I own a 2001 LS430 and my mechanic recommends to put a Nissan radiator coolant instead of Toyota. What do you guys recommend? Is it better to put a Nissan radiator coolant or I get a Toyota radiator coolant. Weather here reached around 50c in summers.

 

Zero reason to not trust Toyota coolant.

 

Long story short, if you don't really care that much, and change it often, you can grab Asian Zerex at Walmart for a very reasonable price (I paid $9/gal. 50/50 as it only comes in 50/50--dunno what you do in colder climates requiring 60/40).

I would get a new mechanic, maybe not to all, but to me, it's troubling when they give strange off the wall advice. Maybe he happens to have tons of Nissan coolant that he's trying to get rid of?

What I've heard is if you don't want to use what came with the vehicle, green is universal. Orange is not. Maybe I'm dreaming but the only time I let the Nissan dealer exchange my coolant (this was like 2002), it was blue. It now has green.

What does seem to be a debate is where some Toyota techs, even on newer cars, prefer red coolant over pink, and are ok with more frequent changes.

 

I like to go by the book for my 2001. I have always used the recommended Toyota Red for all coolant changes as well as periodic topping up.

 

Since no one seemed to realize this...OP is based in the UAE, don't think there's a walmart there where he can easily pickup Asian Zerex.

waqas can your mechanic get the OEM Toyota Coolant?

 

Asian Zerex is available in the UAE. It's not only sold at Walmart, maybe it's more expensive than $9 in such a case.

https://www.desertcart.ae/brands/zerex?page=1

 

I can't see any reason to take any risk and use cheaper, non OEM coolant, just to save a few bucks. Just my opinion.

 

Better to put in Toyota coolant. There are zero functional, technical, or practical reasons to use Nissan or aftermarket coolant. If you are real short on cash, that may be the only reason.

Your local dealer may present you a choice of red or pink. Pink is a newer formulation, super long life (SLLC), and doesn't require dilution. Red is not long life and requires dilution. Toyota warranties new vehicles on the pink SLLC for a much greater time and mileage than vehicles factory-filled with red, so pink should be fine. Both are completely interchangeable - you don't need to flush your radiator if you want to switch between either.

 

When I did my timing belt I was floored at the price for the pink stuff.. I spent almost 50 bucks on two gallons of the stuff..

 

And it's 50/50. $25/gal for 50/50. I get that Toyota does as it pleases but that's a Hall and Oates for me. BMW coolant is $25/gal for 100%.

Decisions decisions, I knew I wasn't dreaming that blue coolant was put in my Maxima by the Nissan dealership...

 

John is right , the stuff it's not cheap anymore .

 

Do I need to premix the water and concentrated coolant in a jug then pour into radiator or can I just pour water and coolant into radiator and let it self mix in the cooling system?

 

If you get the Toyota pink, then it's ready to go to pour into your radiator.

 

If I recall this debate more than 10 years ago, a 2001 would use Toyota red, no more debate. Use Toyota red coolant.

At some point it went to pink, probably 2004. It was called SLLC and costs an arm and a leg and comes in 50/50. At that time, some Toyota techs used red, in their vehicles that came with pink, but replaced it often, possibly every 2 years. Here it is 2026, and I figure maybe what I learned 10 years ago is the same today.,

What the SLLC did was there were so many vehicles out there that were serviced by Toyota, that never had their coolant checked as they were not 10 years old and no need. Well my 2006 in 2016 had ZERO COOLANT IN THE RESERVOIR AND ZERO IN THE RADIATOR TO BE SEEN. It had all evaporated over time as technically the vehicle hadn't hit 10 years yet. That and the changing only 7 of 8 spark plugs told me dealer serviced isn't a good thing.

To offset the ridiculous price of pink, I got the Aisin pink for my radiator job, from Rock Auto. It was $13.20/gal for 50/50 last September. If I'm not mistaken, at least when I had a Nissan, its coolant was blue.

Another thing I learned was to not use GM Dex-cool. I don't know if it were a wives tale or not, because I did use it in my Nissan when I should not have. It still lasted from 1998-2023, so who knows. Our cars are old, we don't need to be experimenting anymore lol just do what those before us did and call it a day jmoymmv

edit just remembered that when techs switched to red, they would make sure they flushed the system of pink. Supposedly one does not want to mix them. That's why this is a pandora's box, what if your radiator is already pink? What if it's red? What if it's green? And around and around we go. Red is proper.