aptoslexus

Just change it every 30,000 miles like your manual says and you won't have corrosion. Green works just as well as red.

KazzyEman

One problem, I don't have a vise.

Why is the red coolant better to use than the green one for my car?

dicer

Because Lexus says it is.

In my little non lexus car my 5 year green anti freeze hasn't been changed in over 4 years, I drive it daily.

aptoslexus

But they don't. They say, use Toyota Long Life or equivalent. Not, use ONLY Toyota Long Life because everything else is inferior. Dying their coolant red is a marketing stroke of brilliance, because it creates the illusion that it is different and therefore must be better. And this gets reinforced in places like this where someone tells the tale of the horrors that befell his car because he used green coolant. Only he doesn't tell you that he never changed his coolant. Or that he topped it up with tap water. Or that he ran it low. All of which create an environment for coolant failure. Coolant is coolant. The anti-corrosion ingredients have a certain life-span. Renew your coolant at the end of that time period and you're good.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

This like oil has been discussed to death. Use whatever you want to use but make sure you change it regularly ( Every 2 years at least ) It just looks weird when you see an LS with the green stuff and I'm pretty sure that means Toyota has accomplished it's goal. The red is about the same price as the green when you take into account that your getting 2 gallons with the 50/50. I think I paid $26 at the Toyota dealership last year. I ran dexcool for a couple years before I switched to the red and I just flushed and mixed it with regular water. This was before I know what I now know.

nipponbird

No problem friend, the forty years I've spent with cars taught me that you can't make a compromise with machinery and the only way is blood sweat and tears if you want to enjoy a nice drive.
Enough of sounding like I'm your old man - hope you have a lot of fun with the LS.

Stroock639

green coolant honestly probably won't cause any harm as long as it's changed properly, but with the red coolant you know that at the very least you're using exactly what the maker of the car tells you to use and you definitely aren't doing anything that could be bad. it's really not a big deal i just feel slightly better knowing that the exact factory spec fluid is in there

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

you are getting away from the real issue, fix it right and it wont matter what color your AF is..

mikaelse

Long Life coolant is typically red. It does not always mix well especially with other long life coolant that could be of other chemistry. You should be really sure what is in there. May give slurry gook i if you are unlucky. I do not know how toyotas red behaves in this respect. Perhaps you guys do.
If you really flush out Everything fine. There are two Point on my 1995 Engine block with Drains. when I saw where they where and how though it would be if those things did not shut tight again i aborted the idea to get the red Toyota fluid in there and poured in standard glycole that mix ok even with long Life red. You have to change it more frequently but hey , I have ran all my different cars for last 25 years on standard and had no issues. I change every 5 years or so.
The broken Alu-ear is part of the waterpump. I would say that it is strange that it broke off. Typically low forces and no bending etc on it if you did not make your own under size thick hard gasket.
The only real risk should be stripping the thread if over tightening. I would claim material defect and get a replacement on warranty if possible. Not economical to do a fix of the part. Hence also not a good idea to Exchange it for something else then a new good pump.
The tensioner needs to be very slowly compressed. The you can get a pin back in. The tensioner is not supposed to be operated other then vertical I read somewhere. Use a clamp to compress it and keep it vertical is what I would do.