help

i feel like a FOOL asking this, but i rather ask then mess something up. my truck doesnt have much coolant in it. so do I just go to advance and get antifreeze and fill it up?

 

I did that for mine, and it works fine... even got advance auto brand and mixed it myself....

 

Do you know what color coolant is in there? You should match the colors together. How do you know it's low? I assume you opened the radiator cap and you cannot see any coolant?

 

on the Tacoma service manual I have it says just get one with some ingredient, it doesn't matter the color.....

 

maybe, im not sitting in front of the manual lol......

 

The auto parts store will have straight anti-freeze that you mix yourself. 1 gallon will make 2 gallons of 50% water, 50% antifreeze. this is what you want to run in the vehicle. They will have AF that is already premixed. I doubt the AF in the truck is the original antifreeze, so any good name brand will work.

First off, look for places the AF could be leaking. Leaks need to be repaired first.

 

His info says 1983 truck.

 

kinda brownish and i opened the coolant box beisde the radiator

 

yeah the truck is an 83

 

possiblty. i havent had the truck to long and now that its getting cold i figured i would check it.

 

The truck will not be picky on the brand of AF you use.

I would recommend changing all the AF. Treat the truck to some new fluids. Brown is rust. Get rid of the old AF.

 

so your saying flush the radiation and all that?

 

I think you will be fine by pulling the bottom rad. hose. 90% of the contaminated AF will come out. refill and be on your way.

I'm wondering if this is the original radiator, if so, you are on barrowed time anyways. You will be doing a rad change and new AF anyways.

There realy is no benifit to flushing that old of a radiator. The radiator might be were your leak is as well.

 

so after i do that if i go buy half and half AF from advance and i put it in the coolant box beside radiator i should be good to go?

 

Its better to fill the radiator with fluid, the plastic bottle is for the expanding AF as it heats. Fill the rad up to the top of the fins, plus a little more. Run the engine for a bit to circulate the AF. Recheck the radiator to see if the level has dropped. Be careful when you check the radiator, the radiator will build pressure. Put a rag between your hand and the cap before you remove the cap. If you only ran the truck for less than a minute, there should be little pressure, but its just a good habit to get into. I even do it on cold engines.

Once you are sure that the level in the radiator is staying the same between checks, add AF to the overflow bottle. There should be marks on the side that say "hot level" and "cold level", or something similar.

 

alright. thanks for the help!