VQuick

iTrader: (17)

I really don't think it matters, Honda, Toyota, Nissan coolant are interchangable. So I'd call up Honda, Toyota, and Nissan dealers and find the cheapest cost for OEM coolant. Make sure it's OEM!

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

sounds good. kinda what I got out of the discussion. I'll more than likely go with the red juice, unless of course Nissan is somehow much cheaper. But then I'll have brown Can't wait for dealer to tell me I need them to flush it. "Man that's that good hybrid brown juice..... You guys charge me more, I go elsewhere. "
*******
well, 'round here: closest Nissan: $18.31; my dealer $18.31; Toyota $18

Looks like my coolant is staying green. Should help my Nissan stock a bit too.
******
got my green stuff. too lazy to pic up water. with winter coming i'll just add straight coolant (or atleast to MIN). later I'll add water.

PoLo

iTrader: (7)

Just did my antifreeze....

i cheezed out of doing the flush and decided rather to do a change instead. i simply drained the radiator and removed the reservoir tank (cleaned it). then ran a hose into the radiator for about 5 minutes or so full blast.
i then poured a bottle of water wetter, then poured 50/50 nissan green/poland spring distilled. when that capped off, i put 50/50 in the reservoir tank. i turned on the car, warmed it up, revved it up a few times, let the fan kick in, then let it idle and then shut it off. through that cycle, it grabbed some fluid from the reservoir tank (burped itself) and it was pretty low. i then put in pure distilled water to give it a 60/40 mix. as per water wetter instructions, it works better with more water, so i wanted to give it that edge.

my one problem is i'm not too happy that i ran water at full blast. is that a bad thing? don't wanna feel like i loosened some crap up that i shouldn't have.

Bobo

Your car is only a 2002, I question how much crap there could be in the radiator. Have you changed the coolant before? What is the mileage on the car? I initially had mine flushed at 35K and the car was over 5.5 years old at that time and I had no problems.

PoLo

iTrader: (7)

i'll be honest, the antifreeze just looked like a greenish color, but i saw ZERO SLUDGE. not even deposits in the bottom of the pan. it was clear as day. even pokin a flash light inside the radiator showed a shiny radiator. the car was built in 10/01, i bought it 7/02, so AF was in car for 4 years, driven for 3yrs/3months. Are you saying i shouldn't have bothered? this was going to be the 4th winter with it.

your thoughts?

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

Even if you didn't really need to change the coolant, adding the Water Wetter makes a big difference.

Although it's more satisfying to replace something that clearly needed replacing, it's better (in this case) if what you're replacing wasn't that bad to begin with. You don't want to drive your car with a sludged up coolant system. Isn't the recommended coolant flush interval 2 years?

PoLo

iTrader: (7)

why did i wait so long. eh, i understood that it needed to be done at 30k intervals. i wasn't so sure. i also checked the reservoir tank to see the color of the AF. it seemed clean.

interesting article i found...a test was done with water wetter. i feel so much better that i put it in!

http://www.water-cooling.com/article...aterwetter.php

nethack4ever

I read this thread, but am still a little confused about a couple of things:

1.
I have a '99 Max. I called the Toyota dealer to ask about prices for a gallon of Toyota red, and they have 2 types: one for older cars and one for newer ones. The older red is not pre-mixed, and the newer one is. The newer one seems more expensive, and since it's pre-mixed, it's basically twice as expensive as the older red. Which red has everyone been using?

2.
After I'm done flushing, do I add in a gallon of AF (un-pre-mixed let's say) and a gallon of distilled water and call it a day? Since the total system capacity is 8 quarts/2 gallons right?

Thanks in advance.

Phaedrus220

iTrader: (4)

another reason why this org is so great, I never realized the issues with coolant. when I first started doing my own maintenance, it was prestone...never realized the chemistry/ changes / possible water pump impact. After going thru all these posts : flush with distilled till clear, then add one gallon Toyota red 100%; the way to go for ~50/50

progrocker

O.K., One of the posts in this thread has a link to "motorvate" that says the engine holds 2 litres at most while other posts are saying it holds 4 to 5 quarts(just over 4 litres). Which is correct?

