What to Do: '95 Camry Four with Green Coolant
in [Toyota Camry]
|
From: Leftie on 26 Sep 2009 17:01 We had the water pump and timing belt done on our '95 wagon last year. The parts were aftermarket, not Toyota, but we asked for Toyota coolant. Now it appears they used the regular green stuff. The car is behaving ok, but the reservoir is nearly empty (this *may* be normal evaporation) and there is a red scum in the reservoir. Do we have it power flushed with the original radiator still there, or not? Red coolant or green?
From: dsi1 on 26 Sep 2009 17:46 Leftie wrote: > We had the water pump and timing belt done on our '95 wagon last > year. The parts were aftermarket, not Toyota, but we asked for Toyota > coolant. Now it appears they used the regular green stuff. The car is > behaving ok, but the reservoir is nearly empty (this *may* be normal > evaporation) and there is a red scum in the reservoir. Do we have it > power flushed with the original radiator still there, or not? Red > coolant or green? Red coolant or green won't make much of any difference in your life - just make sure you don't run it on plain old water. Your more important question is why you have scum in the reservoir. My recommendation is that you use any color coolant you want to - if you can't decide, flip a coin - just make sure you monitor the scum in the reservoir. Of course, you should also clean out the reservoir as much as you can before your refill. Good luck!
From: Leftie on 26 Sep 2009 21:45 dsi1 wrote: > Leftie wrote: >> We had the water pump and timing belt done on our '95 wagon last >> year. The parts were aftermarket, not Toyota, but we asked for Toyota >> coolant. Now it appears they used the regular green stuff. The car is >> behaving ok, but the reservoir is nearly empty (this *may* be normal >> evaporation) and there is a red scum in the reservoir. Do we have it >> power flushed with the original radiator still there, or not? Red >> coolant or green? > > Red coolant or green won't make much of any difference in your life - > just make sure you don't run it on plain old water. Your more important > question is why you have scum in the reservoir. My recommendation is > that you use any color coolant you want to - if you can't decide, flip a > coin - just make sure you monitor the scum in the reservoir. Of course, > you should also clean out the reservoir as much as you can before your > refill. Good luck! I'm concerned that the red scum is from the (hopefully) small amount of Toyota coolant left in the system reacting with the new, green coolant. I want to know if this is likely, and how safe a flush would be as opposed to a drain and fill. I don't want to 'kill' the radiator or heater core.
From: dsi1 on 26 Sep 2009 22:29 Leftie wrote: > dsi1 wrote: >> Leftie wrote: >>> We had the water pump and timing belt done on our '95 wagon last >>> year. The parts were aftermarket, not Toyota, but we asked for Toyota >>> coolant. Now it appears they used the regular green stuff. The car is >>> behaving ok, but the reservoir is nearly empty (this *may* be normal >>> evaporation) and there is a red scum in the reservoir. Do we have it >>> power flushed with the original radiator still there, or not? Red >>> coolant or green? >> >> Red coolant or green won't make much of any difference in your life - >> just make sure you don't run it on plain old water. Your more >> important question is why you have scum in the reservoir. My >> recommendation is that you use any color coolant you want to - if you >> can't decide, flip a coin - just make sure you monitor the scum in the >> reservoir. Of course, you should also clean out the reservoir as much >> as you can before your refill. Good luck! > > > I'm concerned that the red scum is from the (hopefully) small amount > of Toyota coolant left in the system reacting with the new, green > coolant. I want to know if this is likely, and how safe a flush would be > as opposed to a drain and fill. I don't want to 'kill' the radiator or > heater core. I've never heard of different colors and types of AF creating scum but there's a lot of stuff I've never heard of. Anyway, if you're concerned about mixing different types of AF you should refill it with the same regular green stuff. I personally don't like the idea of messing with caustic flushes and powering out sediments for fear of causing leaks - I think a lot of old car guys think like this although maybe we're just being superstitious. :-)
From: Leftie on 27 Sep 2009 05:16
dsi1 wrote: > Leftie wrote: >> dsi1 wrote: >>> Leftie wrote: >>>> We had the water pump and timing belt done on our '95 wagon last >>>> year. The parts were aftermarket, not Toyota, but we asked for >>>> Toyota coolant. Now it appears they used the regular green stuff. >>>> The car is behaving ok, but the reservoir is nearly empty (this >>>> *may* be normal evaporation) and there is a red scum in the >>>> reservoir. Do we have it power flushed with the original radiator >>>> still there, or not? Red coolant or green? >>> >>> Red coolant or green won't make much of any difference in your life - >>> just make sure you don't run it on plain old water. Your more >>> important question is why you have scum in the reservoir. My >>> recommendation is that you use any color coolant you want to - if you >>> can't decide, flip a coin - just make sure you monitor the scum in >>> the reservoir. Of course, you should also clean out the reservoir as >>> much as you can before your refill. Good luck! >> >> >> I'm concerned that the red scum is from the (hopefully) small >> amount of Toyota coolant left in the system reacting with the new, >> green coolant. I want to know if this is likely, and how safe a flush >> would be as opposed to a drain and fill. I don't want to 'kill' the >> radiator or heater core. > > I've never heard of different colors and types of AF creating scum but > there's a lot of stuff I've never heard of. Anyway, if you're concerned > about mixing different types of AF you should refill it with the same > regular green stuff. I personally don't like the idea of messing with > caustic flushes and powering out sediments for fear of causing leaks - I > think a lot of old car guys think like this although maybe we're just > being superstitious. :-) I appreciate your willingness to respond, but this is really a question for the more knowledgeable people here - especially the techs. The red Toyota AF has a different formulation than the usual green stuff. |