Toyota Coolant

'04 Highlander and '04 RAV4
I want to top off the coolant from time to time, as needed.
I haven't owned a car with this pink coolant before. I
called the parts department of one local dealer and he said
it was $15/gal and that you have to dilute it 50/50 per
standard operating procedure. I then called the parts
department of another local dealer. They said that it was
$18/gal and that it was already diluted -- you just add it
as is. (And, yes, I told them the year and models of the cars.)

They seem to be disagreeing with one another, unless there
are two products and one dealer carries _only_ the full
strength and the other dealer carries _only_ the premixed.
Or unless these guys are wrong.

The $18/gal premixed parts guy added "And you'll probably
need two gallons", assuming that I was going to do a full
coolant flush. What's up with $36 plus tax for what is
really _one_ gallon of coolant? Is there a suitable
after market product?

"ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
news:422E28A9.F2B960EB@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...[color=blue]
> '04 Highlander and '04 RAV4
> I want to top off the coolant from time to time, as needed.
> I haven't owned a car with this pink coolant before. I
> called the parts department of one local dealer and he said
> it was $15/gal and that you have to dilute it 50/50 per
> standard operating procedure. I then called the parts
> department of another local dealer. They said that it was
> $18/gal and that it was already diluted -- you just add it
> as is. (And, yes, I told them the year and models of the cars.)
>
> They seem to be disagreeing with one another, unless there
> are two products and one dealer carries _only_ the full
> strength and the other dealer carries _only_ the premixed.
> Or unless these guys are wrong.
>
> The $18/gal premixed parts guy added "And you'll probably
> need two gallons", assuming that I was going to do a full
> coolant flush. What's up with $36 plus tax for what is
> really _one_ gallon of coolant? Is there a suitable
> after market product?[/color]

The Toyota Red is not already diluted. Use distilled water for best results.
Always add it to the reservoir, not the radiator (unless doing a complete
change).

Check for parts specials at your dealers. Sometimes these are on their
internet sites. I found the price in my town ranged from $10 to $20.

From what I understand (from talking to a couple of field engineers last
time I was at Toyota's tech school) the only real difference between the
pink stuff (super long life) and the red stuff (long life)is the water
they are mixed with. The pink stuff, as you noted, is already pre-mixed
with water, but in this case the water is treated and blessed by the guys
at the factory. So what I understand is that the actual 'coolant' is the
same or very very similar. I was also told by them that the two can safely
be mixed, but then the 90k mile initial change goes out the window.

"Mark A" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:fJCdnVofL_pxsrPfRVn-2g@comcast.com...[color=blue]
> "ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
> news:422E28A9.F2B960EB@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...
> The Toyota Red is not already diluted. Use distilled water for best
> results.
> Always add it to the reservoir, not the radiator (unless doing a complete
> change).
>[/color]
Wrong, Toyota Red (LongLife) is available as both a 'concentrate' and as
'pre-mixed'.
Probably the same for the pink coolant the OP has - although I've never
heard of this.

Don't know why the OP needs to 'top up' coolant though - I'd be concerned if
it was losing some.

Johnny wrote:[color=blue]
> Toyota Red (LongLife) is available as both a 'concentrate' and
> as 'pre-mixed'. Probably the same for the pink coolant the OP has[/color]
- although I've never heard of this.

Are you saying that Toyota has _two_ different coolants,
pink and red? Or is pink coolant simply _red_ coolant that
comes _pre-mixed_ (and thus is pink)? Does anyone, i.e.,
Toyota techs, really _know_ this?
[color=blue]
> Don't know why the OP needs to 'top up' coolant though
> - I'd be concerned if it was losing some.[/color]

Over the years I've had many different cars of many different
brands. I've never owned a car that didn't need to have additional
coolant added _occasionally_. Anyone who lives in an area where
it hits a hundred degrees in the summer on a regular basis
understands evaporation.