I hope it's the latter, I put the whole gallon of Toyo red in my rad after the distilled h2o flush.

progrocker

My drain screw is on the drivers side('99 sel)

progrocker

I know 50/50 is the norm but how high a percentage of AF would be damaging? Would 70AF/30water be ok? 80/20? What would happen?

Mikey Likes It

good question

progrocker

Yeah, but the motorvate guy also says that there's 2 quarts in the engine at most.

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

Really good site about Toyota Red...

http://www.nbt-brunei.com/part/knowledge/coolant/

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

Also....I recently went shopping for OEM Japanese coolant and behold....these were the prices for ONE (1) gallon:

Lexus (Toyota Red I presume) - $25
Nissan (Green) - $21
Toyota (Red) - $19
Honda (Blue) - $21

How is it that the most raved about coolant has the lowest price? Well anyhow...I'm going to pickup my check and get me some Toyota Red .

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

I have a question...I flushed my system and all...which would mean I have 50% water in it right? Well...my dad wouldn't allow me (Grr) to just add straight coolant to get it 50/50 (wasn't sure how much water really was in the system still) and he premixed the coolant to 50/50. He's stubborn. So am I hurting my engine? I live in NY...so I know I'm supposed to have 50/50.

If this is a bad thing...how can I go about fixing it? I really don't want to do another flush and pay another 20 bucks for a gallon of coolant.

dank104

I did the same with mine. I've been putting in straight AF into the resevoir to try and balance it. I'm gonna do another drain and flush with the red stuff once the weather gets a little nicer out.

knapp9

iTrader: (1)

First thing I would do is buy one of those little Prestone coolant testers at Walmart. Not sure what they cost...maybe $5. Then...when your dad is not around...and the engine is cold...check the protection level of the fluid in the radiator. Not the reservor tank. If it is significantly below the -34 degree protection level (i.e.: 50/50 strength) you have no choice but to buy some more coolant, drain out enough from the radiator and add back pure coolant so that the total system is back upto 50/50. What your dad doesn't know won't hurt him. What you don't know may crack your block on a super cold night!

dank104

does anyone know if pep boys takes used AF?

VQPower702

iTrader: (2)

Ok, i live in Vegas Nevada, and i RARELY ever see temperatures droping below 40, if not 30 degrees and temperatures reaching over 100 during the summer. What would be the recommended AF-Water ratio for me?

hellfyre

oh my.. i did a simple change along the lines of the motorvate write up a year ago. I used premixed prestone (lazy).

Now I feel bad for my Max even though it had absolutely no dirt when I drained the coolant. I will get some toyota red/watter wetter/distilled water and do a flush, the way everyone suggested.

note: i had no issues with heating (at all) with the premixed prestone.

nismology

iTrader: (8)

There's nothing wrong with prestone. It's silicate-free.

DaReaper9

I want to shake your hand, because there is no way I could have finished this in 3 hours. I am a proud first time coolant flusher...yea...One problem though, it sounds like I can hear the fluids in the center air vents. Has this happened to anyone? And will it just go away after a few days? I ran the car for about 10 minutes to give it time to burp itself, I may need to do it again as it may just be air pockets inside...Any suggestions?

Neal728

Hi all, I am about to flush my coolant this weekend. Questions though.

1) How much distialled H2O to buy in advance?
2) How much coolant to buy in advance?
3) Do I cap the radiator and replace the drain screw when I refill w/water?
4) About how many times should I rinse & repeat?

Drain existing out of radiator.

Re-fill with distilled water.

Run engine for several minutes till heater gets hot (move temp lever to HOT on A/C)

Let cool a few minutes.

Drain.

Re-fill with distilled water.


Lather, rinse, repeat until water is clear and the "soot" collected in your bucket from draining the radiator is almost nil.


At that point, drain and re-fill with antifreeze of your choice. And be a rebel: choose Honda Blue or Toyota Red.

RabStyle

iTrader: (1)

ugh, I just talked to my local lexus dealer.... $33.99/gallon for the Toyota Red OEM

Time to call toyota

RabStyle

iTrader: (1)

$19.99/gallon at toyota

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

Why on earth would you call Lexus first? Same stuff.

