Thanks in advance for any advice--and especially experience. My twin sister and I have (almost) twin Ravs; her Rav is a '99 bought used, and mine is a '00 bought new.
I've done much of the maintenance on my '00, and so it has Toyota red coolant; I'm emphatic about using Toyota fluids (except motor oil). But to my dismay, I'd noticed a little while ago that my twinnie's '99 has green coolant in the overflow reservoir.
She had mentioned to me that her heat wasn't working properly, so today I tried the cheapest fix first---bleeding the coolant system. Well, I used a Lisle funnel, so I had a good look at the circulating coolant, and it wasn't green or red...it was ORANGE.
I have no way of knowing this, but I'm beginning to think that the coolant was mixed (perhaps an incomplete "change"), since the coolant in the overflow is (dirty) green, and the og Toyota would have been red. The mileage on the car suggests to me that the coolant I see is probably the second "change".
What should I do at this point? I plan on doing a full coolant drain and replacing the thermostat in a few weeks when I change her oil during some time of near Thanksgiving time. But what kind of coolant should I replace it with? Do I stay green, or do I try to get back to red?
I'll drain-and-fill with distilled water till its coming out clear. But since the green coolant generally has the corrosion inhibitors, will that cause a surface reaction with Toyota red? Meaning, are the metal surfaces of the system now chemically bonded with something that won't be removed with a flush, and that will react poorly with Toyota red? Should I use a chemical flushing agent?
Also, when I bled the system today, it was so filled with bubbles that it looked like root beer (no joke!). Some bubbles were larger than marbles. But the abundance of little beer-head-like bubbles made me curious if there wasn't some kind of oxidizing reaction happening between the two coolants. I don't know the chemistry, so its just speculation. But the coolant is a strange orangish-brown color, and it was PACKED with bubbles.
Has anyone encountered this problem? (PS--to all those with red coolant, pay the extra $10 and KEEP IT RED and avoid this headache) Thanks for helping me and twinnie!
I've done much of the maintenance on my '00, and so it has Toyota red coolant; I'm emphatic about using Toyota fluids (except motor oil). But to my dismay, I'd noticed a little while ago that my twinnie's '99 has green coolant in the overflow reservoir.
She had mentioned to me that her heat wasn't working properly, so today I tried the cheapest fix first---bleeding the coolant system. Well, I used a Lisle funnel, so I had a good look at the circulating coolant, and it wasn't green or red...it was ORANGE.
I have no way of knowing this, but I'm beginning to think that the coolant was mixed (perhaps an incomplete "change"), since the coolant in the overflow is (dirty) green, and the og Toyota would have been red. The mileage on the car suggests to me that the coolant I see is probably the second "change".
What should I do at this point? I plan on doing a full coolant drain and replacing the thermostat in a few weeks when I change her oil during some time of near Thanksgiving time. But what kind of coolant should I replace it with? Do I stay green, or do I try to get back to red?
I'll drain-and-fill with distilled water till its coming out clear. But since the green coolant generally has the corrosion inhibitors, will that cause a surface reaction with Toyota red? Meaning, are the metal surfaces of the system now chemically bonded with something that won't be removed with a flush, and that will react poorly with Toyota red? Should I use a chemical flushing agent?
Also, when I bled the system today, it was so filled with bubbles that it looked like root beer (no joke!). Some bubbles were larger than marbles. But the abundance of little beer-head-like bubbles made me curious if there wasn't some kind of oxidizing reaction happening between the two coolants. I don't know the chemistry, so its just speculation. But the coolant is a strange orangish-brown color, and it was PACKED with bubbles.
Has anyone encountered this problem? (PS--to all those with red coolant, pay the extra $10 and KEEP IT RED and avoid this headache) Thanks for helping me and twinnie!