Toyota Carina e 1996 - What Coolant Colour? - dsuk81
My engine coolant is very low, and needs topping up / replacing.

The current coolant is green.

I went to halfords and they had red or blue coolant.

The red seemed to be post 1997 and blue for older cars.

Am I ok to use this blue coolant to top up my current green coolant?

Should I siphon out as much of the old stuff as I can?

Also the Haynes manual talks about the level being in the middle of min and max when cold? Should I therefore not fill it to the max?
Toyota Carina e 1996 - What Coolant Colour? - RT

Coolant colour can't be relied on as there's no actual standard - but red/pink are usually 5-year longlife coolants and green/blue usually 2 year normal coolant.

At that age I'd do a complete coolant change - if there's no drain tap on the radiator, undo the bottom hose and let as much drain out as possible - then start the engine for a few minutes and keep a garden hose topping up the expansion bottle so that clear water is running through - if you start with a cold engine it won't overheat in a few minutes.

Do uo the drain tap and/or bottom hose and then add 50% of the nominal coolant quantity and top up with fresh water. Run the engine at idle, continuously topping up the expansion bottle to the minimum. Then each morning for a week top up to the required level with fresh water before starting the engine.

The coolant and fresh water will soon mix over several cold start cycles.

Toyota Carina e 1996 - What Coolant Colour? - dsuk81
Isn't one type organic and the other non organic and they can't be mixed
Toyota Carina e 1996 - What Coolant Colour? - madf

Do not use blue-- it may be unsuitable for the seals.

Use red or pink. Toyota use OAT - longlife - 10 years - which is pink. Halfords own longlife antifreeze is pink. I believe it is inetrchangeable with Toyota's oroginal fill.

As above, mixing antifreeze types is not a good idea...Change type should mean a full drain (incl heater - set heater to HOT) .

Careful when refilling to remove all airlocks.