Coolant - help ! - Toyota Corolla

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sat 8 Nov 2003 16:16
Coolant - help ! - Toyota Corolla - arnold2
Annoyed with myself - haven't checked the coolant recently in my Corolla 1.4, and now noticed it is v.low.

What coolant would HJ readers recommend ?

Will I have damaged the engine (last checked 9 months ago in service and OK) ?

How do you check the condition of the coolant that's in ?

Help !
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 8 Nov 2003 17:15
Coolant - help ! - moonshine
It would only damage your engine if it caused the car to overheat or the coolant was more than two years old and causing corrosion.

It's an easy and cheap job to flush and replace the coolant. A lot of people don't bother as it can take a few years for the effects to be noticed.

I just use whatever they have in the local spares shop.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 8 Nov 2003 20:38
Coolant - help ! - Dynamic Dave
If you still have an amount of coolant in the expansion tank then it shouldn\'t be a problem - just top back up to the \"full\" line.

Cheap hydrometers are available from most car accessory shops to check what level of frost protection your coolant offers. It won\'t actually check the condition of the corrosion inhibitors, but as a quide, change it every 3 to 5 years.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Nov 2003 08:08
Coolant - help ! - DL
"Last checked 9 months ago...."

Blimey! Still, I guess you are the majority out there. I check mine weekly, together with oil levels and tyre pressure two-weekly.

--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Nov 2003 10:41
Coolant - help ! - Ian D
Just an obvious reminder that if you top it up don't mix different types (ie colours) of antifreeze. If it has blue stuff in stick to that, similarly with the red and green colours. Different colour antifreezes can all be ethylene glycol based but the corrosion inhibitors are totally different and incompatible, mixing different colour antifreezes will leave you with an ineffective solution and a corrding engine.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 5 Jan 2006 19:22
Coolant - help ! - corollaDave
Drained the 'red' Toyota coolant,
which produced about half a bucket of coolant.

Went to fill with new (halfords green) non alcahol based
coolant, and it filled within a couple of litres.

How to get rid of air bubbles in the system please?


TIA DaveP
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Nov 2003 15:50
Coolant Help Part 2 ! - arnold2
OK,
re earlier thread on possible v. low coolant in my Corolla 1.4 -

checked this morning in bright light, and I can't tell if the level is either completely full or empty ! The manual says that the reserviour is semi-transparent - but mine is solid white ! When I open the filler cap, there is red coolant actually at the top and it looks like its completely full in that case ! Any other ideas how to check this ?
Cheers !
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Nov 2003 18:11
Coolant - help ! - eMBe {P}
.. What coolant would HJ readers recommend ? .. >>


Go to HJ's FAQ (link on left) no 33.

Then read carefully what he/Aprilia says about Japanese cars.

You MUST get the correct coolant for the Toyota.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Nov 2003 19:15
Coolant - help ! - Aprilia
Unless you particularly like the idea of changing waterpumps then stick with the 'Toyota Red' antifreeze. It is not that much more expensive than the 'generic' stuff that Halfords sell You only need about 4litres max (mix 50:50 with distilled water).

If you can't see the level through the header tank then use a piece of clean wooden dowel (or similar) as a simple dipstick and compare the 'cold' level against the specification given the car's user manual.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide