That is what we are using in our twin turbo 4Runner.

Gadget

 

Bunch of people say it's fine, Kyle says it's not. What's the latest word on this issue?

 

It's GM, how good can it be?

EDIT: And as someone said, since you don't flush the cooling system every day, why bother for a small difference (unless you are racing your SU-freakin-V). Pay the little extra and then have the comfort of knowing you can vent on your dealership if the 'Red' goes bad. Ya know

 

You should always use what came in your truck. Don't switch.

Dexcool is of no value unless it was the very first coolant put in at the factory. It causes a chemical reaction to the metal surfaces that sets up the long term protection. If it is not the very first coolant used, it can't do that important initial chemical reaction.

Gadget

 

Well, it came with red. Dealer put in green at 60k, so I guess I'll just stick with green. Driving with pure water right now. If it drops below freezing in August in the North East a cracked engine block will be the least of my worries.

 

they used to be $9.99 for the concentrated and you had to mix it. now its $12 for the ready to use stuff. before u could get 2 gallons out of it, now u have to buy 2 of them to get 2 gallons. sux! so if u see the concentrated stuff at a dealer, grab it cuz its not gona be there for long.

 

you might want to consider using antifreeze in the summer, too.

an antifreeze/water mix has a higher boiling point than pure water--lowering the risk of overheating.

antifreeze also contains anti-corrosive agents which pure water does not.

i've also heard stories of people running pure water in cars with A/C having the A/C freeze the heater core. (the A/C blows the air through the heater core to help regulate the temperature of the air coming into the cabin.)

 

LittleRedToyota, yeah I'm aware of the dangers, but it's only until I figure out what to pour back in.

And I can't believe this but I'm turning to the wisdom of yotatech to figure out the color of the coolant that I took out. Here is a picture of what came out:



If this isn’t green I don’t know what is you say?

Well this is how it looks looking through the liquid!



The camera does not do it justice as there is a 500W work light right behind the can. The liquid is actually dark red/burgundy in color!

So I’m scratching my head.

 

yeah...ummmm....hmmmm....ummmm....weird.

the toy red is darker than your bottom pic, so your description of it being darker makes it sound like it could be toy red.

but the green color from a different angle is bizzarro, to say the least. is there something green right around there that is maybe being picked up and reflected by the liquid? doesn't really look that way, but...strange.

maybe try illuminating it with a different kind of light. (maybe the liquid is acting like a prism or something and filtering the spectrum of light generated by your light...trying a different kind of light that gives off light in a different part of the spectrum might counter that.)

i dunno what to tell ya, man. looks like you got some kinda new bling-bling holographic coolant or somethin'

 

That is indeed true green colour. No reflection. I tried looking through the liquid under fluorescent, incandescent and natural light, there is definitely red in it. So more .

 

Ok I’m writing down in my little black book that everyone just talks about red coolant yet never seen it or don’t want to tell me what color it is from the "outside".

 

I can't tell what color mine is....is brown a color? haha

 

Looks like it needs to be flushed and replaced.

 

If it comes with a normal fluid (typical green) don't put Toyota red in it. For anyone with an iron block engine, you don't want to use Toyota red.




First things first. Toyota has been having problems with cars having cooling problems since they went to Toyota red. Notably, clogged, or blow radiators because of the fluid. This is caused by two main reasons:
1) Toyota red's life span isn't as long as they originally thought.
2) As Toyota red breaks down, it is fairly corrosive. More so than it should be.


Any engine that has, or came without Toyota red should NOT use Toyota red for a few reasons:

1) Toyota Red's inhibitor package is NOT formulated to deal with ferrite parts. It is formulated to protect Aluminum. It doesn't take much time for it to break down enough to become HIGHLY corrosive to iron parts. Yes... That means 3vz-e & earlier parts are screwed. Thank god the blocks are overbuilt.

2) Toyota Red becomes highly corrosive to just about EVERYTHING when the inhibitor package breaks down. Yes... All coolants are corrosive to everything. Yes... Inhibitor packages wear out. What's my point?

Everyone remember the GM Dexcool scandal??? The first versions were said to last un-godly amounts of time. The coolant didn't last that long, the inhibitor package wore out, and you're left with a nasty, corrosive, sludgy, crap.

Toyota Red isn't quiet that bad, but it's not too far off. Yes... It has the EXACT same problems, and has never been reformulated to fix it.

3) If Toyota red, and a normal fluid come into contact with each other, they not only become ungodly corrosive, they (relatively -> overnight) form a hard gel. No... You can't flush it out. Unless you invent how to get a hammer and chisel into an engine.






In short, Toyota red is bad stuff if you don't regularly change it, and is a complete death-nail to older engines (before Toyota red) that don't use Aluminum for nearly everything.

If you've got an All Aluminum engine, You should be using it if you're not - 40,000 Toyota engineers can't be wrong.
If you don't have an All Aluminum engine, 40,000 Toyota engineers are retarded - don't touch the damn fluid!!!


Don't feel bad about using Toyota red in anything, just make sure to flush it out if you're swapping between antifreezes, and make sure it get's changed on schedule.

I highly recommend using Redline's Water Wetter in anything. The coolant will be able to transfer a little more heat, but mainly the inhibitor package in it is awsome.



And yes... I have seen, or personally pulled a good number of late model Toyota radiators clogged, or cracked because of that fluid. You know there's a problem when you drain a cooling system, and a radiator weighs 60lbs+ when you pull it out.

 

Ok, that's it. I'm going into the kitchen and making my own coolant.

 

Yup, sure needs to be flushed, just waiting to get a spare moment... thanks for the interesting posting Toysrme. I was thinking of going with the red stuff, but now I don't think I will.

 

If the Toyota red is the same as GM's dexcool then I definitely do not recommend switching over because I've had to flush too many cooling systems out because a customer assumed "dexcool is much better than green." Like Toysrme said, dexcool is made for aluminum parts, but they cause "barnacles" on the radiator if it gets too hot. When the ethylene glycol (green coolant) and dexcool mix they form nasty sludge in the radiator. Not good for cooling when efficiency goes down.

 

it is not the same as dexcool. toyota red is ethylene glycol based...same as green.

 

does that REALLY matter? someone once said to me, if tap water is good enough to drink, it's good enough to use as coolant and I've always used it since.

 

yes, it does really matter. tap water really does cause engine corrosion.

your body is not made of metal, so comparing drinking it to putting it in your engine is comparing apples to oranges.

(btw, drinking distilled water is healthier that drinking tap water, too...though it doesn't make nearly as much difference as it does in your engine.)