Can I Mix Red With Green Coolant?

[davematthews-S4]

There is red in right now but very low, I only have green coolant to replace it with. Were do you buy red coolant from?

[steviej]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

No, never mix the two.

The red stuff, Toyota Long Life can be bought at any Toyota or Lexus Dealership.

You can get it or an equivalent at AutoZone, Wal-Mart, etc under the Dexcool. READ THE LABEL and if you are not using Toyota brand, make sure the label says Toyota compliant (or something like that).

The only way you could put the green stuff in there, is if you completely absolutely totally flushed out the red stuff.

How low is it???

If need be, you might add water until you can get it flushed, inspected and refilled. I suggest if it is really low, have the system checked, flushed (if you add the water), and refilled to find where the source of you leak is.

steviej

[bbsal]

yep they sell red coolant just about everywere called dexcool.i hope he didnt already put in the green coolant because he never replied back.if you did mix it already then i would flush your system asap before you screw your whole system up.good luck

[SKperformance]

actually even if you flushed all the dex cool out it still cannot take an ethelyne glycol based coolant as it will swell and burst your seal use water if needed until available

[davematthews-S4]

No, I know better than to do something without knowing for sure. I went and bought some Toyota coolant (red). Thanks a bunch guys.

[jhauck]

I was surprised to see the thread stating "cannot take an ethelyne glycol based coolant as it will swell and burst your seal".

My owners manual for my 1997 Lexus ES300 states specifically to "use Ethylene-glycol coolant".

Only warning it states is to "not use alcohol type".

I hate to differ, but I'm sure any "name brand" ethelyne glycol anti-freeze is entirely compatible as long as it's properly flushed (as you guys stated), whether it's red or green.

[HoeBag]

whats the difference between red & green??

[steviej]

both red and green coolants are ethylene-glycol based coolants.

the difference between the two are the additives and the protectants that are added to each type of formula.

Read on:

http://www.penray.com/bulletins/dexcool.htm

Equilon (owned by Texaco® and Shell®) markets a European coolant technology (OAT) that consists of ethylene glycol inhibited with a combination of sebacic acid and 2-ethylhexanoic acid supplemented with tolyltriazole. It was originally called "Long Life", but a lawsuit brought by Warren Oil, who markets a fully formulated coolant under the brand name "LongLife®) forced the retraction of that term form the DEXCOOL, Texaco and Caterpillar® packaging. The combination of a mono and dibasic carboxylic acids permitted Texaco to obtain a patent on the specific combination. Other companies have obtained similar patents, by varying the mixture somewhat and by using similar, but not exactly the same, chemistry.

General Motors® has been using this coolant technology in their cars and light trucks since the start-of-production of the 1996 model year vehicles (except Saturn®, which began in 1997). GMC® medium trucks equipped with Caterpillar engines, have been getting a nitrite-added form of DEXCOOL (NOAT) to insure protection against wet sleeve liner cavitation-erosion.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can DEXCOOL organic acid antifreeze be mixed with ethylene glycol antifreeze?

It is ethylene glycol based antifreeze! The concern with mixing comes from the fact that there are very different chemical inhibitor packages in use. Most leading technologies will work very well when used as intended, typically at 50% in good quality water. If the coolants become mixed with DEXCOOL, however, one study showed a possible aluminum corrosion problem in certain situations. The other question is a concern for dilution of the protection packages. At what mix is the there too little of either inhibitor to protect the engine? As a precaution, both GM and Caterpillar instruct that contaminated systems must be maintained as if they contained only conventional coolant.

I hope this helps.

steviej