I noticed that most of the workshops in Malaysia did not carry any top international coolant brand, this may due to:-

1) workshop need more margin as those international coolant is not cheap due to direct import from overseas thus will lower down workshop margin as they cannot sell too high price because it may not able to absorb by end user.

2) good coolant will reduce car breakdown thus will reduce the chances of workshop making more money

in short, most of the workshops only care to make more money instead of CARING your beloved car.

As an end user, how you justify which 1 more significant for your car? Coolant or Engine Oil?

None for both. As long got coolant and engine all of any brand, all be ok.

Of course engine oil more important. To me, coolant doesn't need to be branded as long as it does the job. But there are common mistakes that people do, like
- topping up with pipe water
- mixing different types of coolant
- not using the correct mixture ratio
- not changing at recommended intervals
- flushing with pipe water and top up with concentrated coolant.

Personally I use Toyota premixed 50/50 coolant and change every 40,000km.

which one is more important? tooth paste or shower gel?

jokes aside, what makes u think a good coolant can reduce car breakdown?

if you compare both which more important, of coz EO la

coolant isn't even that technical or complex as compared to EO, it's like comparing ribena and wine.

"better" coolant (if there's even such a thing), won't reduce car breakdown, a proper closed loop coolant system, a well maintained radiator from a namebrand, and maybe some samco hose will do a much better job at avoiding overheating related issues.

Definitely Engine Oil, coolant I just use Getsun brand from Mr DIY and top up 50-50 with spritzer distilled water

Change every 2-3 years

Of course engine oil la, it is subject to a lot more harsh environment to reduce friction between metal parts at thousands of engine rpm not to mention turbo rpm for turbo cars! Coolant only job is to transfer away heat so no need fancy ones as long as it won't rust.

Can close topic already.

IMO, if forced to choose 1 over another, it would be EO. In my own preference, both are of high importance.

But I am a fan of price/performance, so I wouldn't buy the BEST unless I have to.

For my regular cars, Toyota LLC (red) or Honda Type 1 (green) are more than enough. Genuine ones of course. On my Honda V6, I would spend some money to use back Honda Type 2 (SLLC) coolant as its intended life is very long, 6yrs at least (as per manual). Ori factory filled Type 2 coolant that came with the car is rated for 12yrs. So I don't see any reason why I should cheapen out on it, or try to be clever and use a more expensive coolant than need be.

As for point no.2, YES, I fully agree.

I have been using plain pipe water as coolant in a 2007 Avanza 310k km for like almost 10 years , if not more .

However it demands my regular attention and periodic coolant level checks .

This post has been edited by zeng: Nov 3 2020, 10:23 AM

most workshop do not carry good coolant because it's not what the customer wants
customer always demand the cheapest so instead of stocking up toyota coolant, they'll stock up on those less than RM10 NASA coolant instead
and those aren't good to the engine and radiator at all

Coolant more important. I goes through engine block, and if corroded, is more painful to repair. Engine components may have iron, steel, aluminium, copper, brass, bronze, rubber, EPDM seals, gaskets that are exposed to coolant that we don't realize.

Engine oil as long as above certain grade, is fine.

1st, try to understand what is coolant. It's also known as antifreeze.

So it's major purpose is to prevent freezing of the cooling system when the temperature goes below 0°C.

Next, it's lubricating properties lub the water pump's moving components.

your sampling was based on which location?
What kind of brand that u are looking for?

Seems a lot of people still did not realize the importance of coolant.
If look at priority engine oil is for sure 1st while coolant is 2nd but different car brand or engine got different need of engine oil & the same as coolant.

https://www.valvoline.com/our-products/anti.../engine-coolant

Most reputable coolant brand got their difference as per link above, but those cheapo coolant out there might not meet the specifications of the original car manufacturer. If possible, buy back the original coolant is the best.

Reason mechanics use cheap coolant or pipe water (free) is so that they can charge low price and thus looks affordable. And when your coolant causes rust, head gasket burn and all other issues, you go back to them for repairs.

Either that or they are uneducated about the importance of coolant. Just do what their sifu teach them.

Either way they end up with more business which is more important to them. They don't see the big picture as usual.

You can see many people who drive cheap cars are the ones affected cause they always want cheap. So these are the cars that are always in workshops. All stem from wanting to save money on using cheap engine oils and pipe water as coolant.

Engine oil does more than coolant; it protects, reduces friction (hence improve Fuel economy) and... cools down the engine also.
And engine oil also protects from any breakdown.
Coolant is not something you change every 6 months or 10K.

Hence coolant you can always purchase OEM or original coolant, and let the workshop do it, OR DIY yourself.

Markup always occur with workshops irregardless coolant or oils.

exactly..

Any people ever have leaking water from engines qnd various part after adding coolant? Is there truth that a system that had been using pipe water for too long will develop leaks after adding coolant? And the solution is to continue don't use coolant because it cause leaks?

No, the rust already built up before the coolant so is about any time to leak, even with or without coolant it will leak when the time comes. The best is to maintain coolant from day 1 and dont cheapskate.

Why some mechanic dont want to change, as a lot of owners think that after add coolant will solve the rust issue but in the end still got issue and blame the mechanic.

This post has been edited by littlefire: Aug 12 2025, 02:37 PM

the small car i bought 2nd hand. ex owner proudly mention he using coway filter drinks. zero coolant
water will reduce every month or two. either boil off atau leaking.

replace due to acidic PH? official sc selalu insist to replace else void warranty.