Today's Maintenance

[tmontague]

Originally Posted by 06YarisRS

How well do these car's prime? Is just the normal squeezing the upper rad hose enough to let the air escape before it overheats? What do you use for coolant? I've always used Prestone All Makes and Models in my vehicles and usually get approval from the dealers. Nirmally I would run distilled water through a few times with the thermostat removed but I think this time, I'll just drain and fill a couple of times. I'm all ears if you want to share your process.

either get the long life pink stuff from Toyota or buy the OEM brand from Canadian Tire and you can buy it 50/50 or concentrated for a bit cheaper. Same ingredients as Toyota's stuff. I personally run it at a 55/45 coolant to water ratio and use the OEM stuff from CT in both my cars. It's good stuff.

I find the Yaris burps decently on its own. elevating the front of the car can help but typically I fill the rad until it's full and then turn the car on and continue to fill until it is full again. I then over fill the overflow reservoir and drive around for a day and let the engine get up to operating temps. I then re check the coolant and typically the overflow tank is almost empty. I'll top that up to the F line and then fill the rad if there is any space there.

This has worked for me now over 3 times without issue