I suspect the Toyota Long Life Red Coolant thing has been beat to death here as well as all the other WEB yack sites.

Thought I'd pass this along.

I'm not to hot on paying the local dealer $18.50 for a gallon of coolant. There are too many others that meet the OAT/HOAT requirements, so I contacted Valvoline(they make Zerex) and asked if they made a coolant that met Toyota's stringent requirements..ie..the equivalent of the Long Life Red stuff.

Their answer was YES. Check out the following URL:

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/produ...asp?product=11

On another Yota WEB yack site, a dealership tech said the Red coolant was required for warranty situations. If a vehicle came in that was still under warranty and it didn't have the "red" stuff, they would not honor the warranty. Also, if work was done while under warranty, the "red" stuff was put back in.

Now for the interesting part.

If the vehicle was out of warranty, this dealership used basic green coolant. The tech said they used whatever their lubricant supplier had available. He also said that he has never seen any Toyota fail for not using this so called miraculous "red" stuff.

So I suppose you stick with their "red" 'til you're out of warranty, then switch to whatever you like.

The down-side of the Zerex Extreme in my locale is I can't find it. I've been to Auto Zone, Advance, Pep Boys; Oreilley's. No Kragen/Checker where I live.

 

I think the more important part of that link is the link at the bottom of the page..... http://www.valvoline.com/downloads/D...e_Mag_53_g.pdf
that tells about oat/hoat etc.

 

Oh yeah...what I meant to say first... I've been using green "prestone yellow jug" antifreeze for 120k and a little over 5 years in my 245k mile 92 truck. With that being said, My 1992 4runner only has 40k on it (I bought it last April with only 23k on it!!!!!) and when I change that coolant this spring, I think I may pony up and pay my dealer (who isn't really overpriced....too badly) and go with the Toyota red. Working in a failure analysis/materials testing lab ( www.imrtest.com ) I see the painstaking testing and precise engineering calculations that go on to make sure things last (we do everything from NASCAR chassis parts to Lockheed Martin missles, and EVERYTHING you can imagine in between) I also work at Ingersoll-Rand Athens, PA running the Metallugical Lab there on a contractual basis. (This is where all the IR air tools are made, besides the few made in China.)

I just think Toyota, at least on the older vehicles, took great care in making sure their vehicles last in the harshest environment imaginable when kept to their carefully (and Thoroughly tested/engineered) maintenance specs.

My truck has had every single recommended change/flush/replacement, and I guarantee all the costs of maintaining it to factory specs has cost me less than not doing it and having tons of expensive repairs. I saved even more by doing 95% of it myself, and I knew NOTHING about mechanics when I got this thing. The FSM saved my life.

I've gotten 245k trouble free miles. I did the head gasket at 190k just because I couldn't believe it had gone that long without failing. There were no signs of failure, the engine looked like new in the cylinders. I changed the knock sensor then too. The only major parts replaced were the front calipers and the fan bracket.
I may have been lucky, I don't know. Just my 4 cents worth.
Jason

 

Mike: if there is something comparable to the required coolant for the truck, they cannot dishonor the warranty for not using the Toyota-brand stuff. Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act 101 there, bud.

Next - Toyota is on yet *another* coolant color now - Pink. It's new for 2004 and is called super long life coolant. Lucky for us, pink and red can be mixed, but you lose the super long life aspect of the pink when you do that, forcing a 30k change interval. Big woop, I know. But still.

I wish these mother˟˟˟˟˟˟ers would settle on something already.

 

Obscurotron:

Thanks for refreshing my memory about the Magnusson-Moss Act.

I remember when this came up back when dealers were telling people they had to use their oil filter.

My Tacoma is a 2004 2.4l and the coolant color is actually more pink than red.

Since I'm unable to find the Zerex Extreme product, I'm going to go ahead and fork over the $18.50 the dealer wants when it comes time to change the coolant.

I believe that Toyota is gouging people on coolant simply because the Zerex Extreme product is relatively new and few know about it. Tme will fix that.

I too wish they would come up with a standard product and find something else to screw with.

 

If you have the pink stuff, make sure that you DON'T get the red stuff. You *can* mix them, but you lose the extended change interval (am I repeating myself? Sorry if I am.). I made that mistake and so now I'll have to change it out sooner, rather than later. But, for what it's worth, you can get the red LLC stuff for *dirt* cheap at most dealers now, since they went over to the pink stuff in '04. I picked up a gallon of the stuff for $5. Also, the Toyota document I read says that the pink stuff comes pre-mixed, 50/50.

 

I spoke with parts counter guys at 2 different Toyota dealerships the other day. Both said the new LLC is not pre-mixed?

Thanks for the heads up about an older red coolant sold by dealers. I suspect these 2 guys may have been referring to the older red and not the newer pink.

This makes a man want to go out and use the old Prestone yellowish green stuff that I used in an '83 22R motor for 20 years. I only got 305,000 miles out of it before I gave it to a relative. Prestone worked just fine.

I need a drink.

 

I think the Prestone stuff is an IAT coolant. The Toyota red is OAT and the pink is HOAT (with OAT and HOAT being compatable to some extent).

I got this "What's new for 2004" document via my account on tundrasolutions.com and it said the stuff comes pre-mixed (the pink).

Shoot me an email to projectredneck@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy when I get home tonight.