Stay with green or switch to Toyota Red?

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I'm replacing the timing belt in a friend's 95 Camry in a few weeks, and I did notice the belt was replaced before. However, the coolant was changed a few times I assume by a quick lube shop using conventional green. I was thinking about switching it over to the proper Toyota Red coolant - I'll do a drain and fill up with water and a dishwasher tab and have him drive around for a day and while I have the water pump and housing pulled, a flush from a garden hose. Or shall I stick with conventional green and avoid any potential issues? I can still get conventional green in my neck of the woods.
 
Why are you going to use the dishwasher tabs?
A drain & refill(or 2) is enough!

The QL Shops probably used an All Makes/All Models. I think it's fine to use AMAM in a Toyota but, Toyota RED would be better!
 
I do not think you can assume that a quick lube shop used old green. Maybe but I would be more inclined to think they use AMAM, since they do not want to have a bunch of coolants. You cannot tell by color.

I switched my 1994 to G-05 and it was fine.

What did the car from the factory with? Old green I assume.
 
As long as you get all the soap out it will help remove some residue.

I would use G05 too if i had to purchase it, but if you already have the Toyo Red on hand i wouldn't go out of my way to buy the G05; i'd juse use the Red.
 
Definitely skip the garden hose and dishwasher tabs. If you want to use a flush product specific to radiator/coolant flushes, that would be fine. But never use water from the garden hose, it's full of minerals that will eventually precipitate in your radiator.

Me personally I would just drain the thing, fill with distilled water and run it to operating temperature, drain again and refill a 2nd time with distilled water, then after draining a 3rd time fill with the correct amount of antifreeze for the coolant system capacity and then top off with water.
 
Don't use all makes model long life antifreeze because those are Dexcool clones, and they contain 2-eha. Conventional green antifreeze is definitely green, and there is a considerable visible difference in it and Dexcool clones.

I am not saying that if you used a Dexcool clone that your cooling system or engine would blow up. What I am saying is that if your engine was not spec for it, then don't use it because 2-eha was/is known to be incompatible with certain gasket materials and solders in heater cores.
 
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Toyota did not go to Red until the 1996 MY according to the charts out there. If you DO want to switch it to something else, or just make sure of what's in it, follow what Brons2 said and do 3 consecutive drain/fills with dH2O. Hopefully using the block drain(s), too. This will get the original concentration down to negligible amounts and let you fill it with whatever you want.
 
I don't see any reason to ever use conventional green when Zerex G05 has superior specs in every category. It's my go to conventional green replacement... I'd probably use it in any passenger car with confidence if old coolant was all flushed
 
I used G05 in my '94 Toyota. It used old fashioned green for the first few years. Once that became harder to find I flushed with distilled water and then put a 50% G05/distilled water mix.

The G05 works great. I have been using it for about 10 years now on my Toyota.
 
Originally Posted By: rustypigeon
I used G05 in my '94 Toyota. It used old fashioned green for the first few years. Once that became harder to find I flushed with distilled water and then put a 50% G05/distilled water mix.

The G05 works great. I have been using it for about 10 years now on my Toyota.


I can still get G-05 around here in both Zerex and Motorcraft labels, a local parts house also carried the Mercedes version until that got swapped out to G-48.
 
Originally Posted By: nthach

I can still get G-05 around here in both Zerex and Motorcraft labels, a local parts house also carried the Mercedes version until that got swapped out to G-48.


Around here NAPA and Pep Boys carry G05. Pep Boys stopped carrying it for a couple years then recently put it back on the shelves. I bought a gallon of G05 a month ago there.
 
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If the car is getting attention on a regular basis, stick with whatever you have used. It is 21 years old, and it obviously worked.

As an aside, I just sold a 96 Camry with 255k on it, and I used various forms of AMAM, with no issues.
 
Originally Posted By: Oro_O
Toyota did not go to Red until the 1996 MY according to the charts out there. If you DO want to switch it to something else, or just make sure of what's in it, follow what Brons2 said and do 3 consecutive drain/fills with dH2O. Hopefully using the block drain(s), too. This will get the original concentration down to negligible amounts and let you fill it with whatever you want.

Weird, my Lexus was factory filled with Toyota Red and it's a 1991 - and the car has been almost exclusively been serviced at 2 Lexus dealers before I got it. And the cooling system looked pristine even contaminated with Toyota Pink.

I decided to use to drain/fill method. The radiator drain did a reasonable job of draining out the cooling system and the quick lube place that did the coolant exchange with green used conventional green instead of a AMAM Dex-Clone. We got one fill of distilled water in and we'll do 2 more tomorrow.
 
When I interviewed at a Monro muffler they used Safety Kleen Khamelion all-makes antifreeze. When I worked at a VIP tire they used store brand, all-makes extended life. When you think about the liability, the fact that the bottle suggests it's safe for "everything" takes a lot off the shop's hands.
 
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