Mixed green and red coolant….need to flush now? (1 Viewer)

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Radiator nipple popped off and I needed to top off after i fixed it. Had a bottle of green on my rack and filled her up, long story short turns out the previous owner who had just flushed her used red….didn’t know until I found the other bottle.

Does that mean it’s time for a full flush?
 
I would flush ASAP.

The PO of my vehicle tried to make Christmas chili like that once, and 4 years later after multiple flushes and a new radiator I am still slowly getting all the crap out of the system.

I am running green now but if I was running red and needed an emergency top off I would use tap water over mixing coolant types.
 
I would flush ASAP.

The PO of my vehicle tried to make Christmas chili like that once and 4 years later after multiple flushes and a new radiator I am still slowly getting all the crap out of the system.


Outstanding 🤦🏻‍♂️

How many bottles of 50/50 Asian red does she usually take?
 
Didn't mean to frighten you. I'm sure it will be okay if you don't leave it in there forever.

Not sure on coolant capacity.

This may be a good time to transition to green. Red is not available in many remote places. You can find Prestone green at almost any gas station.
 
Personally, I would full reverse flush, and replace with fresh coolant and thermostat, not a difficult job. Nothing like being totally confident in your cooling system, especially if you go to remote locations. Nightmare to crack your head.
 
You knew you were going to get diverging answers, right?

I have bought 3 land cruisers (1997, 2004, 2011) in the last 5 years, all of which came with Toyota Red coolant. I have always added Prestone (it was cheap) and never had any issues. The bottle states 'Guaranteed for all vehicles.' I suppose that can mean guaranteed for the car, but nothing about mixing coolants. Whatever it means, I have mixed coolants and I have never had a problem.

That being said, what does your coolant bottle say? When you say green (to me this is the older coolant of the 80s) I'm not sure. The newer coolant is more yellow, so it depends on your specific situation.

My opinion (and I may get trampled on this) is that you are likely OK.

I will say that there is value in peace of mind. A coolant flush isn't a large investment of time and money. If it makes you feel better, do it.
 
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The coolant capacity should be in your owners manual. I believe it's close to 4 gallons.
 
The two colors will not agree over time and they will create sludge. Mine had this issue and eventually helped push ,my radiator over the edge to explode. HG was OK, as it had been done 65K before the problem.

You need to flush the system, remove the thermostat for that, fill with distilled water and completely drain multiple times. (I did six full distilled water flushes on mine) after flushing with a garden hose.

When I was all done and the last round of distilled was clear, I drained completely, then refilled with Toyota red and distilled water at a 50/50 mix. I now have 125K on that coolant and I t's time to flush and do PM again. It looks like Fruit Punch Gatorade for a solid 4 years before it started to cloud up a little.
 
The two colors will not agree over time and they will create sludge. Mine had this issue and eventually helped push ,my radiator over the edge to explode. HG was OK, as it had been done 65K before the problem.

You need to flush the system, remove the thermostat for that, fill with distilled water and completely drain multiple times. (I did six full distilled water flushes on mine) after flushing with a garden hose.

When I was all done and the last round of distilled was clear, I drained completely, then refilled with Toyota red and distilled water at a 50/50 mix. I now have 125K on that coolant and I t's time to flush and do PM again. It looks like Fruit Punch Gatorade for a solid 4 years before it started to cloud up a little.
No more discussion he has spoken the truth! ⬆️
 
I am not sure if it was the reason but when I put the green in the red it blew the radiator in a day or two...could have been a total coincidence but regardless I had to get a new radiator. I flushed it all out with the garden hose, ran distilled in it, flushed it again, and have been running green with no issues ever since. Green is just way more available when you need it.
 
It’s 4 gallons total. You’ll be fine to drain and flush, nothing catastrophic should happen provided you begin soonest. Don’t run it. Run the conservative red car that gets slightly better gas mileage than the cruiser until you’re done.
 
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Yep, flush ASAP.

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