What's so great about Toyota's Red Coolant

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I've heard that this stuff really needes to be flushed as much as the green stuff.

The green stuff has silicates and borates which do not cause problems unless they drop out of suspension in the coolant.Which usually means it's been overextended.

My boss's daughter has a 2000 Echo that had a water pump failure at around 65K with the original factory fill of the red stuff.

I have a Toyota that came with the red stuff but I flushed it out and put in the green about 2 1/2 years after I bought it(31K miles).No problems what so ever with the green stuff.

Planning to change it out before the end of this summer.
 
Is the red antifreeze Ethylene glycol or Propylene glycol?
dunno.gif
 
quote:

Alan:
I've heard that this stuff really needes to be flushed as much as the green stuff.

The green stuff has silicates and borates which do not cause problems unless they drop out of suspension in the coolant.Which usually means it's been overextended.

My boss's daughter has a 2000 Echo that had a water pump failure at around 65K with the original factory fill of the red stuff.


There's another thread related to this one at "Toyota Long Life Coolant (Red) same as GM Dexcool?".

There are couple of on-line articles on the various coolants from national magazines:

http://silverstone.fortunecity.com/ferrari/464/coolant.htm

"Keeping it Cool", Motor Magazine, August 1999

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/sub_care_sat/1999/3/right_coolant/print.phtml

"Choosing the Right Coolant", Popular Mechanics, March 1999

The red Toyota formula is "Conventional Japanese coolant (green or red) contains no silicates, but has a heavy dose of phosphates and other inhibitors, including a modest amount of one or two organic acids." This stuff is the same as the green Toyota coolant, which was never sold in the U.S. in quantities and which everyone replaced with conventional green U.S. coolant (like Prestone).
 
Toyota antifreeze/coolant is listed on the jug as containing ethylene glycol, di-ethylene glycol, sodium benzoate, and hydrated potassium hydroxide. (BTW, according to its jug, Peak's extended life antifreeze/coolant appears to use the same ingredients, though it may not be dyed red. While the individual ingredients may vary somewhat in proportion between the two brands, they can't vary much since the total glycol content accounts for 93-95% by volume according to MSDS sheets I've been able to access.) This is an "OAT" type antifreeze pH stabilized with potassium hydroxide. It should not have pooped out at 65,000 miles. I would suspect that:

1> the owner or usual driver allowed the coolant level to drop lower than the overflow bottle could compensate for and sucked air during cooldown. (OAT antifreeze/coolants do NOT like air contamination. Air intrusion allows the breakdown of the organic acid corrosion inhibitor layer on metal surfaces.), and/or

2> conventional dilute silicate-phosphate-borate laced antifreeze/coolant was used for top-up. (Contamination with conventional antifreeze/coolant negates the extended life properties - back to 2 years/24,000 miles.), and/or

3> tap water (especially "hard" water) was used for top-up. Hard water precipitates would be unpredictable at best in their interactions with the organic acid salts.

[ August 15, 2004, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
 
I agree it should not poop out either. That is long life stuff... good 60K+ ish

and maybe 4:
Added too much water to a not properly FLUSHED sytem... with the last fill. Would this do it too?

Only thing is maybe they put another RED fluid in there too.
quote:

Originally posted by Ray H:
-*******-It should not have pooped out at 65,000 miles. I would suspect that:

1> the owner or usual driver allowed the coolant level to drop lower than the overflow bottle could compensate for and sucked air during cooldown. (OAT antifreeze/coolants do NOT like air contamination. Air intrusion allows the breakdown of the organic acid corrosion inhibitor layer on metal surfaces.), and/or

2> conventional dilute silicate-phosphate-borate laced antifreeze/coolant was used for top-up. (Contamination with conventional antifreeze/coolant negates the extended life properties - back to 2 years/24,000 miles.), and/or

3> tap water (especially "hard" water) was used for top-up. Hard water precipitates would be unpredictable at best in their interactions with the organic acid salts.


 
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