aurion says speciafically.

[Silver-Aurion]

So why is it first at 150k then 75k there after? What changes? The coolant is still the same.

Either way I'd rather change it then top it up. It has almost reached the low level line on the coolant bottle. Not to mention summer is coming up.

[DJKOR]

So why is it first at 150k then 75k there after? What changes? The coolant is still the same.

Either way I'd rather change it then top it up. It has almost reached the low level line on the coolant bottle. Not to mention summer is coming up.

Just my thoughts, but maybe once you drain and refill the system, you are introducing a higher potential for contamination. Therefore, the initial fill allows you to get nearly double the service life meaning saved costs and less of an environmental impact.

As for your coolant reservoir, it is normal for it to drop lower in winter as well as in summer due to evaporation.

I'm not saying you shouldn't change your coolant, but I'm saying that it is unnecessary and you aren't really benefiting yourself.

Edit: I did some reading around and found something that someone said. It goes like this:

I asked one of the engineers why the initial coolant change was for a longer interval than for subsequent changes, and he responded that the original coolant is diluted with distilled water so the coolant is purer than if the coolant is diluted with ordinary tap water. Since the quality of composition of tap water varies around the world, they just shortened the subsequent coolant change intervals. If you diluted the coolant concentrate with distilled water, you could safely extend subsequent coolant change intervals to the same as the original factory fill.

This was in relation to the red Long Life Coolant which requires dilution before use. Since the Super Long Life Coolant already comes diluted, maybe you could still get the same 150,000km service interval from it. This could just be a case of the manufacturer using a blanket rule even when circumstances change... like the whole Dot 3 brake fluid discussion.

[Silver-Aurion]

Well since this is 50/50 premix it should should apparently last 150K as well but as the bottle states 80K. Also taken from page 262 in our owners manual:

Toyota Super Long Life Coolant is a mixture of 50% coolant and 50% deionised water.

So obviously it's not straight tap water toyota are using to fill the 50% of the coolant up. Either way. No harm done and if anything it's just some more preventive maintenance that I have no regret doing. It's the OCD in me that makes me do it

[DJKOR]

Well since this is 50/50 premix it should should apparently last 150K as well but as the bottle states 80K. Also taken from page 262 in our owners manual:

Toyota Super Long Life Coolant is a mixture of 50% coolant and 50% deionised water.

So obviously it's not straight tap water toyota are using to fill the 50% of the coolant up. Either way. No harm done and if anything it's just some more preventive maintenance that I have no regret doing. It's the OCD in me that makes me do it

This is why if you read what I said, I mentioned it is probably a case of them sticking with a blanket rule. They have had to use the 80,000km interval in the past due to having to dilute it yourself so they have probably chosen to stick with it to reduce confusion.

It's like where they say that you can't use anything but Dot 3 brake fluid, when this is most likely not the case.

No harm done changing it sooner, but people need to realise that they are still okay if they don't simply because they aren't anal like you. Otherwise if you start confusing them by saying the bottle says blah, then they will panic thinking they are doing harm to their engine by following the manual.