TjsLS400

I bought my LS400 and the previous owner had switched to green coolant at some point I'm doing my 180,000m service well doing the water pump and everything I was going to have a coolant flush done and change to toyota red is this a good idea or should I keep the green in it would rather run what lexus recommends however when I called toyota and lexus dealership they both said the green is completely fine so my question is should I switch anyways I think that would be the better thing to do regardless of what the dealership says I trust the people who engineered the car over some tech or are they right?

TjsLS400

Anybody? Getting the work done Monday just want to see if my thought on the situation is right and any other advice would be nice doing mitsuboshi timing belt & drive belt, ntn tensioner koyo&nsk pullies, aisin waterpump, gasket and seal, aisin fan bracket, mitsuboshi drive belt toyota thermostat&gasket, camshaft and crankshaft seals , denso iridium sk20R11 spark plugs, denso wires caps and rotors, puralor oil filter, mobile 1 full syntetic 5w 30 this is my baby and I want to make sure to give it only the best any other suggestions?

dicer

Everybody on this site will say use the Toyota stuff for coolant. I am with the dealership as far as saying the green is just fine. So it is a choice thing for you to make. The Toyota coolant is not inexpensive, and you will want to make sure the system is flushed real good before putting in the red stuff if that is what your going to do.
If I was a business charging you to change over I would charge $100. plus to do it and that is not including the price of the Toyota antifreeze. To flush it right is going to take some time. I would not charge a cent to reinstall green prestone back into the system. Or vice versa if it already had the red Toyota stuff then its an easy no brainer. So what year is it? All that work will not be cheap, where are you taking it to be done? And personally if its high miles and a gen 1 I would not do the full synthetic oil especially such light weight for summer time. Yeah I know that's whats called for but not for old car high miles. I run 10W-30 all year even in a brand new non lexus that called for 5W-30.

TjsLS400

1992 170,000 and my dad's friend works for lexus did 1200 worth of electrical work for him I'm a electrician so he owes me a favor labor is free already got the toyota red wasn't bad 22$ a gallon and it has been running syntetic since it was new

aptoslexus

Check your owners manual. If it's like mine, all it says is use ethylene glycol coolant. Which is what the green stuff is, right? In other words, it doesn't matter if you use Toyota red or generic green. The main thing is to change it out regularly.

dicer

Toyota red is twice the cost of prestone almost anyway. Good for the free labor hmmm which Lexus ? Bellevue or Lynnwood? Does anyone know what originally came in the older generation cars ? In my opinion if your not a DIY person the best bang for the buck for timing belt service in the area here is the Lexus Dealer. Not only was their price better than ALL the local independents they were the only ones that offered a free loaner car as well.
And they are just Lexus mechanics so they know a bit more about them than a do all makes outfit.

UNCNOR

iTrader: (1)

Does the Lexus dealer include a new water pump with the timing belt installation?

dicer

If I remember correctly it was everything in the normal kit. And there is no fan bracket in the kit so that would be extra.

peterls

While you are at it, I highly recommend you use Prestone Radiator Flush and Cleaner to flush your cooling system. Of all the things I did to my car, this one made the biggest difference! I flushed all the old coolant (which, incidentally was green like yours), my temp needle was always in the middle, so I had no doubts that everything was good with the cooling system... and then I filled it with distilled water and Prestone. Drove like that for a couple of day, flushed it, and lots of dirt and grime came out. I was a little surprised, then I filled it with 50/50 Toyota red coolant, and the car improved tremendously. There are a lot of things that don't work quite so well when there are pockets of high temperature in the engine (my transmission started shifting like new once I did all that for example but many other things improved: gas mileage, power on acceleration etc).
So, a few extra minutes will do ton of good for your car. I swear by that stuff (prestone).

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a great list of items there.

I use green coolant and my engine has not even seized yet. ;-) Like you, I phoned my local Lexus dealer to confirm, right after I got the car. I was told red or green does not matter, as long as it is compatible with Aluminum (virtually everything is). Green is cheaper and easier to get, so that's why I use it. But since I do all the work myself that factors in. If you were paying someone else, the longer-lasting red stuff may be worth the higher part cost.

TjsLS400

Feel like a kid on christmas morning went with toyota red he is doing a full flush got the kit for 270$ fan bracket is 95$ shipped denso irideum sk20r11 42$ denso wires 65$ rotors and caps 55$ toyota red 3 gallons 19$ a gallon went oe on everything 580$ parts instalation free i think $580 for all the oe parts and labor is a steal feel better keeping everything original their is a reason lexus uses these parts and being the most dependable cars on the road I want to continue using oe everything

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Great deal on the parts. Even better deal on the labor. Sounds like you've nailed it on the decision making here. Nicely done.

TjsLS400

Thanks I'm pretty happy with the deal I got!

dicer

Whats next? The starter?

TjsLS400

Nope already done next is enjoying the best most luxurious production cars/Lexus on the market for many years to come and searching for a new LS460 to add to the collection