napa says green coolant

[como]

So I'm finally draining the water out of my coolant to do a 50/50 (its getting near freezing at night, so its time) and I made a run to napa.

All they had on the floor was the standard green coolant, which claims its aluminum safe.

I asked the guy at the counter what I should use, and he, too, said that the car calls for the standard green stuff.

Now, all I've read on here, and heard from my brother (hvac tech) is to use what the manufacturer calls for, which is red coolant.

Other than a dealership, who would charge through the nose, where can I buy this stuff? I picked up some green, but I'm hesatant to put it in.

[vr4]

green is fine.

all manufacturers ave their different coolants for whatever reason. my mustang cobra had a running change from green to gold in the middle of the model year. no parts changed. ford was just phasing out the green. now theyre going back to green but its a deep green like nissans used in the late 90s on.

using proper distilled water instead of tap water is more inportant.

[LeePeyton]

All the colors are a sham. Anti-freeze is essentially ant-freeze.
I would buy a better brand due to them most likely putting better
chemistry in it.(IE lubricants in the fluid.) But I wouldn't worry my
head with color. They all try so hard to sell their colors. I remember
people at part stores flipping when I didn't keep Dexitron brand coolent
in my saturn.

[como]

awesome, thanks guys

ill have to run out for distilled water

[YellowJacket]

Unless you have a leak, and would be flushing money down the drain, the cooling system might as well have the Toyota Red.

Now if you are troubleshooting or dripping coolant, or just dont care, then you might choose to use a cheaper substitute.

[traintech86]

Originally Posted by YellowJacket

Unless you have a leak, and would be flushing money down the drain, the cooling system might as well have the Toyota Red.

Now if you are troubleshooting or dripping coolant, or just dont care, then you might choose to use a cheaper substitute.

QFT on this one. i'd rather spend the little extra on cooling, something thats pretty inmportant in cars but more so in ours.

[mr3]

I've been using prestone green 50-50 since I had my car. It's never been hot and does it's job.

[Starlet 3SGTE]

I work at a shop, if we're doing anything to a late model toyota/lexus and the coolant is drained I catch and filter it if it's red. I then use it in my own car.

[Fazed Out]

I wouldn't recommend mixing the colors. If you've got red already, just throw in distilled water. I personally shelled out for Toyota Red. You aren't going to notice a cooling improvement, but mixing colors has been known to corrode your system over time (don't trust the "safe for all colors" claim, that's just a marketing ploy).

If you want to drain the coolant, pop the plug at the radiator and the cap above the engine, and jack the rear up. You don't wanna mess with all the bleeder valves throughout the car.

Just expect to spend a long while burping the system with those lines you attach in the frunk when refilling.


Heed my advice... a new radiator is a few hundred bucks more than a jug of Red coolant. I know because of personal experience. I will never mix with anything other than water now.

[traintech86]

really, its not worth tryin to skimp by when you look at all the stuff that can go wrong...

[como]

i've bled and flushed the system no less than a dozen times (once I just pulled off the hoses and ran a garden hose through it for a bit) and have had it filled with just tap water for about a month now (not running, just sitting in the garage being worked on)

Drained it again tonight, its still coming out brown. Sigh. I need to put in some coolant for the winter, though. I'm thinking if green isnt going to damage anything I'll use it, since I already have it and plan on doing an engine swap in 2 years anyway... (at which point I'll be doing a coolant flush, clearly)

[YellowJacket]

Tap water has minerals and contributes to rusting... so you need to be using distilled water. Or it will likely always be brown due to ongoing rust.

Sounds like you need a real shop do a professional flush and not a garden hose flush if its all still brown....you need that extra flushing power that the shops equipment can provide. There is also additives that you can put in and let it soak to break up the rust, etc... and your heater core needs flushing too. Never done them, but read about them....someone else can comment on serious cases like yours where you need to use additives, etc to really break things up.


You are in the situation that I describe about 'flushing money down the drain' and in your case, if you are not going to do anything to remedy your crud in the cooling system, it might make sense probably say to put in the cheaper antifreeze ... you will find many more people running green than red I think... and from a cost perspective you could save some bucks..

but once I had my cooling system problems all sorted out, and got a proper flush so its running clear, with no leaks, then I would completely and properly flush the system and use the toyo red.

[Mr.Bryan]

Don't mix colors!


It'll gum up on you. Certain types of antifreeze have different chemicals that react with each other, hence the coloring of them. If you mix Toyota red with prestone green or dextron crap, it can create a gummy poo type sediment in the cooling system.

Just put back whatever is in there, unless you're doing a total system flush. Then pick whatever you want. But as stated before, Toyota spent a lot of time developing their stuff. Why not just spend the extra $10 on what they recommend? MR2's are Toyotas, but think about it... they're mid-engine 2 seat sports cars. They cost money to own and maintain. Albeit a lot less than anything else that's like it, you still have to treat them for what they are.

[muffinman]

why does everyone keep saying use the red because it's what Toyota recommends? the MK1 never came new with red so why should you use red?

[LeePeyton]

^ word.

[como]

Originally Posted by muffinman

why does everyone keep saying use the red because it's what Toyota recommends? the MK1 never came new with red so why should you use red?

Ding ding ding!

That's the answer I was looking for

[YellowJacket]

Originally Posted by muffinman

why does everyone keep saying use the red because it's what Toyota recommends? the MK1 never came new with red so why should you use red?

uh, maybe because Toyota recommends it.


Look, toyotas always came with dealers choice of coolant in the 80's .... everything was basically the same and green until these companies all started getting on the marketing bandwagon with color and technology evolves and better products are made ... Toyota has standardized and fine tuned over the years and their preferred and recommended choice of coolant happens to be dyed red now.

Como- You have as much information as the rest of us now. No one cares what you do, really.

[Levi_]

It sounds like your flushing your coolant alot, if thats the case I would go with the cheapest coolant u can find.

Once you get your system 100% then you can flush it out and go to toyota red.

The only problem you could have going with the cheap stuff is that it MIGHT cause corrosion to the pipes. It won't cause any corrosion in the short period of a few months though. The most important thing is to USE DISTILLED WATER (which you know =p)

[toyotaspeed90]

Originally Posted by YellowJacket

uh, maybe because Toyota recommends it.


Look, toyotas always came with dealers choice of coolant in the 80's .... everything was basically the same and green until these companies all started getting on the marketing bandwagon with color and technology evolves and better products are made ... Toyota has standardized and fine tuned over the years and their preferred and recommended choice of coolant happens to be dyed red now.

Como- You have as much information as the rest of us now. No one cares what you do, really.

toyota will also recommend that you take your 20 year old Mr2 to them for an oil change... it's a way to make money.

Prestone has strict testing to conform and meet all brands of coolants. The only prestone that differs is the GM approved coolant, which is in a Grey bottle.

I use Prestone (which is yellow) when I care. It works perfectly fine. The only 2 cars at my house where the coolant isn't still a good color are the 2 cars that had engine with badly blown headgaskets and tons of oil in the cooling system. That being said, they both still properly operate without problem (one of which is a DD).

my 87 with a smallport, my ae92, and my 91 tercel ALL have non red coolants and in all of them, the coolant has kept its color without problem.

I also use hose water. As do most shops.

[muffinman]

Originally Posted by muffinman

why does everyone keep saying use the red because it's what Toyota recommends? the MK1 never came new with red so why should you use red?

Originally Posted by YellowJacket

uh, maybe because Toyota recommends it.

That's the best you could come up with? Toyota also say's that you shouldn't service the cooling sytem on your own because it should only be done by a certified Toyota tech. BTW i looked in my owners manual and it doesn't say anything about using "red Toyota" coolant.