Rust colored coolant?

Hey everyone,

I just noticed rust colored coolant in the radiator of my 2006 4 cylinder Taco. Truck has 53K miles so its a bit surprising to have coolant issues (service interval is 100k).

Will a standard drain/flush/fill of coolant to the trick? Or do I need to take the truck to a shop for a special flush?

Anyone have opinions on flushing methods?

I just did this service on my Camry and flushed following directions on the Toyota coolant bottle (drain, fill with water, start engine, open radiator drain, keep level full by filling rad with water, run engine for 10 min, stop engine, drain rad/engine block, fill with coolant). My Chilton was calling for a removal of the thermostat + garden hose which I was too lazy to bother with.

Will this work on a Taco or should I use the garden hose approach?

Thanks all! This forum is so sweet.

 

lol

 

What is so funny?

 

you sure it's not just the color of the coolant? coolants come in many colors. my 07 honda has blue coolant and my new tacoma has purple coolant. my 08 mazda had brownish orange coolant. what color do you expect it to be, green?

 

x2
Your coolant should be redish-pink.
If it's darker, like you imply by calling it rust colored, then yeah you should probably flush it.
I would go and get a couple gallons of distilled water instead of using a garden hose. Flush it out with that and then fill it up with the toyota pre-mix pink coolant.

 

It is definitely not red or pink. I just flushed my 2000 Camry coolant (which is red). The 2006 Toyotas run pink coolant (and it IS pink in the reservoir). Once you see the two side by side, its easy to see the difference.

But the radiator coolant is orange rust colored. So the question is, will regular flushing get all that crap out or do mechanics have a magical coolant flushing machine?

I will probably end up using a lot of distilled water and flushing it until it runs clear.

Thanks all.

 

Here's a pic!

 

might be universal

 

Dex-cool.

 

Just replaced the orange factory stuff on my 99 last winter after it dropped a few points on protection. probably had 160K on it.

If it is clean and still tests out,,leave it. It can't have corrosion floaties, or its not doing its job obviously.

 

That doesnt look like "rust" colored coolant to me. I did have one vehicle which got hot often and the colored showed something that looked like rust... though I am not sure if it'd be the same thing as what you see.

If you worried, just go to a Toyota Dealer and buy the coolant directly from their service department, chances is it will cost the same as a non crap coolant in any auto place. At least that has been my experience.

Also, about the green or blue coolant, I am not sure as I am no tech, but a mechanic once told me that some cars, like Jeeps and newer Toyotas that use this red coolant is because they have special additives to avoid rust, additives that cars who use green or blue coolant don't need.

 

The long life coolant in my 2007 was similar color- kind of brown/red.

 

that looks like dex cool to me!

 

Perhaps it had the pink coolant originally and at some point somebody added generic green coolant to it later causing the color to be funky.

 

Looks normal. I was suprised when I checked mine originally (recently had it changed and it still looks the same even new) and was surprised like you, OP. But don't let the color of the radiator fool you! Take some of the coolant you see there out and look at it. It will look totally normal outside of the radiator. You're just looking through the coolant to the radiator color which is distorting the color you're seeing (like looking through something yellow with red behind it will appear orange).

 

Dex cool comes in chevy products right?

my 96 S-10 had it, and my mechanic cursed the stuff. he said it gelled with age and would clog things like the heater core. my core made noise like a water fountain. hated that thing.

 

This

 

yep, it did. it was orangish.

GM blamed cooling system components, NOT the actual coolant, but regardless ended up paying out due to suits re: dex cool.

OP, take a turkey baster and draw some of that coolant out of the rad and put it in a clear container to see what it looks like. i think you are ok too.

 

x2

if your truck isn't overheating, I wouldn't worry about it.