Red Or Green Coolant For Toyota Cars?

[aselaplus]

I'm having a Toyota Allion 260 ,2007 model. what is the engine coolant that should be used with this vehicle?

Red or Green coolant is better for my car? please experts help me...........

[bogzy]

Yes. What I did was first let the engine warm up at idling for about 5mnts with the heater on hot to circulate those lines as well. Then first unscrewed the drain plug on the radiator and then opened the radiator cap.( you have to do it extremely carefully to avoid getting scalded). After all the coolent had drained out I closed the drain plug filled the radiator with water closed the radiator cap and let the engine idle for another two three mnts and then again drained out. Did this twice until the water was clear.

Then leaving the drain plug and cap open I fed the radiator with water from the garden-hose and ran the engine for about 5mnts just to wash out anything remaining. Then put the drain plug back in, filled the radiator with the coolent, cleaned the bottle thorughly and filled it upto the mark and then after usual running the next day checked the coolent level in the botttle and topped up. That level remains even now.

Thanks

[akboselk]

Mixing is not advisable unless topping up with the same brand. Still if the coolent in the system is older than two years, total replacement is the way to go IMO. If the coolent type you are about to use (wurth) says it should not be mixed with any other then avoid mixing. I recently faced your situation in a Suzuki which I have and I drained the entire radiator and flushed the system with a hose and water to get all the old coolent out ( it had the red color coolent) and then filled up with the green coolent (wurth) mixed as recommended.

thanks,

Actually my existing coolent is green color and purchased wurth one is also green. Is it stil an issue , be cause wurth not mention that "it Mustn't mix with other coolent"

[CJ5]

thanks,

Actually my existing coolent is green color and purchased wurth one is also green. Is it stil an issue , be cause wurth not mention that "it Mustn't mix with other coolent"

If the coolent in the system is not older than 2 years and wurth does not say not to mix, then I suppose you can do a mix, but if the coolent in the system is older than 2 years or you are not sure of how old it is might as well do a complete drain and flush isn't it???

Still there remains a doubt whether the coolent in the system is a mixable type!!!!! So might as well leave aside any doubts and go with a drain and flush.

[The Don]

So you use only water and have no rust in your cooling system? ie. when you open the radiator cap/resevoir bottle the water is clear and not rusty?

Agreed!!! That's why coolant is recommended to be changed every two years or so.

Yes of course the stuff is highly toxic if consumed by humans or animals but for the cooling system of a vehicle it's not toxic isn't it????

I also have a 54 year old jeep and a 26 year old Jap car in the family owned since new. The jeep I doubt would ever have seen the color of coolant and If I am correct the stuff was not available during that era. Anyway it had rust in the radiator when I got it 27 years ago. Didn't all those old cars from the 50s-60s have perennial engine-boiling problems going up country, mainly due to rust blocked radiators???? The jeep which has a cast-iron engine too had it's share of problems with rust and the radiator core was also changed.

On the other hand the 26 year old Jap car has absolutely no rust in the cooling system, still has the original water pump, radiator core etc etc which IMO have lasted all this while due to the fact that it uses coolent and the coolant has been changed once about every two years since 1987.

As for me, IMO I feel using coolent over plain water does have a significant benefit specially in aluminium engines.

BTW - I don't sell any coolant for a living!!!

Aluminium engines are not a new phenomenon. And actually aluminum behaves differently to cast iron when it comes to oxidization The oxide layer actually protects the aluminium from further oxidization.

As for the cooling system having oxide deposits, sure it does, but the point I'm trying to make is all coolants are also water based so it does not completely eliminate oxidization, it just slows it down a bit. The problem with oxidization is deposits rather than oxidization itself. Since I flush the cooling system of my cars annually this has never been an issue and to be perfectly honest you can't spot the oxidization in the water either (its clear). I am yet to replace a radiator in any car or even have to repair one (once I did have to get a radiator cleaned because it had been standing for a long time before I purchased it with coolant in the radiator but you still ended up with oxide deposits).

Providing examples and facts from marketing literature is one thing (this is a bit like long life synthetic motor oils), but I'm reflecting on real life experience in Sri Lanka. I'm not disputing the benefits of coolant vs standard water but simply pointing out its value is often overstated by companies which manufacture or sell them. The only exception to this is waterless coolant which is non toxic and completely eliminates oxidization!

[Clark's son]

Aluminium engines are not a new phenomenon. And actually aluminum behaves differently to cast iron when it comes to oxidization The oxide layer actually protects the aluminium from further oxidization.

As for the cooling system having oxide deposits, sure it does, but the point I'm trying to make is all coolants are also water based so it does not completely eliminate oxidization, it just slows it down a bit. The problem with oxidization is deposits rather than oxidization itself. Since I flush the cooling system of my cars annually this has never been an issue and to be perfectly honest you can't spot the oxidization in the water either (its clear). I am yet to replace a radiator in any car or even have to repair one (once I did have to get a radiator cleaned because it had been standing for a long time before I purchased it with coolant in the radiator but you still ended up with oxide deposits).

