What coolant?

Re:What coolant? (purple5ive)

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:18:47 GMT

The only problem it will cause is if you cooling system hardware is ****, its really only meant for track use though so the engine can run a bit cooler than nrmal but people do it for the sake of having a name branded radiator cap for looks (nothing wrong with that either)
cheers

Re:What coolant? (MRTurbo)

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:05:28 GMT

^Getting a higher pressure rad cap puts more pressure on the whole system which is not a great idea. Can cause more problems in the long term.

Re:What coolant? (purple5ive)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:19:58 GMT

THE COOLANT ITSELF IS CLEAR the red colour is just a dye.
changing ever few years is a good practice, but many put it off due to the nature of the job.
i havent touched mine in a few years.

for maintenance the best thing apart from flushing and refilling is to drain some coolant out and add the concentrate straight in without diluting to makeup the amount you drained out, or dilute at a lesser ratio with water, say 25-75, this is another reason to get the toyota red coolant as there will be some left over and you can use that every few years to improve the coolant corrosion properties, without srainign the while coolant out
i have no backup evidence for this, just something i have done a few times before

if you want the engine to run cooler get a higher rated pressure/radiator cap rather than diluting the coolant too much. by reducing the amount of coolant concentration your allowing the water to get to the boiling point faster, but also reducing the corrosion properties of the coolant and also allowing water to freeze faster (not that its a problem here in australia)
cheers

Re:What coolant? (MR2QIK)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:35:37 GMT

I use Nulon red. Does the job IMO.

Re:What coolant? (Tree)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:48:57 GMT

If you think simply maintaining the coolant is a tedious chore, you have no idea what I went thru for the Beams...

Re:What coolant? (Adrian)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:43:11 GMT

Yeah I probably won't keep it in there for the full 5 years. Maybe 3 or 4 max. But it is a bloody pain the ass to change the coolant so I am tempted to not touch it again for 5 years.

I've been pretty lucky with this car, mechanically. The previous owner seemed a little dodgy but he definitely looked after the car. Engine runs nice, no tarnishing or gunk looking down the oil filler hole or on the dipstick. Cooling system nice and clean. Even the gbox oil the car came with was perfect. Only started getting some grinding after I changed it and I can't seem to find the ideal gbox oil again.

Anyway, after I'm done with the coolant, all the fluids will be brand new so car should be happy. Did the gbox oil yesterday and engine oil today while the coolant was draining. Just as well coz I've got a Circuit Club track day this Saturday hehe.

Re:What coolant? (Tree)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:28:34 GMT

Nulon says 5 years but I'll still do it every 2 years. Even if the colour doesn't change the effectiveness of inhibitor in the coolant may have reduced. Although I have nothing to back that up lol. Sounds like your car had a good previous owner, consider yourself one of the lucky few...
@Ethan: I have 50/50 mixture, no additives like reddtarga here will no temp problems so you might need to take a look at your system lol. That being said I have heard good stuff about water wetter. But as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke...

Re:What coolant? (Adrian)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:13:14 GMT

Thanks Redmr2red, I've already got the whole service manual PDF.

I ended up getting a bottle of Nulon red for the simple reason that it comes in a 5L bottle so I only need 1 instead of getting 2x 4L bottles of Toyota red and having 3L sitting around for 2 years. The Nulon stuff is meant to be good for 5 years / 250000km so we'll see how it goes. Also picked up a bottle of Nulon radiator flush and ran that through before flushing. System must be pretty clean though because the old coolant came out bright pink with no crap through it. I refilled with tap water for a flush but sun went down so I'll have to drain it tomorrow and refill with fresh coolant.

I didn't end up getting any extra additives. Figured I didn't have any cooling problems before so no need to risk it.

Re:What coolant? (REDMR2RED)

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:17:11 GMT

Do you have the instructions for changing coolant in an MR2? If it's not bleed properly it can cause overheating.

I can email the 6 pages if you want.

Re:What coolant? (Reddtarga)

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:57:02 GMT

Toyota red is well worth the money.
I change it every 2 years, and what comes out is looks almost as good as the new stuff going in.

Use concentrate to distilled water in the recommended 50/50 mix. I have read that using too much concentrate can inhibit cooling capacity anyway.

IMHO, don't use additives unless you are a chemist and know the exactly what will happen, otherwise you could end up with sludge.

Re:What coolant? (MRTurbo)

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:08:48 GMT

^+1 to using demineralised/pure water
I use Nulon RLL (OAT) with success. Suited to Toyota TSK2601G specs.

Re:What coolant? (maj)

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:58:04 GMT

If you are serious about using Toyota red, use demineralised water.
Any positive effect the Toyota red coolant might have would surely be lost by using inferior water.

Re:What coolant? (Tree)

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:28:33 GMT

Nulon Red if you wanna cheap out. 4L conc from Toyota isn't that much more expensive but you need 3x 4L conc to make more than 8L which the car will take roughly 9-10L (NA) slightly annoying. Nulon comes is 5L so that makes 10L for 50/50 purrrfect

Re:What coolant? (Adrian)

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:27:35 GMT

Sounds good, thanks fellas. I'll pick up some Toyota red tomorrow and dilute it down to 70-30. Heard that tip from a few different people. Hopefully that doesn't give me problems with corrosion. I'll see how much the redline or RP stuff is and if it's not too much I might pick up a bottle. I am a bit wary though- did a bit of googling and some people have had problems with the additives not getting along with the coolant and gunking up the system. If I do try it I'll mix some with a bit of coolant first and see if it reacts.

Ethan- when you used the purple ice was that with your na, and was it running the red coolant?

Is distilled water necessary or will tap water do?

Re:What coolant? (5SGTE)

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:23:45 GMT

Toyota red all the way. Give it a flush, fill it with water, cycle it abit, flush it again, make sure its all out n get the Toyota gear back into it. I use this stuff in all my cars, toyota or not.