What type of antifreeze?

You do your thing, but I did a little math. 260k miles divided by 5000 per oil change is 52 oil changes. 52 oil changes times an extra $12 per is $624. Considerably more than a radiator. The water pump should have been changed with the timing belt. OEM water pump is about $100.

I think you're in the red at least $300.

 

The water pump was changed with the timing belt. At the same time the radiator was replaced... and BTW... the water pump was perfectly fine. No leak and the bearing was perfect. Replaced it because that's what you do when changing the timing belt... and the timing belt needed it.

And I don't do it to save money. I do it to maximize the cooling charactistics, extend the life of the parts and add reliability. And that's exactly what happened. The radiator lasted nearly 100,000 miles longer than a lot of the ones I see popped... and turns out, my radiator most likely popped more because my fan clutch was gone (found that out when I had everything torn apart)... who knows how much longer I'd be running the original radiator if the fan had been working right.

But, boy... I really appreciate all the concern over the "extra" $300 I've spent over the course of the last 14 years I've owned the truck.

What is that I could have saved? Like 40 cents a week?

 

I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. I was trying to point out false economy. Sorry if I bugged you, as your snarkiness suggests I did.

Did you go 260k on the timing belt?

 

Get that stuff that doesn't freeze, and is able to transmit heat away from the engine.

All this talk about using Toyota branded this or that or people that tell you that you *need* to use a specific brand is entertaining, but in the end, just like engine oil (oh no! I might start another debate), just use the stuff that works for you and keep up on your regular maintenance, but don't feel like you need to spend double just because other people do.

However, as others said, if you're just topping it off to replace some coolant lost during a minor repair or something, you should try to get the same stuff that's already in there. However, you can never *really* be sure what's in there anyway, so I'd just dump it all out and replace with new stuff of your choice. I use that green crap you get at Auto Zone (oh no! it's not OEM!).

 

Nice. 290k on original pump here. But did need radiator around 260k if I remember right.

If doing 20k mile oil changes I guess not really wasting much. But if doing 5k changes that's another story.

 

5k is my goal... but like I said, if I'm being lazy, sometimes it's closer to 8 or 10.

And I didn't start doing the coolant refill thing until about 150,000 miles, which was quite a while ago, but not when I first bought the truck at about 80,000 miles.

 

I think it bares mentioning. I'm not advocating anyone else needs to dump and fill their radiator like I do.

I do it because it has become my routine. I believe it works, and also the part of the routine where I am waiting for it to come up to operating temp gets me to do more visual inspection... and assures me everything is right when it's complete.

 

Yep

Actually it was about 267,000

 

However long it takes for the scan guage to go over 175. Then I turn the heater on full blast and smoke a cigarette.

By that time the antifreeze in the funnel on the radiator is normally burping bubbles.

 

I think that's only referring to when he replaces the coolant... not every time he starts it.

 

The color is a dye and isn't standardized. The composition is.

Look at this: https://parts.olathetoyota.com/blog/ultimate-coolant-color-guide

You want to make sure it's the HOAT formulation. Just go buy original Toyota coolant for a few bucks more and never worry about the $10 you possibly overspent.

 

^^^ This ^^^

 

Most people are... IMO it's completely unnecessary, but he thinks it makes his truck more reliable. His truck, his decision.

However, I think the Toyota engineers would disagree, otherwise they'd tell you to do that in the recommended maintenance schedule. The added cost (albeit minor over the lifetime of the truck) is one thing, but you also have to dispose of all that coolant, too. Which, over the lifetime of the truck does add up to a fairly significant amount of coolant that is being disposed of (however you choose to do that - hopefully not down the drain!).

 

You know what confuses me? People who religiously wash their truck every week and don't bother to even check the oil once in a while, or change their coolant on a regular schedule, or check the brake fluid, or look underneath to see if some fluid is collecting on the bottom of their shocks (Not saying you are one of those people, but you know they are out there).

I have a truck that has a lot of miles on it, that I depend on 10, 20, 30 miles off on a dirt road. I live in a climate that is often triple digits... I have a system, that has obviously worked well for me. It may baffle you, but it's not your truck.

 

No worries... I'm just making up for all those people who cluelessly drive for 200-300,000 miles and never even look at their coolant, and then scratch thier heads and wonder why they warped the heads or blew the head gasket.

 

No offense taken, and I am light as a feather.

 

There is a long list of reasons people cook their motors. Not replacing the coolant every 5000 miles is VERY low on that list, likely not even on the list.

I agree that you should be checking your coolant relatively often (every oil change is a good start), as you can start seeing discolorations that could be signs of other issues that should be addressed.

As with most things, keeping up on maintenance and discovering small problems before they become big problems will drastically improve reliability and longevity. But honestly, I think you're over thinking the problem and wasting coolant.

Kinda like the people who wash their hands 40-50 times a day. It's all in their head; their hands aren't any less prone to disease than the more normal "when they get dirty" hand washing.

 

You misunderstood me. Not saying people cook their motors by not replacing their coolant every 5000. I was saying don't worry about the "extra" coolant I am having to dispose of because there are plenty of people that simply don't do it, that MORE than make up for my extra coolant.

And again... as I have said before... in this thread. I'm not advocating that anyone else needs to do it my way. I'm only giving some of the reasons I do it. I simply made a passing comment about it.

 

No I gotcha, you were saying your coolant use averages out as "normal" when combined with the people who ignore their trucks and never replace it. Sorry I made it sound different. Not that that's a good reason, though, imo.

I read where you've said you reiterated that you weren't telling other people to do it. I understand that. Nor is anyone telling you to stop what you're doing. Although I'm sure you could argue we have both implied it. We all just get on here and spout off about the things that work for us. I'm no different. This is the interweb of course.

I just happen to think that what you feel is contributing to you attaining higher mileage (simply out of habit), likely isn't. That's all. And this being the interweb, I'm going to tell you all about it, lol...