Alternative to Toyota Red (1 Viewer)

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I was planning on doing the PHH today. I went by the dealer yesterday to pick up some Toyota red but the parts department was closed for lunch. I wasn't able to make it back and they are closed for the next two days.

Is there a good alternative to Toyota Red? I hate to wait any longer as my LC has 140,000 on it an the PHH is bulging (and I'm off today and tomorrow).
 
Water? When I did mine it had already exploded. Didn't do a complete flush at the time. Completed the PHH job and waited a few weeks for sometime off to do the complete flush.
 
I think carquest sell the toyota red and they are much cheaper than the dealer .At least that what there called in this area
 
I would just run distilled water 'til you can get Toyota red.:) You want to flush out the system really well anyway.
 
.........Is there a good alternative to Toyota Red? I hate to wait any longer as my LC has 140,000 on it an the PHH is bulging (and I'm off today and tomorrow).

Unless you're just extremely OCD, there is no need to run the Toyota Red. Just don't mix the red with the green. If you're going from 1 to the other, make sure you do a very thorough flush before refilling

Before you flamers start start on the necessity of running the red - It's the opinion of Powderpig (Robbie):

The cycle is returning. I know their is a couple of discussions on this in the Archives. I use toyota red for people that want it. I will not use toyota red in my 80 series or older toyota vechicles I own period. I have seen too much. i will use green and flush it once a year. I do beileve that if you have a newer cruiser or newer truck with the MLS head gaskets, the red is great. Just my 2cents. When using the red for customers I do warn that they change at a minimum every second year if not every year. PHH is a case of Electro chemical degrdation, hot source, short piece of rubber, steel pipe. Setting in place break down due to electrolisis. Some worse than others, a good deal of cases I have seen have been in conjuction with poor coolant replacement.Make a choice and stick with it, if changing coolants, flush real good.
Good luck robbie

Some of the old threads are still archived I believe Rookie. I had two trucks that I had rebuilt with in a few months apart. One I filled with red and the other green. The one that I filled with red was a hot tanked block, the one with green was a cleand block(no hot tank). Both radiators were sent out and clean by a rad shop. back flushed both heater cores. The one that devoloped the most sediment on the top of the radiator was the red. I had more particulates that settled in the red, I flushed both soon after the rebuilds to get any **** out and the red had mor deposits. Any how over the course of a couple of years the same held up, more deposits in the truck with the red coolant. Any how I only have one truck to day and it has green. I also like silicates in the coolant, It absorbs more heat, Lx extreme uses water weter by Redline. Well it is mostly silicates to prevent micro boiling on the surface of the cylinder wall. Any how a saab shop that I get information from time to time, uses mecedes Benz coolant in his customers cars and reports great results on not haveing saab HG blow. It has silicates in it. He has some interesting stories about some of his customers and how he only uses that coolant any more. Any he hardly does HG any more on saabs. Any how use what makes you happy, jsut do not mix. Flush really well at least every other year, if not each year. Yep it is now hard to find prestone green, they have gone to this world type that is supose to mix with anything. That just sounds scary to me. i will let some others try it and then read real world reports on how it works to see If I want to put in to my truck. Zerex makes a product that meets mercedes spec, but also ford and chrysler. it is a pale yellow, not bright, similar to the Merecedes coolant.
One other thing about Long life from the memory banks (rather gates data site stored in my MB), is that long life coolant works best in a totally closed system, If closed no extra oxygen to act as a catalist to break the coolant down. Toyota system is not a closed system. Draw your own conclusions on that. later robbie

You could go back and explore some of the old posts. I personally do not have to convince any one of the value of the flushing. Not really worth my time. It really is your choice. I have stated my preference and my reccommendations. One quick thought is that alot of toyota's other engines have gone to MLS about the time that the red coolant came out. I have serviced a few of these and have not seen the type of green/grey mixture in the overflow tank. Where the 1fz has a habit of leaving deposits in the overflow tank(and the radiator), expecially with older fluid. I believe that the red coolant was really designed for the MLS gaskets. Toyota want to stream line products, to match the market. The 1fz does not have that. I see a bunch of coolant creep with the 1fz gaskets, I bet I could point out some on just about every 1fz engine. I really do not think the coolant is the best for the materials of the 1fz engine's HG. Before the guys with the 3fe chime in, I would bet that most with the orginal gasket has some creep as well. The red does not do well with the older hoses as well. As I stated above, I do believe that the red does better with new systems. Good luck with your choices.
I used distilled water with both engines, mixing to aprox 60/40. I have found this to be a good mixture for me.
later robbie


from this older thread. If you read through this thread from start to finish it's amazing to see attitudes and opinions change when confronted with logic instead of emotion.




Water? When I did mine it had already exploded. Didn't do a complete flush at the time. Completed the PHH job and waited a few weeks for sometime off to do the complete flush.
Another excellent suggestion, given the time of year, with no possibility of exposure to freezing temps.
 
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Sorry should have been a little more specific. My PHH exploded away from home on a weekend. Did a quick quick fix (by-passs method) and filled with water to get me home. THEN did complete flush. This isn't my DD so was easy enough to find a open weekend. Just saying Im not sure it would be that big of deal to change out the PHH and then do a flush later. Im sure its frowned upon, but have zero issues 1 1/2 yrs later.
 
This time of year, you're fine with nothing but water and an additive like water wetter. I only run a 20% mixture of anti-freeze anyway since it rarely freezes here.
 
I like Zerex G-05 from AutoZone.

I ran DexCool in my 40th from 100k to almost 200k when I totalled it. Didn't change it often, still had the original PHH. It didn't have an easy life, pulled a big construction trailer 100 miles/day. Full-throttle trying to keep up with highway traffic, then dragging that trailer through sand and mud. So even the worst possible coolant choice didn't cause any problems.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I picked some Toyota Red up at the local Carquest.

Now, time to dive in and replace the PHH........
 
Pesky heater hose. Look for it in "search." I used the blue silicon hoses from index.
 
What's the price difference between dealer and carquest?? Anyone else sell since I don't have carquest around here...
 
What about Toyota pink? Any experience using it in an 80? It is designed for much newer Toyotas.
 
I believe it is like $10.00 or more
 
Guess I will look into the flush... Already pulled the radiator and the tranny cooler and had them flushed
 

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