Changing out my radiator to a new aluminum supra tt one. Problem is I didnt order any Toyota red coolant to put in, and I live 40 miles away from a Toyota dealership. But, I live 2 seconds away from an autozone, advanced auto parts, and o'reilys.

I heard you can use DEXCOOL as a replacement, are there any others?

Thanks

 

If you never go anywhere with freezing temps, you could go with distilled water (always use distilled water) & water wetter. Works great in hot climates, but offers no anti-freeze protection.

 

I was thinking abou doing that, cause its not going to get below 32 degrees where i live until November or December. And im going to atlanta next weekend, so i can stop by a toyota dealership.

Would I be alright with distilled water and water wetter only, or does this red coolant do something special?

 

Doesn't anti-freeze also offer boiling protection? That's just as important in hot climates. I know the red coolant has VERY high boiling resistance.

 

do NOT use dexcool... its bad for cooling systems that were designed for it, its HORRIBLE for cooling systems that were not...

nothing wrong with using just normal ethylene glycol green antifreeze - it just has a shorter lifespan (2 years)...

coolant does have a resistance to boiling over built in, and the higher percentage of anti-freeze to water dictates freeze and boil temperature, however, what really does the magic as far as boil over is the pressure in the system...

The problem is, the more anti-freeze you have, the worse the vehicle transfers heat into the radiator, whereas the more water in the mix means better heat transfer...

 

Napa sells the red coolant for Toyotas/Lexus

 

I don't think there are any equivalents for the Toyota. I'd do a little more checking around. I still use the red and dilute with distilled water to 60/40 coolant/water.

 

So you are saying more water is better?

From what i recall, best recommended is 50/50. It's acceptable to go 70%(coolant)/30%(water) maximum. I never heard that you could do water more than coolant.

 

not necessarily better, there are tradeoffs... The best heat conductor for a cooling system is water, with no antifreeze... three problems with this - you lose boil over protection and freeze protection, as well as not having anything to protect components in the system from corrosion... back in the day, when I had my track car, the best way I found to keep it running cool was to use 100% water with a bottle of Redline Water Wetter... This stuff basically breaks down the surface tension of water so that it transfers heat even better - it also provides corrosion protection to the cooling system... With this mix, I noticed cooler temperatures across the board - with antifreeze and water mix, under heavy loads, it wasn't uncommon to see coolant temps in the 220-230 range, but with the water/redline mix, it ran closer to 200...

now, if there was a cooling system fault, or for some reason, the car wasn't able to get rid of enough heat, it would boil over at a lower temperature - I combatted this to some extent by using a higher pressure radiator cap - the more pressure, the higher the boil over temperature was... either way, I had some sleepless nights in San Antonio during the winter - the car slept outside, so, on the cold cold nights, I would go out and start her and run for a while in the middle of the night, because there was no freeze protection at all...

If you go to Prestone's site, they recommend between 50 and 70% - no less than 50% because of the loss of cooling system corrosion protection, but no more than 70% because of the loss of heat transfer capability...

http://www.redlineoil.com/Products.aspx?pcid=10

 

During my Organic Chemistry Class in college, my Professor and I were discussing antifreeze. I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "The only thing that 'wears out' in antifreeze is the rust inhibitors." The water and the "coolant" itself don't degrade...just the chemicals that prevent the metals from rusting.

Please check before you add anything other than Toyota antifreeze to your vehicles. One of the first things I check in any Toyota/Lexus before I buy is the color of the antifreeze. IF it isn't red, I walk away because I "assume" if that owner did care enough to put the only recommended antifreeze in his vehicle then he probably didn't do as good a job on the other maintenance issues. Call me stupid, call me a knuclehead, whatever....It's like my litmus test.

To prove my point, the only service manager I trust told me that if someone has put a "store brand" antifreeze in as a substitute for the Toyota or Honda branded antifreeze, then there is no need in changing it back because you will never get all the other antifreeze out. You have basically contaminated your coolant system.

Now, will it affect the longevity of your car's engine? I don't know. This might be one of those arguments like which is better, synthetic oil or conventional oil. I think we will all agree that synthetic oil is better. Now as to whether it will make my engine last longer????

 

the difference is that some coolants are long life, some are not... the Toyota coolants last much longer than standard coolants, but, so long as you change them at the recommended interval, it doesn't matter...

the only reason any manufacturer ever went to extended life coolants was because they saw that no one was really maintaining their vehicles, so if they could put in a coolant that would last well past the warranty period, they would have far fewer cooling system related issues due to lack of maintenance...

then, they found out that people like the longer time between service intervals, and that was a bonus...

personally, for me, I like to take a look at the cooling system every year or so... it is much cheaper to do so with standard coolant, and because I'll change it much more often than it needs, it is silly to use the expensive toyota coolant...

 

Many national antifreezes contain silicates than can harm seals and many contain borates that can harm aluminum components (radiator) so I beg to differ in your conclusion that "it doesn't matter" as long as you change them at the recommended interval. Do a google of the words "antifreeze, red, organic, silicates, green," etc. in different combinations. You will find antifreeze is much more complicated than what you are stating. Now, does it matter? I say, "Yes."

 

I am well aware of all the "possibilities" out there... The reality of it is that so long as it is maintained, you still need not worry about it... The problems start when coolant is allowed to wear out all of its corrosion inhibitors - there is much speculation about the borates and silicates and such, but vehicles have had aluminum heads for quite a while and all of these organics are relatively new, there were no real issues prior, why would there be now?

What is really funny is how different manufacturers specify different additives, yet all of their components are similar in materials and overall design... Why do you think that is? Most likely because they truly don't know which is better... For instance - some VW coolants use silicates and borates specifically - can you really honestly tell me their aluminum radiators and engines are so different than a japanese radiator and engine that specifies phosphates? Here's a direct argument regarding phosphate use in aluminum engines: http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl815h.htm

So, again, properly maintained, there are all sorts of arguments about what is best - and according to the car manufacturers, theirs is the best for their car, but then again, maybe they don't even know... My argument still stands - proper maintenance is key, whether you use the stock toyota coolant or a generic green ethylene glycol, or another extended life coolant... One thing - even the SAE say you can mix ethylene glycol into an extended life coolant, up to 15% and the corrosion inhibitor of the extended life coolant will not be compromised...

 

I heard the argument about silicate free and believe it, the acura legend community also reccomends honda only. I had a almost blown headgasket corolla run more than i expected it to, I changed the coolant to the toyota coolant and i think it helped
it maybe just cause it was newer etc but who knows
I believe for a few things like radiator fluid and transmission fluid you should use what is made for the car if there isnt anything better

 

any one know what the name of the coolant napa sells that works for our cars??