My runner was in the shop for repairs and while there the shop did a flush and fill of the cooling system and replaced the thermostat on my 3.0L. They refilled with toyota red, but left the prestone green in the overflow tank. Could this be a possible problem?

 

Nah, the concensus it that it's ok to mix, but it makes a really ugly brown/orange color. I'd probably remove the green overflow coolant though, and replace it.

 

I would get rid of the green if you could. When I drained mine, I had both red and green come out, and they actually stayed separated in the catch bucket.

 

The same thing had happened to me when my car was in for body work. They replaced the radiator and put green coolant in. I had to go back, flush and fill with red. I did a lot of research on this at the time. There was a general consensus. Don't mix the 2 types and don't use green. The green is silicated and will ruin the cooling system including pump over time. In the 3rd gen you can use orange dexcool only if the red has been completely flushed.

 

I've never heard that dexcool was OK to use, flushed or not.

 

I've always read you are NEVER to use the orange coolant with toyota engines. Here's a thread about coolant. There is one guy who says you can use the orange, but most people (in other threads) say no. Also take a look at what Jim Brink says about red Vs green. Jim Brink is/was a ASE (or is that SAE?) certified toyota master mechanic and is very well respected over on 4x4wire.

 

Zerex, part of Valvoline/Ashland, highly recommends using the Orange Dex Cool for replacement antifreeze/coolant in any Toyota engine after 1996.

I seriously doubt that Ashland/Valvoline would be putting out erroneous information on what can be used in Toyota cooling systems. The Zerex dex-cool is phosphate and silicone free and you can run it for 5 years of 100K miles if you want to run it that long.

Why waste $37 - $38 on a Gallon of Toyota Red at the dealer, or $25 on a 50/50 mix of Toyota Pink at the Dealer when you can find Zerex Dex-cool on sale????

 

So you just revived an 8 year old thread to tell people to use dex cool? I have seen what dex cool does to gm engines and I wouldn't put it in anything.

 

Dex-Cool in particular, is not something that you should use in an engine that is not designed by GM to be run on Dex-Cool and/or engines without aluminum radiators. IT IS NOT A UNIVERSAL COOLANT AND IS COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER DEX-COOL APPROVED COOLANTS. I buy it from Prestone for my 98 Chevy and it says all that right on the jug. It works, but it does have it's drawbacks. Nasty stuff any way you look at it really though. But like I said, it works all the same.

Hint:
PEAK GLOBAL® LIFETIME® Antifreeze & Coolant $13/gallon at NAPA.

 

Thanks for the hint and the information on Dex-Cool. I only posted what I saw on the Zerex site and the other information. No harm intended.


Mudhippie.....do you think that this Peak Global Lifetime at Napa would be a better choice for my Toyota 4Runner?

Thanks in advance.

 

That's what I run in my 88 3VZE. Works great. No funky Dex-Cool sludge either. If you use that stuff, you know what I mean. IN ANY ENGINE. It did that when I tried it in my 3VZE. And my 98 GM has never had ANYTHING but Dex-Cool since new, and even after finally flushing the system @ 100k(not the recommended 150k), it's still got the brown sticky crud floating up to the top, CONSTANTLY having to clean the rad cap.

 

NAPA sells Zerex Asian Formula, a pre-mix near clone of Toyota Pink Super Long Life. It is a phosphated HOAT and silicate and borate free like the Toyota stuff, but half the price. Note that phosphate-free is NOT a good thing for Toyotas, Toyota engineers believe in anti-corrosion compounds with phosphates and choose their engine materials accordingly.

I would never put Dex-cool in a Toyota. Like the man said, nasty stuff.

http://www.valvoline.com/products/br...antifreeze/105

 

I just piss in mine like you see in the movies

:wabbit2: