Toyota: antifreeze protection, eyeball to eyeball, coolant system

Question
Do you do anything as cold weather approaches to make sure you have protection or do you feel it is necessary to change the collant ever so often. The manual for my 2001 Sienna really doesn't address this subject and the service managers seem to to hedge on the subject, particularly when you get eyeball to eyeball with them. Any thoughts?

Answer
Hi John,

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I didn't get my message that I had a question waiting. :-(

My antifreeze maintenance schedule is different for my different vehicles.  We keep 100% red Toyota antifreeze in the 96 Tercel, and we haven't ever flushed out the coolant system and replaced it.  It never overheats.  Matter of fact, its never been low either.  We probably need to change it out.

My 98 Tacoma has never been flushed out either.

On my 76 CJ-7, we run 50% antifreeze and water and flush it out every fall.  Since the cooling system is old and a little bit rusty, we figure this is the best scheme.  Plus it overheats occasionally, so we have to add water over the summer and never know exactly what the mix is by fall.

There is a very basic maintenance schedule at www.toyota.com in the Owners section.  Maybe that will have a recommended coolant replacement for new vehicles.