Lexmex

There's 9 liters for the entire cooling system capacity. Each bottle is 3.785 liters. What I do is I also dump into bottles (.355 liters each) for coolant additive. My favorite now is Royal Purple Purple Ice, but that can be expensive and I've only seen it at Pep Boys. Redline's WaterWetter is also a possibility (and cheaper), but I've noticed what I like to term 'floaters' or pond scum on the top of what is in the coolant reservoir after using the WaterWetter.

salimshah

Lexmex:

That is what the additive is supposed to do. Things float due to buoyancy and surface tension [you can float a metal blade laying flat on water]. The additive is to mess up with surface tension and help the fluid stick better to the block. The floating scum is an indicator that the wetter is working.

Needless to say .. I am not a fan of additives. Not that they dont work .. the return on investment is poor for ordinary use.

Salim

Lexmex

I got way too much of it with the WaterWetter, but nothing with the Royal Purple Purple Ice. Same happened with my cousin's Golf back in Mexico, and he also found Purple Ice at a local distributor and again, no pond scum.
I did a search for this and came across this when I was still in Mexico, http://pages.prodigy.net/jforgione/MB_WW.html

Personally, I'd rather not have any of this stuff floating up there in the coolant for any reason. Plus, if someone is not aware that there is an issue with this oily film, they may mistake it for a potential problem.

I think these additives depend a lot on climate and/or use. Here in South Florida, I would expect a benefit as I did back in Mexico, but other areas in most of the U.S. that see not too much seasonal change, probably not.

Gomer1

Thank you. Will all the coolant come out when i do the water pump?

Ninja edit: .... and do I mix it with distilled water, or it goes straight?

Lexmex

You should actually the drain the coolant normally before doing the water pump. Reminds me of my stupidity when I forgot to drain the coolant before changing out the thermostat to a low-temp TRD one.

Go with distilled water.

bob2200

There are two types of Toyota coolant: (1) "red", non-pre-mixed, and (2) "pink", pre-mixed (long-life).

code58

Bob- Actually the red is called "long life" and the pink is called "extra-long life". I personally like the red better (even though it is called "long" rather than "extra-long"), so when I changed my wife's '02 Camry at about 3 yrs. I replaced with the red rather than the pink.

code58

Gomer- You have a nice drain on each side of the block that you can actually put a small drain hose on I believe. That way you will drain ALL of the block, otherwise there will still be some in the block below the W/P level (I believe).
Also, if you get the red, the easiest way to get a 50-50 mix (ideal)is to get a couple of gallons of distilled water at Wally-World (Wal-Mart) for about 75 cents a gallon and use one gallon of coolant and one gallon of water. Then with the empty gallon coolant jug fill half with coolant and half with water. I pre-mix it and store it that way, ready for use.