Lexus dealer claims that the red antifreeze is a MUST or it will damage the motor???? Does anybody has any experience or recomendations about the green antifreeze, it says on the bottle that it is compatible.
Thanks

 

they're right. you need red or pink toyota antifreeze.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Red for older models and Pink for newer (2003+) models?

 

Compatible but depends on what drain intervals you also desire. Since I swap thermostats about every 30K, I have the system open so it is easier just to use the older mix. Cheap too since a jug of distilled water is $.99 and coolant is shoot, I forget.

My Toyota guy said either but the extended didn't make sense since I will drain off a liter or so for the thermo swap and have to replace it...might as well do the whole routine. Doesn't take very long.

 

A gallon of Toyota red coolant (non-diluted) was $26 when I purchased it.

 

$26...I don't recollect paying that much. Must have gone up.

 

mine was $15-18

 

Either that or I got hosed

 

What is the difference? If it say it's compatible.

 

Assuming the car never ever overheats(or has a rise in engine temp) what harm could be done running on low antifreeze?

 

You could get pockets of air in upper parts of the cooling system, which might lead to a blown head gasket or other problems.

 

If the coolant level is dropping, there is a leak somewhere. Might be subtle-small but finding out the hard way is and can be $$. If the system is otherwise good, there are two areas I notice with mine:

1. The pet **** on the radiator has an O-ring that after X miles becomes hard. Once you break that initial seal to say do a coolant change, it is often toasted. Replace it at the same time. Common O-ring but I don't have the exact size memorized. I've also broken one due to the nylon/plastic becoming brittle. The whole petcock is like $18 (Which for this part is $$.)

2. The reservoir cap gasket also deteriorates. ~$12

Both inexpensive fixes.

 

After I picked up my LS400, I later found out the cooling system was maybe half full of what looked like dirty water, thanks to a missing chunk of a well aged radiator cap gasket. The system seems pretty robust.

I can't think of any reason why any antifreeze would be a problem. Just make sure you thoroughly flush the system before swapping to a different one.From what I understand, some antifreeze additives can react with other anti-freezes, (especially when swapping from a propylene glycol based antifreeze to an ethylene glycol based one) so things can get ugly if you're not careful.