SmurfLeech

Hey all. I decided to look into the issue of Prestone containing silicates and borates. I emailed Prestone about their Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant and this is the reply I received:

"Thank you for your inquiry and your interest in our products. To answer your question, Prestone Extended Life 5/150 Antifreeze Coolant is safe to use in your 1995 Nissan Maxima and will offer excellent cooling system protection. Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze Coolant is phosphate, silicate, and borate free."

So, it appears that the Extended Life Coolant (don't know about other Prestone products) is OK.

00MaxSE

iTrader: (25)

Good to hear that, Smurf. But I've been using the Yota Red stuff for over a year now. Once you go red, you don't go back.

shubes312

OK, I've read all 7 pages and it sounds like half the ppl recommend mixing the AF 50/50 while the other half just pours the AF straight in to get the 50/50 mix with the existing water in the radiator. Which is it? First time I flushed the coolant, which was about 40k miles ago, I mixed it. Seems to be going fine. But two wrongs won't make a right. Thanks.

Love_00_Max

I have used Peak Global (no silicates/phospates) for over 3 years now with no problems!!!

Colonel

Both theories are good. You can premix your coolant and water to a 50/50 mixture and do it that way. You would have to either "flush" it or find some way to do the flush and fill with the mixture.

I did it the flush until the whole cooling system was distilled water and then fill and burp the radiator with pure coolant allowing the cooling system to mix it. It was easier and allowed me to keep flushing with distilled water until I was satisfied with the outcome. When you do it this way you drain the water out of the radiator, but it leaves about 52% of the cooling capacity (in water) in the block. Then when you fill the radiator with pure coolant, it mixes making it not quite 50/50...but very close.

Really its what people are most comfortable doing that dictates the process.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

Jon,

How many times did you flush before the green coolant was gone?

I flushed with the hose, and several times with the distilled and it still pees green. Even ran the heater on high.

Did you drain the block using the two drain plugs or loosen the air relief plug?

I'm only planning on running ~20-30% Toyota Red, since it doesn't get too cold around here. Should I worry about corrosion?

Colonel

Hey.

I believe I ran 10 gallons of distilled through it and it was crystal clear. That means zero sediment. This is the process of just filling the entire system with distilled water and draining the radiator until I was happy with the drain contents.

I did not use a hose at all to flush the system. Due to the complexities of freeze plugs and air relief, I left those as is and did not tamper with them.

I am assuming that when you hook the hose up and it continues to "pee" green, that its getting lighter in color as time progresses? I probably did the fill/run/flush process about 5-7 times. I remember bottling it back up and 8 of the 11 jugs had "color" to the contents. The last one or two were clear.

Colonel

As for the corrosion comment, I am unsure how "less" protected you would be running under 50/50. I would think you would bump up your service interval by a certain percentage to be "safe" but I cannot comment as to specifically what you loose by less coolant.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

Yes, it is definitely lighter green now. I did the hose fills while the drain plug is open, drain/fill/run several times with the hose, and 3 times with the distilled, but it still has green color to it when I drain.

I think I'm close, but I just ran out of time so the car has been sitting. I'll run a few more distilled gallons through...just didn't know if the air relief or drain plugs on the block were the way to go.

Colonel

I heard thats the proper way to do it, but hearing how hard they are to get to and to properly bleed the air out once opened, I figured it wasnt worth the hassel to deal with.

Jellyfishian

I called the 8 Honda deals that are anywhere from 5-50 miles from my house and Prices range from $12.12 gal to $16.97 a gallon.. I just want Blue AF after I replace my radiator in the next week or so..

PakiPlaya07

iTrader: (1)

Ok I just got done reading through all the pages. I have a few questions I am a little confused. I know I am going to go with toyota red and get a bottle of water wetter. So now once I unscrew the drain screw and get all the old stuff out do I leave the drain screw out and keep pouring in distilled water? Keep pouring in distilled water until its clear? Then once I am done doing that just put the drain screw back in and fill it with pure toyota red antifreeze along with the bottle of water wetter and I am set?