You should never drive your car while its overheating. You likely warped your head and possibly scored your bearing on your crank and cam shafts.

I could give you a very detailed step by step on how to fix your problem but you really should tow your to a toyota dealer or lexus if you suspect foul play.

Never go to those ranky danky shops. They thrive off the elderly, women and people who seem clueless about cars.

And it does not matter if your engine was blowing smoke or not, if you drove even a mile while was overheated....you likely have internal damage.


If you must do it yourself, buy prestone already mixed with water unless you plan on mixing a cencentrated coolant with distilled water. You need buy prestone 50/50 mix and the kind that is safe to mix with other coolant types since its unknown what brand remains, if any. About 2 gallons should be enough, you probably will use about 1 1/2 of those

 

if it were me....id flush your entire system...and refill with toyota long life. i also agree with 1SWEETLEXUS...never drive overheated. i would get your car checked out to be on the safe side at the dealer...after you you do a complete flush and fill

http://my.is/forums/f87/radiator-drain-refill-diy-pictures-256156/


once refilled...i would monitor your coolant level and check to see if you notice oil in there or if your car is blowing smoke.

if your car ever goes past halfway on the temp guage...there is a problem.

 

if it's overheating and showing you such on the coolant gauge you probably don't have your fans turning on. If you are looking at the motor from the front of the car, on the drivers side on the fan shroud are two connectors to the fans, make sure they are plugged in, another possibility is on the passenger bottom side of the radiator is a connector which basically tells the computer to turn the fans on, if these are both plugged in and you don't see any broken wires, i'd see if it does it again after the coolant flush. If it does, take it to the dealership. i recommend the Toyota coolant, it's formulated to be used with our cars better than other coolants.

 

its also possible that the thermostat may not be opening, stuck closed

 

thats true too, usually don't see that too often though but still possible. and as far as how much to get, about 3-4 gallons of pre mix for a FULL flush, about 2 for what you'll need most likely.

 

i would also drain the engine block as well if your not sure what coolant you have in there...and you dont want to mix brands. 1/3 of the coolant is in the block

 

I beleive prestone coolant is okay to mix. Correct me if im wrong

 

For mixing...no not really. Found this to be a debated subject for awhile and I even consulted a friend Lexus tech for advice...when I was changing out. The main ingredients in both (toyota red and prestone) are exactly the same. Its the 1-3% additives in prestone that don't mix well with the organic and inorganic salts in the red...basically...it creates a gelling effect over time. The only time Prestone would be ok long term...is if you drain the radiator and block, fill system with all distilled water, run it for a few days, drain whole system again, and then you could go with all prestone. Prestone also has a high PH compared to the Red and is an alkaline based coolant. Personally I would stick with toyota Red and use only DISTILLED water for mixing. It really is some good stuff and has what no other plain coolant offers...and I think is worth the $22. To the OP, Just make sure to buy the concentrated gallon..as you get 2 gallons of 50/50 out of it...while a gallon of pre-mix is the same price and you would have to buy two. Now if your in a jam and your coolant is low...just add water, preferably distilled, as regular water contains calcium and other deposits.

 

Sorry dont know if this thread-jacking but this is about coolant too. I was wondering do any 1 have problem with their coolant reservoir tank? I gotta add coolant every 2 - 3 month and the tank is empty. o.0

 

what was this request you asked of the guy?

 

I think he was just letting me know that he is constantly adding coolant to his reservoir...which I think may be abnormal. I don't know about the rest of you fellows..but I hardly have to add any coolant at all over a period of a year or let's say 10k miles. A full tank that depletes in a period of a couple months I would think is an issue...possibly internal or a leak.???

 

Your either burning coolant or leaking it


/thread

 

I dont see any coolant dipping on the floor. How do I tell if my car is burning coolant?

 

You should only fill to the line, if you are overfilling it will go out of the overflow when hot.

Check the tank very carefully, mine had a crack when I brought the car, looked like the tank hit a bolt on the block when it was being worked on.

Check around the water pump for red deposits...The pump might only leak when running and hot..

Check under the heater core on the passenger side for coolant...

After that its all bad !!!

 

wheres the heater core?

 

behind the glove box but to the left. You can see the right side of it when you remove the glove box