Ed, your sarcasm isn't called for. I live in upstate NY and recently purchased this rolling computerized Prius. Somethings are not familiar to me; does this car require special coolant? how much, etc.
The car uses Toyota Super Long Life Coolant which has a pink color and is premixed 50%/50% with distilled water. This costs ~$22 per gallon. The factory fill is good for 100K miles. Subsequent fills have a 50K mile service life. The capacity of the engine coolant is ~ 9 US quarts and the inverter coolant is ~ 3 US quarts. You may also want to make sure that the windshield washer fluid is rated for 0 degrees F, containing methanol or similar antifreeze.
My go-to mechanic said Prestone makes a long lasting antifreeze 50/50 mix that sells for under $10.00. Toyota's antifreeze is nothing special. Oh yes, he has the machine to remove the old coolant in a matter of minutes.
It's your car, if you want to run Prestone Anti Freeze no one here is going to stop you. However it is recommended that the Toyota SLLC be used in the Toyota Prius Coolant and Inverter Loop.
brin wood, Seriously, you asked about which antifreeze was recommended. And you asked specifically about special coolant. Patrick Wong gave you the answer. FWIW, Patrick is well respected and very knowledgeable concerning Toyota Prius. Furthermore, just about everyone here is going to recommend the Toyota SLLC also. As a owner it is up to you what you want to put in your car. No one here will stop you from making that choice. Best of luck to you.
Yes. See the specification for coolant in this document (which is not Prius-specific, but correctly characterizes the required coolant): http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM33840U/pdf/sec_04-03.pdf "Toyota Super Long Life Coolant or similar high quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrite and non-borate coolant with long-life hybrid organic acid technology." Notice all of the typical antifreeze chemicals that are not included in Toyota SLLC and compare to the proposed inexpensive coolant that you wish to use.
