In this article, you have to be very cautious about what coolant you use. I have written other articles that talk about maintaining your Prius and somethings too look out for. Meaning that they cannot conduct electrical current, if this were so, we would see HV loss of isolation, or HV problems in the hybrid system on our Prius. In order to maintain complete system integrity, the fluids that are used, in our case coolant, must have zero conductivity. This means that everything about it is special and must be treated as such.
The High Voltage or HV system requires complete isolation from the other systems. They are a standard gasoline engine and a high voltage system. Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius have two systems that integrate and work with each other. Loss of isolation is something no tech or hybrid owner wants to hear. Only One Coolant is Right For Toyota Prius The differences are minor but play a big role in how the engine is protected. This antifreeze uses organic acids but not 2-EHA and usually include silicates to provide protection for aluminum surfaces, very important for cars such as Prius. Then came HOAT which stands for Hybrid Organic Acid Technology. Usually, OAT-based coolants will be dyed a different color. This helps them have a less environmental impact. Unlike green anti-freeze, they generally do not contain silicates or phosphates. OAT anti-freeze contain ingredients such as 2-EHA, sebacate and other various organic acids. Green coolant in an all aluminum engine did not have the chemical properties that could properly maintain the aluminum. This was great for fuel economy but we still had another problem to solve. Car makers went away from using all cast iron engines and went to lighter aluminum engines. With these changes also came new engine configurations and makeup. With new emissions mandates from California and the United States government, car makers had to make vehicles that had less tail pipe emissions and got better fuel economy, hello Toyota Prius. In order to make coolant last longer, different formulations had to be created. We have not explored why just yet, but for heavens sake, do not flush and fill with this. This type of coolant cannot go into Toyota Prius. So during the 90's companies began testing on new coolants that would help them earn credits for cleaner cars. Mandates for cleaner cars we also starting to become a major player in the automotive industry. Two, it had a short service life so when people did not change it, problems with cooling systems happened a lot more. One, it was toxic and people used to just dump it in the ground. Toyota (and others) stopped using this for several reasons. Know that green coolant is proposed of ethylene glycol which aids in the freezing point of the substance and it was widely used for a very long time. This type of coolant has never been or never will be in Toyota Prius, we will get to that in a minute why. This mentality along with the need to make vehicles have longer service life, eventually led to one of the reasons car makers stopped using this coolant. If it was not causing them problems, why change it. This is another reason to do your homework on all your fluids for your vehicle.ĭue to the nature of this coolant, most manufacturers (including Toyota) recommended a 30,000 mile service interval, which about 90% of consumers more than likely avoided. This causes leaks and can lead to very costly repairs. Also, once the additives are depleted the coolant can be conductive and cause electrolysis that electrically eats away at aluminum and iron surfaces. These chemicals are also very toxic to the environment. It has silicate and phosphate additives that provides protection for aluminum and bare iron surfaces. The traditional type of anti-freeze most commonly used in North America is known as "green" coolant mainly because of the color it is. The Green Machine, The Coolant That Came Before We will talk about the HOATS and the OATS and the Green stuff as well. I want to walk you through what coolant you are supposed to use for your Prius (any hybrid for that matter) and why you must pay attention to what goes in it. Today, however, it is not especially when it comes to hybrids and your gem of a car, the Toyota Prius. Doing this 40 years ago would have perfectly fine. Most people would waltz into a store thinking nothing of the sort and probably pick up a jug of their favorite green stuff and then proceed to fill their cooling system with it. It may come as a surprise that all engine coolants are not the same.
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