Green coolant vs. Red coolant (2 Viewers)

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From readinG on this last year best I can tell the newer extra long life no longer carries any protection for copper/brass radiators plus some other diffrences,

the long life "Toyota Red" is correct for an 80.
 
Gumby suggested that I change over to Green. After he worked on my Truck, I know he knows a "few" things about mechanics. Thanks again Gumby. Just got back from another trip 4700 miles in the mountains of CO, with no troubles.

SS
 
Thought this thread might need a bump for newbies such as myself. Surprised I never screwed it up. Besides the Red vs Green question is the official question of New Mexico - really.

see ABQjournal's @VENUE: Dining
 
What an unbelievably large amount of babble about coolant !

One of the most important points about coolant efficacy in corrosion inhibition has not even been mentioned once in 4 pages worth of posts...

Coolant concentration must be no less than 50/50 after it is all said and done. That does not mean that you put in an 50/50 mix and you're good to go. You need to make sure it's still 50/50 (or better, 60/40) after it's circulated through the system.

Just like others here, I work on lots of cars and many have really serious cooling system problems due to really simple stupid stuff like not doing proper maintenance.

1. Do NOT use DEX Cool (this an OAT coolant, OAT = Organic Acid Technology)

2. Long Life, Extra Long Life, Last for F'ing ever... who cares, flush it all out every two years.

3. Minimum concentration (tested with a hydrometer) 50/50 (or -36C)

4. Use Distilled water to mix coolant and to top things up.

5. Use your favorite colour (but not Orange, that's DexCool), it doesn't matter all that much as long as you have enough of it in there.

6. Dispose of it properly - NOT down the drain. Most shops and stores will accept it for recycling - it does cost us money to get rid of this stuff, so be nice and at least offer to pay the disposal fee (it costs me about $0.40 a litre).

7. Replace your rad cap with your coolant. Consider doing your thermostat if it's an easy one to replace.

8. If your hoses are getting old (5 years, 100,00 Kms) then consider changing them too.

9. Clean out your overflow container. Put some detergent in there with a small piece of cloth, shake it around, rinse it clean, put it back into service (and remove the piece of cloth).


hth, and ymmv (and I like the green coolant).

~John
 
Gumby said:
Excellent article from a very knowledgeable source.

Seems to confirm that green silicate based or Toyota red are the only safe choices.

COOLANT CONFUSION: It's Not Easy Being Green . . . or Yellow or Orange or . . . | Motor | Find Articles at BNET

I choose green because Red is expensive and not always available. Because you CAN NOT mix green and red I choose to go with the more available choice. I have had a blown hose in the middle of nowhere MO. a hundred miles from a Toyota dealer.
Click to expand...


This is the reason why my last flush and fill was with green. I can always go to the local gas and go or Walmart in east nowhere and get the green. I just don't mix the two.
 
blurr1604 said:
is the toyota red suitable in the older (mid 80's) copper/brass radiators? or aluminium only?

sorry to dig up an old thread
Click to expand...

yes the Toyota long life coolant (red) is good for copper/brass radiators, the newer Toyota super long life (pink) is not.
 
Ut, OH!
Newbe here.
Just bought a 93 for me. Was quickly confiscated by the wife. (;-}
I LOVE the thing, but I love the wife more, so, I'm still driving my old 4runner.
ANYHOOOO....
My LC has the green,ish fluid in it. After reading this post, or thread, not sure what is which witch, I'll be flushing and reding it up with Toyota red juice.
My question is this..... Anything I should do NOW? Any tricks? Gizmos to help the LC stay happy, coolant and radiator wise? I'm in Northern Arizona, and its been over 100 lately. Mountains, steep hills, AC on constantly.
Just asking.
Oh, and I am really liking this site. Great source for all sorts of LC stuff.
My wife thinks I'm a freaking NINJA for fixing the 'sloshing' sound under "her" truck.
I typed in "sloshing sound" in your search bar. 5 minutes later I was under the beast with a pair of needle nose plyers and a zip tie. BAMMY! fixed.
Y'all rock!
Guy
 
Take a look at the pesky heater hose or "PHH" you can find a description in the faq or search, fan clutch is another maintenance area
 
Newbie is scared!

