RTH can i mix Prestone with Toyota Red (1 Viewer)

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Mar 18, 2005
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Charles Town, WV
I've got Toyota red in the block. Can I mix these two types of coolants? Drained radiator yesterday. Dealer is closed on Sunday and need to get the truck running. The container on the right is empty btw.

Thanks!

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Not advised. :( Maybe with a full flush.
 
So fill out the radiator with 100% distilled water? How long can I run like that?
 
If I were in your situation, I'd let it sit till tomorrow. :meh:

If you *really* need to drive it today, your options are:

1) Fill with water, hope there's enough coolant in the block, and hope it's not too hot out.

2) Flush completely and fill with prestone.
 
Forget the prestone. Water actually has better cooling properties than the coolant fluid, put your red in and finish off with the distilled water (do not use tap). The purpose of coolant is to protect against water corrosion in the system (which is also why you use distilled) and to keep water from freezing. A cooling system will actually run well on just water, just not a good idea for long term do to corrosion.

So, do the fluid you have with water, then drain a little this week and just add some more red. You will be right as reign.
 
I don't use prestone and don't want to. I guess I will fill it with distilled water and then see how far up the coolant temp gets. If things stays normal then drain tomorrow again and fill it with red like you said.
 
I don't use prestone and don't want to. I guess I will fill it with distilled water and then see how far up the coolant temp gets. If things stays normal then drain tomorrow again and fill it with red like you said.

I really think you'll be fine. Just dont mix green and red.
 
..and to keep water from boiling.

x2 If a cooling system filled with 100% water reaches a a certain temp, lets say 210F, your gonna have some serious issues..
 
Just top the radiator off with distilled water. You can add Water Wetter if you like. You should be fine for a couple of days.

This is why I use Prestone. You can buy it anywhere, anytime.
 
I believe our coolant systems operate at 11-14psig. This raises the boiling point of water to around 240°F. Of course if you open the cap and allow the super-heated water to return to atmospheric pressure, expect significant steam as it goes through a flash state change.

Cheers,
JFS III
 
Filled the radiator with distilled water and ran for a while. Didn't notice anything unusual, except the the light red (not pink) coolant in the reservoir started to make very slow (like every 3 seconds) bubble noise after I shut off the engine. Sounded like it was popping 1 bubble every 3 seconds. It stopped after few minutes though. Temp went up to 199 before dropping down to 186.
 
Filled the radiator with distilled water and ran for a while. Didn't notice anything unusual, except the the light red (not pink) coolant in the reservoir started to make very slow (like every 3 seconds) bubble noise after I shut off the engine. Sounded like it was popping 1 bubble every 3 seconds. It stopped after few minutes though. Temp went up to 199 before dropping down to 186.

Just needs a good burp? Point the nose up on a incline; rad cap off and run for a bit.... or something like that.
 
As Flank and others noted, "boil over" is not the issue here with straight water.

This may seem crazy to some, but the pressurized cooling system on our rigs will keep straight water below its (under-pressure) boiling point in the normal full heat range of the engine. On the other hand, corrosion can happen pretty fast in these cooling systems, even with distilled water. And of course, no freeze protection with straight water. These are the main reasons we need to mix in anti-freeze (not to raise the boiling point of the coolant).

And, as noted above, straight anti-freeze is a crappy coolant compared to water, and when mixed 50/50 is not quite as good at moving heat as compared to a higher ratio of water to anti-freeze. As such, I run about 25-35% anti-freeze and distilled water in all my rigs, as I do not need deep-cold freeze protection where I go. Note that a lot of racers will run straight distilled water and water wetter in their track cars, then drain it when they are done. That is because straight water is an excellent coolant when it comes to moving heat. Here are some example links to ponder:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1437214
http://www.chicagolandmustang.com/forums/showthread.php?28192-Coolant-for-RACECARS

Mixing the anit-freeze types is not recommended.

You could fill it with distilled water (edit: I see you did that), drive it for the day, then get home and drain it all again. Then fill it with your ideal mix of Red and distilled water on Monday.
 
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