1994 Lexus Ls 400 Coolant Change

[Larry W]

Any special coolant recommended for my LS? I would be purchasing the coolant from my local Advance Auto. Once drained how much is recommended and should I use the 50/50 mix stuff or the 100% stuff straight from the jug? Any additives recommended? Thanks in advance.

[90LS400Lexus]

Any special coolant recommended for my LS? I would be purchasing the coolant from my local Advance Auto. Once drained how much is recommended and should I use the 50/50 mix stuff or the 100% stuff straight from the jug? Any additives recommended? Thanks in advance.

I think the Toyota (red or pink) is recommended for the LS400. I have the pink in mine. Probably need one gallon of coolant, then fill the rest with distilled water. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[steve2006]

Sounds good to me

This may help you

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/cooling/coolant.html

[landar]

Any special coolant recommended for my LS? I would be purchasing the coolant from my local Advance Auto. Once drained how much is recommended and should I use the 50/50 mix stuff or the 100% stuff straight from the jug? Any additives recommended? Thanks in advance.

If you are purchasing from Advance Auto, you won't be buying Toyota fluid, which is what you should use. It comes in 1 gal containers and is not cut with water.

I would recommend that you use distilled water and mix the solution to 50/50 in a clean container. Use that fluid to refill. That way, you are assured of the proper mixture.

One thing to warn you about. The water inlet where you will be refilling with coolant has a plug that takes a 10mm allen key socket(at least on the 98 LS). Make sure you have one of those handy before starting. I have lots of tools but did not have that one. You should also re-torque the plug when done. The system is refilled through that hole and it takes a lot of patience to get it down the hatch w/o spilling a bunch of fluid. Go slowly and let the fluid seep back into the engine, purging some air along the way. Then when that fill hole wont take any more, plug it and adjust the level via the reservoir. Pack old towels around the fill hole so that when you inevitably spill some, it will be wicked away. If you don't, it will run down the engine and later you'll wonder if you have a leak or just residue dripping.

You refill until the reservoir is at the upper level, then run the engine up to temp, turn on the heater full blast, rev the RPM's to 2k for several minutes to purge the air.

All the while keeping a watchful eye on the temp gauge AND on the reservoir. If reservoir empties or engine temp starts to wander too far north (more than 3/4) shut it down and readjust the fluid level. Remember to respect the fact that the fluid may be hot when(if) you need to remove the reservoir cap. Finally, let the engine cool down to ambient(overnight) and recheck/refill(if needed) the reservoir in the morning.

[ggemigniani]

The '95 models came factory filled with a mixture of 50% Toyota Long Life (red) antifreeze and 50% distilled / deionized water). That is what you should use (buy the antifreeze at a Toyota dealer and distilled water at Walmart or a supermarket). You'll need to buy two gallons of the antifreeze and two gallons of distilled water (or perhaps only 1 of each if you just drain and refill the radiator instead of draining both the radiator and engine block.

The #1 mistake do-it-yourselfers make is they don't MEASURE THE AMOUNT OF COOLANT DRAINED so they end up pouring an insufficient amount back into the engine which causes engine overheating.

[landar]

The '95 models came factory filled with a mixture of 50% Toyota Long Life (red) antifreeze and 50% distilled / deionized water). That is what you should use (buy the antifreeze at a Toyota dealer and distilled water at Walmart or a supermarket). You'll need to buy two gallons of the antifreeze and two gallons of distilled water (or perhaps only 1 of each if you just drain and refill the radiator instead of draining both the radiator and engine block.

The #1 mistake do-it-yourselfers make is they don't MEASURE THE AMOUNT OF COOLANT DRAINED so they end up pouring an insufficient amount back into the engine which causes engine overheating.

I agree with most all that you have stated but I do not measure what has drained out in order to add just that much back in. I fill it to the proper level marks and recheck and

refill(while purging the system) until the reservoir level is reading properly. The amount drained is strictly a rough guideline as to how much must be added back.