Adding Coolant

[acf]

My coolant level when cold is 1"-1.5" below the low mark and rises to about 1/4" below low when warm. That doesn't sound good. Temperature gauge is reading about half way but obviously I need to add coolant. Am I correct its a 50/50 red coolant/water solution? And how much should I add? Should I only get it at Toyota/Lexus? Thanks.

[KevinK]

I would use Toyota red long life coolant, $12 per gal at Toyota dealer. You may want to drain and refill anually. Please see "change coolant" in RX300 section by Monarch et al.

[Lexusfreak]

Toyota Long Life coolant is a good idea. When was the last time you had a cooling system flush? Just trying to save you from possibly doing things twice if your do for a flush. If it's fresh coolant in there, top it up & yes a 50/50 mixture is what is recommended. If you need to do a complete flush, I would suggest you use distilled water for best performance as opposed to just tap water. Check your owners manual for capacity amounts & keep your eye on the level to make sure you don't have any leaks in the system every so often. If the level is always down even after top up's, something is wrong.

[acf]

Coolant flush hasn't been done since I've had it which is about 8,000 miles but I'm guessing its not actually been done since the 60k service. It has 97k now. How important is the total flush? Wondering if I get my local shop to do it, if I must bring my own Toyota coolant or if they can just use a comapitible Ethynol that's mentioned in the manual?

Capacity, if I recall is around 11 qts. Do I just add and eyeball the amount to get to the correct level if I decide to go that route?

[99lsguy]

I believe if you did a total flush, then you could just do "monarchs" method of draining only the radiator every year afterward.

Since it has been 37K miles, I'd flush it the "real" way first. Then in following years just do the easy radiator drain/fill.

99

[Lexusfreak]

I agree with 99, if it hasen't been done in quite a while, I'd do the entire system. It's fairly routine maintenance (one should do this item every 2 years at the minimum) so a good reliable mechanic should be able to do it no problem. I'd stick with the Toyota Long Life Coolant & get two 4qt jugs & some distilled water to bring to your tech (use the remaining coolant for future top up's down the road if needed). It's important to have an efficient cooling system for keeping your proper engine temperature & it helps your heater & air conditioning to run at it's best with good coolant. The Toyota long life stuff is very close in price (withing a buck or two) to the other popular brands in auto parts stores like Prestone so I'd go with the Toyota/Lexus stuff to be on the safe side.

[VBdenny]

I think the markings on the LS (at least in 90) coolant reserviour are incorrect. Mine always stays low when cold and then goes to full, or slightly above when hot. My temperature gauge stays rock steady slightly below half. I usually have the dealer flush it every couple of years and they're not too bad with the price. It's not that I can't do it, I just don't like doing it. Besides, when I flush it at home, it probably flows into the Chesapeake Bay and since I like catching (and eating) fish from there, I decided to just have it done.

The biggest worry is some idiot somewhere mixing long life and regular collant which I have heard is bad. I never top off with coolant as it doesn't evaporate, only the water does.

[acf]

Jeez, just when you think you got something figured out. ;)

So you're saying, the visual reading of the resevoir could be innacurate and that you only add water when its low? Not a 50/50 mix?

[acf]

Stopped by Toyota yesterday. Service guy recommended same as you vbdenny, just top off with a bit of (distilled) water. Won't throw the ratio off enough to matter. They also sell pre-mixed 50/50 coolant but its overpriced of course. B)