> > The Toyota Red is not already diluted. Use distilled water for best[color=blue][color=green]
> > results.
> > Always add it to the reservoir, not the radiator (unless doing a[/color][/color]
complete[color=blue][color=green]
> > change).
> >[/color]
> Wrong, Toyota Red (LongLife) is available as both a 'concentrate' and as
> 'pre-mixed'.
> Probably the same for the pink coolant the OP has - although I've never
> heard of this.
>
> Don't know why the OP needs to 'top up' coolant though - I'd be concerned[/color]
if[color=blue]
> it was losing some.
>[/color]
Apparently the pink is pre-diluted, but same as Red (according to another
poster). I was not aware of this and stand corrected (although I did say
that "Red" was undiluted). But it sounds like the price quotes the OP was
getting was for Red (undiluted), or he was getting ripped off.

"Mark A" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:HpadnXeAR81agrLfRVn-ow@comcast.com...[color=blue]
> Apparently the pink is pre-diluted, but same as Red (according to another
> poster). I was not aware of this and stand corrected (although I did say
> that "Red" was undiluted). But it sounds like the price quotes the OP was
> getting was for Red (undiluted), or he was getting ripped off.
>[/color]
The other poster said that pink is 'super longlife'.

"ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
news:422F0BC5.5C14E754@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...[color=blue]
> Johnny wrote:[color=green]
>> Toyota Red (LongLife) is available as both a 'concentrate' and
>> as 'pre-mixed'. Probably the same for the pink coolant the OP has[/color]
> - although I've never heard of this.
>
> Are you saying that Toyota has _two_ different coolants,
> pink and red? Or is pink coolant simply _red_ coolant that
> comes _pre-mixed_ (and thus is pink)? Does anyone, i.e.,
> Toyota techs, really _know_ this?
>[/color]
Another poster mentioned 'pink' being a 'super longlife' coolant - I'm not
familiar with that though.

Here are two photos that explain it, incase anyone thinks I'm making it up
;-)

"Toyota Long Life Coolant, Pre-mixed Red":
[url]http://img65.exs.cx/img65/9140/rdsc001069cd.jpg[/url]

"Toyota Long Life Coolant, Concentrated Red":
[url]http://www.strathycruise.com/pics/service03.jpg[/url]

[color=blue][color=green]
>> Don't know why the OP needs to 'top up' coolant though
>> - I'd be concerned if it was losing some.[/color]
>
> Over the years I've had many different cars of many different
> brands. I've never owned a car that didn't need to have additional
> coolant added _occasionally_. Anyone who lives in an area where
> it hits a hundred degrees in the summer on a regular basis
> understands evaporation.[/color]

Well my manual says to change the coolant completely every 2 years.
You may be right about the evaporation - but we don't get that here in the
UK :-/

On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 14:35:47 -0800, ll
<lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>'04 Highlander and '04 RAV4
>I want to top off the coolant from time to time, as needed.[/color]



Coolants don't need to be "top off." It runs on a close system, and
minute amount may eveporate from the reservour but other than that...
Yer looking to spend$ where it doesn't need it.

Johnny wrote:[color=blue]
> Here are two photos that explain it[/color]

Thanks for the photos. I just returned from a Toyota dealer,
the one which last week said they sold undiluted red for $15.
I told the parts guy the same thing I said on the phone:
04' Highlander, '04 RAV4. He said that would be the premixed
at $18. I told him that was different than what one of his guys
said last week, but the same as the _other_ dealer. He went in
the back and brought out a printout/table of model vs. year
and confirmed the premixed. He said that in '03 they started
to make the changeover and in '04 essentially all models used
the premixed. He said that the proper names are "super long
life" (premixed) for '04 and newer, and "long life" (not premixed)
for '02 and older (pretty much).

One gallon of the premixed was $18.64 plus tax = $20.28.
Twenty dollars for what is essentially one half gallon of
actual coolant. That sure seems like a ripoff.

I'll ask the question again since no one responded the first
time: is there a suitable aftermarket coolant for Toyotas?
Distilled water is $1.29/gal at the grocery store.
That and a gallon of acceptable coolant is all you need.
[color=blue]
> You may be right about the evaporation - but we don't get that
> here in the UK :-/[/color]

No kidding. We were in London in the summer once when it was
in the 80's. I thought the locals were going to faint from
heat prostration. Seemed cool to us.

"ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
news:422F7DC0.2E5B0F6C@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...
[color=blue]
> One gallon of the premixed was $18.64 plus tax = $20.28.
> Twenty dollars for what is essentially one half gallon of
> actual coolant. That sure seems like a ripoff.
>
> I'll ask the question again since no one responded the first
> time: is there a suitable aftermarket coolant for Toyotas?
> Distilled water is $1.29/gal at the grocery store.
> That and a gallon of acceptable coolant is all you need.[/color]

Genuine Toyota coolant is silicate-free and because it is silicate-free,
should not be mixed with coolant containing silicates.

The other effect of mixing the red/pink coolant with the yellow/green/orange
stuff if that the resulting mixture ends up looking like rusty water so it
looks like the cooling system is contaminated.

I use only genuine Toyota coolant in our 2 Toyotas and Lexus.


--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

Ray O wrote:[color=blue]
> Genuine Toyota coolant is silicate-free and because it is
> silicate-free, should not be mixed with coolant containing
> silicates.[/color]

I wouldn't even _consider_ mixing the two kinds of coolants!
Let me rephrase the question:

Is there a virtually identical coolant to Toyota's available
as an aftermarket product? (And if not, why not?)

This isn't rocket science, it's just _coolant_.
It's difficult to understand how in an entrepreneurial,
democratic, capitalistic society one company can be
the _sole source_ of a product on the entire planet Earth.

"ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
news:422F7DC0.2E5B0F6C@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...[color=blue]
> Johnny wrote:[color=green]
>> Here are two photos that explain it[/color]
>
> Thanks for the photos. I just returned from a Toyota dealer,
> the one which last week said they sold undiluted red for $15.
> I told the parts guy the same thing I said on the phone:
> 04' Highlander, '04 RAV4. He said that would be the premixed
> at $18. I told him that was different than what one of his guys
> said last week, but the same as the _other_ dealer. He went in
> the back and brought out a printout/table of model vs. year
> and confirmed the premixed. He said that in '03 they started
> to make the changeover and in '04 essentially all models used
> the premixed. He said that the proper names are "super long
> life" (premixed) for '04 and newer, and "long life" (not premixed)
> for '02 and older (pretty much).
>[/color]
The premixed & concentrate 'Toyota Red' coolants are identical except that
the premixed has distilled water already added - your vehicle (or previous
to '03 models) WILL NOT have concentrated coolant in it.
[color=blue]
> One gallon of the premixed was $18.64 plus tax = $20.28.
> Twenty dollars for what is essentially one half gallon of
> actual coolant. That sure seems like a ripoff.
>[/color]
Yes, Toyota Red ain't cheap!!
I recently bought 15 litres of the stuff for my car!!
[color=blue]
> I'll ask the question again since no one responded the first
> time: is there a suitable aftermarket coolant for Toyotas?
> Distilled water is $1.29/gal at the grocery store.
> That and a gallon of acceptable coolant is all you need.
>[/color]
Essentially, any ethylene glycol based coolant should do you.
Obviously try to get red so your coolant doesn't end up looking
contaminated.
And other brands of ethylene glycol based coolant are sold premixed or
concentrate, it's up to you whether you can be bother to mix it yourself
with distilled water.

For an aftermarket coolant, wouldn't Prestone 50/150 Extended Life be
ok. On the jug it says its silicate and phosphate free.

"ll" <lkslittle@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net> wrote in message
news:422F8EF7.5BDC12A8@REMOVEcomcastTHIS.net...[color=blue]
> Ray O wrote:[color=green]
>> Genuine Toyota coolant is silicate-free and because it is
>> silicate-free, should not be mixed with coolant containing
>> silicates.[/color]
>
> I wouldn't even _consider_ mixing the two kinds of coolants!
> Let me rephrase the question:
>
> Is there a virtually identical coolant to Toyota's available
> as an aftermarket product? (And if not, why not?)
>
> This isn't rocket science, it's just _coolant_.
> It's difficult to understand how in an entrepreneurial,
> democratic, capitalistic society one company can be
> the _sole source_ of a product on the entire planet Earth.[/color]

If you want to go with an aftermarket coolant, stick to something that is
name-brand and silicate-free and dilute it with distilled water and you
should not have any problems.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply