Green Coolant!

[SW03ES]

Did they make the red Toyota coolant in 95?

[CUMan]

Did they make the red Toyota coolant in 95?

Yes, they did. My 94 ES came from the dealership with red coolant.

I have used green coolant in it for many years with no problems. As the previous poster stated, the owner's manual and service manual say nothing about using red coolant only.

[SW03ES]

Just because its red doesnt mean its the Toyota long life coolant though...

[90LS400Lexus]

remember red doesn't mean used dex-cool or whatever that trash is that turned to mud in my catera and blazer

Yeah, my moms 1997 Oldsmobile Achieva has/had that junk in it.

[vroom8]

Can you point us to something that says the green coolant won't gum up radiators when changed at the factory reccomended interval?

Certainly, the factory repair manual for my former '95 says that the coolant only needs to be ethylene glycol type; never do they make any reference to a specific brand or color coolant. I'm sure if the engineers thought the green coolant was going to harm the engine/radiator/etc., they'd say to use only the red Toyota coolant. The doom and gloom stories about what might happen if you don't use the Toyota coolant are somewhat comical to me since I've had green coolant in my past '95 for over 150k miles with no cooling issues at all--it'll idle all day long in 105* with the ac going without over heating. Around here, green coolant is less than half the price of Toyota coolant even if you buy it at the Toyota dealer.

yes, I also just looked at my auto service manual, and it said that the coolant should be 'ethylene glycol type' only. However, with the power steering fluid and trans fluid, they recommend Dex 2 only. I still think the toyota coolant will be better for the car in the long run, and will switch, but apparently the green type is OK.

[Lash]

There are people that think using aftermarket hood struts will cause the world to end too.

[jcrome04]

Yup and NON OEM hood struts will sure take a lot of life off of that cooling system!

[SW03ES]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say using non-OEM hood struts would cause any issues...

As for the coolant, does anyone have a service manual for a post 98 LS that discusses the coolant?

[vroom8]

There are people that think using aftermarket hood struts will cause the world to end too.

I do think that the people on this forum are only concerned with getting the best performance possible from these fabulous cars....and again thanks for all the great info, and discussion, everyone. :D

[pishta]

There are people that think using aftermarket hood struts will cause the world to end too.

I do think that the people on this forum are only concerned with getting the best performance possible from these fabulous cars....and again thanks for all the great info, and discussion, everyone. :D

I have heard that the difference in the green (ethelyn glycol)and the GM orange/red (propolyn glycol) is it (dex-cool)is non silicated, is non- poisonous and can go 5/150k miles between change out. It also had a tendency to foul the plastic intake gaskets and create a crystalization/ sedimentary sludge that gunked up smaller passages. I went to green in my 98 Suburban after my plastic/aluminum composite heater nipple disintegrated. It is also glycol based.

Funny thing about Dex-cool coolant, you need to keep the level of coolant to the hot mark, even if it is a cold motor. That means overfilling the reservoir per a GM TSB. You see as air and heat become involved (a boil over and the resulting loss of coolant, replaced by air) funny things start to happen:

" Propylene Glycol oxidizes when exposed to air and heat. When this occurs, organic acids are formed viz. Glycolic acid, Glyoxalic acid, Formic acid, Carbonic acid & Oxalic acid. If not properly inhibited, this fluid can be very corrosive. Protodin is added to Propylene Glycol to act as a buffer, preventing low pH attack on the system metals. It forms a protective skin inside the tank and pipelines which helps to prevent acid attack that cause corrosion.

Beside cooling system breakdown, biological fouling also occurs. Once bacterial slime starts the corrosion rate of the system increases. In system where a glycol solution is maintained on a continuous basis, regular monitoring of freeze protection, pH, specific gravity, inhibitor level, color and biological contamination should be checked on routine basis.

Propylene glycol should be replaced when it turns reddish in color." funny how it turns red when it is bad, when it comes dyed red from the factory...Use Toyota red, or green but flush it every 2 years. I use Green in my classic Mopar but have noticed pitting in a brand new aluminum intake water passage only a year after installing.

[SW03ES]

Also bear in mind the Toyota coolant is NOT DexCool...