Providing examples and facts from marketing literature is one thing (this is a bit like long life synthetic motor oils), but I'm reflecting on real life experience in Sri Lanka. I'm not disputing the benefits of coolant vs standard water but simply pointing out its value is often overstated by companies which manufacture or sell them. The only exception to this is waterless coolant which is non toxic and completely eliminates oxidization!

Is there a place where we can buy waterless coolent in Sri Lanka.

And is there a place good to do it.

Is it worth to do it in a brand new car

or just run till a flush is needed

[CJ5]

Providing examples and facts from marketing literature is one thing (this is a bit like long life synthetic motor oils), but I'm reflecting on real life experience in Sri Lanka.

With all due respect, the examples I gave about coolant use and non-use with reference to my 54 year old jeep and 26 year old jap car were not taken from "facts from marketing literature" but "real life experience in Sri Lanka" as experienced by me.

[The Don]

With all due respect, the examples I gave about coolant use and non-use with reference to my 54 year old jeep and 26 year old jap car were not taken from "facts from marketing literature" but "real life experience in Sri Lanka" as experienced by me.

Coolants only became widely used in Sri Lanka in the last decade. Before that apart from prestige cars maintained through agents nearly every other car ran just water and tap water or even worse well water full of impurities!

The point I'm trying to make is this kind of depends on for how long of their life you've had these cars and a bit of what happened when.

Edited April 9, 2013 by The Don

[CJ5]

The point I'm trying to make is this kind of depends on for how long of their life you've had these cars and a bit of what happened when.

The car was bought brand new by my father and used only by me and my father since 1987 uptodate and has absolutely no rust now 26 years later. It still has the original water pump, radiator core/tanks and has been having coolent/anti-rust in the system since it arrived from the Nagoya factory to our home. The coolent/antirust has been drained and changed every two years or so since then. I attribute the rust free cooling system of 26 years to coolent/anti-rust and nothing else.

As for the 54 year old jeep I am almost certain it would have had no coolent but only water when it entered our state service in 1959 direct from the factory in Ohio . After it was auctioned off in 1978 it passed into a few more abusive hands and when it came to me in 1985 it had a rust clogged radiator which needed a new core and a new water pump but the tanks were servicable.

Here we have two examples both used for almost the same number of years ie 1987-2013 and 1959-1985. One having coolent/anti-rust and absolutely no rust in the cooling system 26 years later. The other used only water and had major rust issues 26 years later.

Could you say that, had I used only water in the car for these 26 years I would still have a rust free system?????

Edited April 9, 2013 by CJ5

[The Don]

The car was bought brand new by my father and used only by me and my father since 1987 uptodate and has absolutely no rust now 26 years later. It still has the original water pump, radiator core/tanks and has been having coolent/anti-rust in the system since it arrived from the Nagoya factory to our home. The coolent/antirust has been drained and changed every two years or so since then. I attribute the rust free cooling system of 26 years to coolent/anti-rust and nothing else.

As for the 54 year old jeep I am almost certain it would have had no coolent but only water when it entered our state service in 1959 direct from the factory in Ohio . After it was auctioned off in 1978 it passed into a few more abusive hands and when it came to me in 1985 it had a rust clogged radiator which needed a new core and a new water pump but the tanks were servicable.

Here we have two examples both used for almost the same number of years ie 1987-2013 and 1959-1985. One having coolent/anti-rust and absolutely no rust in the cooling system 26 years later. The other used only water and had major rust issues 26 years later.

Could you say that, had I used only water in the car for these 26 years I would still have a rust free system?????

You will not have a rust free system unless you use waterless coolant from the date the vehicle was manufactured. All standard coolant is still mixed with water. The issue with water becomes worse when its hard water full of impurities. But generally speaking in vehicles in constant use you will hardly notice any oxide in the water even after a number of years of not changing coolant. That is because oxide develops on metal and stays there. You only see deposits in cars which have been standing still for a long time and when the vehicle is started the water flow caries the layers of oxide around giving the water a brown colour.

[KasunCharya]

Is Havoline XLI coolant from Caltex good for petrol engines? Please mention pros and cons if there are any. The car is perodua viva only 3 yrs old.

[The Don]

Is Havoline XLI coolant from Caltex good for petrol engines? Please mention pros and cons if there are any. The car is perodua viva only 3 yrs old.

The answer is yes, its perfectly fine for Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, LPG, Bullock power, whatever engines. Basically coolants are universal and you won't notice much of a difference between good brands, and they are not specific to a fuel type.

[Clark's son]

The answer is yes, its perfectly fine for Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, LPG, Bullock power, whatever engines. Basically coolants are universal and you won't notice much of a difference between good brands, and they are not specific to a fuel type.

Its contra indicated in the bullock engine,

it is poisonous to the innocent creature

[The Don]

Is there a place where we can buy waterless coolent in Sri Lanka.

And is there a place good to do it.

Is it worth to do it in a brand new car

or just run till a flush is needed

I don't think waterless coolant is currently imported to Sri Lanka and its not cheap. I was thinking about importing some as well.

If you are going to switch you also need their prep liquid which will absorb all the moisture, before you switch.

I think its a good option to any vehicle.