Oh jeez,
Both those things seem friggin complicated. I'm a magician dude, I own my own store. Work 6 or 7 days a week. not exactly a mechanical type. I'll do a tune up and a thermostat and a oil change but much past that and my eyes glaze over. I got the LC 80 series because I thought it was just about the most reliable and capable 4X4 available. Did I get the wrong truck? Do I need to be a trigonometry reading double jointed pygmy with ten grand in tools and 3 days a month to work on this thing to keep it going for my wife and daughter? I've had my 4runner 4 years now. Just clicked 230,000 on the dash. Still purrs like a fat, heavy, tabby-cat. Barley needed any work so far. Climbs a tree if I want it to. 3" OME lift on cheap, used 31" BFG's. 16MPG all day long. I'm just hoping I'll get that kind of reliability out of this FJZ80.
I'll print out the drama and bring it to my mechanic.
If he can do both the fan clutch and the PHH for less than a kidney I'll buy him a beer, or 6.
I am NOT a romper, not interested in climbing the ninja mountain in Moab. I just want to go on any freaking road I want to, any time I want to do it, with my family, and not have to 2nd guess my truck.
WHere is my lucky rabbits foot? :confused: :steer:
 
GmonkeyMan said:
Oh jeez,
Both those things seem friggin complicated. I'm a magician dude, I own my own store. Work 6 or 7 days a week. not exactly a mechanical type. I'll do a tune up and a thermostat and a oil change but much past that and my eyes glaze over. I got the LC 80 series because I thought it was just about the most reliable and capable 4X4 available. Did I get the wrong truck? Do I need to be a trigonometry reading double jointed pygmy with ten grand in tools and 3 days a month to work on this thing to keep it going for my wife and daughter? I've had my 4runner 4 years now. Just clicked 230,000 on the dash. Still purrs like a fat, heavy, tabby-cat. Barley needed any work so far. Climbs a tree if I want it to. 3" OME lift on cheap, used 31" BFG's. 16MPG all day long. I'm just hoping I'll get that kind of reliability out of this FJZ80.
I'll print out the drama and bring it to my mechanic.
If he can do both the fan clutch and the PHH for less than a kidney I'll buy him a beer, or 6.
I am NOT a romper, not interested in climbing the ninja mountain in Moab. I just want to go on any freaking road I want to, any time I want to do it, with my family, and not have to 2nd guess my truck.
WHere is my lucky rabbits foot? :confused: :steer:
Click to expand...

Oh you are good with the word wrangling. And you nailed the attitude you need with this Beast truck.
 
Turn the heat off. Turn the ac off. Check to see if you have any heat. If so replace heater valve first.
 
Wake up thread. Come on, time to get up...

My 94 FZJ80 currently has the green and I have just decided to keep it green after reading through all this. My reasons.

1) Mine appears to be pretty clean, going to flush it as it is about time.

2) It seems that all who have run the green seem to be doing just fine after hundreds of thousands of miles.

3) It is less expensive.

4) But the one that finally sold me on the green was this comment about finding the right coolant if you blow a hose or something on a big trip.

"I choose green because Red is expensive and not always available. Because you CAN NOT mix green and red I choose to go with the more available choice. I have had a blown hose in the middle of nowhere MO. a hundred miles from a Toyota dealer."

Thanks MUD, you guys are great.
 
That's basically why I went green ~4 years ago. I just replaced the HG and flushed the coolant and replaced with low silicate green again. Have never had a cooling problem, except when the HG finally blew.
 
No all I have seen is the red long life for about $22 a gallon or.the pink that is pre diluted, if you want to change your coolant every year you should probably just go green. It would be a waste of money to use toyota coolant like that


I swapped my 80 over to green about two years ago, it was due and the toyota dealer was 2 hours away, 260k miles water pump and all hoses original except the PHH.

Recently purchased an LS400 just changed the timing belt & water pump, on that motor if the pump fails it takes the timing belt and therefore the motor with it, so I went with toyota red on it for piece of mind.
 
Last edited:
+1 this guy mirrors my sentiments and experience exactly.
 
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