Red Long Life Coolant Cost? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Surfslinger · 08-05-2006, 04:22 PM

Gotta buy a gallon of red Toyota LLC on Monday, and curious about what you folks are paying for the stuff? Have not bought any for a while, and a former Toyota mechanic friend of mine said you won't believe how steep the price has become as of late.

Reason for the trip is, I opened an older sealed jug of Toyota LLC, and it smelled just like paint thinner??? Never seen that before, the receipt is long gone, and no way I'm going to put it in my Camry

Thanks for the price check!

SS

touringcamry · 08-05-2006, 07:16 PM

$20 for 1 gallon jug.

Surfslinger · 08-06-2006, 11:15 AM

Holy crap! My friend wasn't kidding!

Thanks for the heads up TC, I had no idea it had gotten so expensive since I last bought some in 03 for $12/gallon as I recall.

SS

***toyomoho*** · 08-07-2006, 01:13 PM

Sometimes the coolant is on sale for less. You can substitute other coolants. Find one silicate and borate free, meeting ASTM-D-3306 and D-4340 specs. The coolant container should state this information.

marc780 · 08-09-2006, 10:56 AM

They also sell a universal coolant that mixes with everything. BTW perhaps you have heard never to mix the red with the green, they're not kidding, it gunk things up if you do this. Except for the universal kind which is cheaper and ok to add to whatever is in your radiator already.

BUT from what i have seen and heard (im a mechanic and work on cars of all kinds every day) there have been issues with the additives in the red, clumping up inside the cooling system in places and also damaging the water pump seal on a few occasions. In my experience, i beleive it is better to ignore that "long-life, never needs changing" claim that some manufacturers of the red coolant make. Red or green, you'll probably be ok with either, but the benefits of the red are to me, highly exagerated. And if keeping your car running a long time is your goal, stick with the green ($$$) and change it once a year or at most every two years.

DOHCammer · 08-09-2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc780

They also sell a universal coolant that mixes with everything. BTW perhaps you have heard never to mix the red with the green, they're not kidding, it gunk things up if you do this. Except for the universal kind which is cheaper and ok to add to whatever is in your radiator already.

I think you're thinking of the orange coolant that GM uses. You can't mix that with the green or it'll raise hell and gel up. Orange IS NOT compatible with green. Toyota red antifreeze is made of the same stuff as the green, has a higher additive content (costs more) and no silcates (again costs more). Silicates supposedly eat up water pump seals decreading their life span. Since the red is made of ethylene glycol it's completely compatible with the green stuff, only problem is that it turns brown in color when mixed so it looks old. A thorough flushing will solve that problem. It's up to you, but you'll have to change more often if you go green. For me, I'd rather pay twice as much and do it less often because my TIME is worth more than the damn coolant.

ghettosled · 08-11-2006, 08:06 AM

i have the red/orange coolant in my camaro. the car is 7 years old with 40k miles and im in desprite need to flush the cooling system. its starting to look like egg drop soup thats tinted red. ive never had green look this bad.

ghettosled · 08-11-2006, 08:07 AM

and no, ive never mixed coolents.

marc780 · 08-12-2006, 08:41 AM

Quote:

I think you're thinking of the orange coolant that GM uses. You can't mix that with the green or it'll raise hell and gel up.

No. We use at work a "universal" antifreeze in gallon jugs not drums, and this stuff is made by Prestone , label reads "mixes with ALL makes ALL colors of antifreeze".