Toyota car and truck forums

Hi Every Body,

Greetings! I joined this forum recently. It is interesting see messages/help.

I like to know the difference between radiator drain refil and coolanr flush.

What is recommended for toyota Corolla/Camry?

I do see in the market coolant with 150K miles/5 Year etc. Do we able change coolant on 150K/5 Year frequency?

I do see platinum spark plug for toyota Corolla/Camry 100 K etc, but owners manual recoments to change at 60K miles. Which one is correct?

Thanks in advance.

Ram

As the name implies - a drain and refill is just that, a drain and refill of coolant. A flush implies something a bit more involving.

For normal maintenance - just a drain and refill is all that is necessary for proper operation. A flush generally includes chemical de-scaler and rust remover, has to "flushed" out with water to remove all remaining cleaner as they are very corrosive to the cooling system.

They recommend stickign with Toyota Red coolant, which is already a long life coolant, drain and refill every 30K miles or 2 years with coolant and distilled water (this is the key, tap water will cause deposits to quickly form). Following that schedule, no flushing is ever required.

Long life coolants can be used as long as they meet the required specs (certain type of organic acids and no silicates or phosphates), otherwise you could see a reduced performance and component failure (usually the water pump is the first to go). Not worth the risk to me - 133K on the Corolla, 180K on a Camry, 280K Celica, and 55K on a Matrix - ZERO coolant related failures woth Toyota Red and distilled water.

Life span listed are only for a guide or metric, should not be taken as actually product lifespan - some cars can get 60K out of platinum plugs, some much more, some much less. The driving conditions, driving styles, engine condition, ignition system, fuel used, ambient temps and altitude, etc. all influence lifespan of the sparkplugs. For OEM platinum plugs - 60K is a typical usable lifespan. Some aftermarket platinum plugs use multiple electrodes (useless with the OEM ignition system), more exotic materials in the anode/cathode of the plugs, or specially designed insulator for self cleaning (almost all plugs do this).

Hi,

Thanks for your reply again. Do you drain and refill or flush your radiator?

I see different brands of Coolants. Which one is alternate to Toyota coolant?

I have 1999 Toyota Camry LE (4 CYL) vehicle. As per owners
manual, I need to use Twin ground electrode platinum tipped spark
plugs. I see iridium spark plug(DESSO/NGK) in the market. It says that it was better than
platinum.

I do not know whether they are traditional, Twin ground
electrode or recommended for my vehicle. Does it harm my engine(motor), if I use
iridium spark plug?

Ram

Yes, I drain and refill the coolant on all my cars - I generally stick with the OEM type of fluid. Cost is comparable to others on the market and I know that the OEM fluid will not harm any seals or cause corrosion.

The OEM plug on the Camry is a twin ground plug - reason for it is the system uses a 'waste spark' mode of ignition. This means a single coil pack will fire two sparkplugs simultaneously. That is the reason for the twin electrodes - twice the amount of material that is available to wear down.

Iridium plugs can be used as a replacement - but generally will not last as long as their reported lifespan (100K-120K) because they have twice the normal duty cycle. Their life span will be comparable to the OEM twin plug (about 60K miles) or even slightly less. Will not hurt the motor - iridium is just made from a more durable mateial than a comparable platinum plug.

Advice - stick with the same plug if you are worried or have any doubts about any possible damage to the motor.