Engine Coolant Choice
 

GM Dex Cool -----orange color----Oreilly
Toyota Long Life coolant------red/pink----$21 at carquest
Prestone Ext Life any color ------color kinda clear ---Wally world
Least expensive coolant branded for retailers -------yellow/urine color

Anyway I am considering using prestone ext life coolant(any COLOR) for my 04Prius!
Prestone 800 phone hotline say this is compatible for that application.
Local ASE mech says the same.

I have notice many Toyota owners have been sold on mfg dealer branded products and color dye agent.
please view this link too
http://http://techno-fandom.org/~hob...00k/part5.html and
http://sancarlosradiator.com/antifreeze_coolant.
04SlvPrius

...if still under warantee, use appropriate "factory / OEM" coolant (and parts).

...if not under warantee, clean & flush thoroughly, and use Prestone.

Answer to 2nd statement first and not to be ugly!
Most auto mfg warranty 3yr/36m unless having ext warrant. The vehicle has no warranty. aka 04SlvPrius

Next,OEM coolants use dye color agents so you come back to local dealer for product. Drain coolant fluid yes. Flush/clean is almost impossible on this vehicle. Like saying "flush/clean" brake line and master cylinder.

I agree with it being under warranty to use the factory suggested coolant.

But why so adamant about the Prestone coolant?

I buy the Murrays concentrated (green) coolant from O'Reilly's Auto. It's only $9 and makes two gallons of 50/50 mix as opposed to $9+ for the 1gal premixed stuff and the $11+ 1gal. Prestone extended premixed?

...why? (a) known quality history and (b) 'universal' compatibility with other mixes.

...other than that, no special reason (cost not considered either).

...maybe even "PEAK"?

Prestone
 

Not really "adamant" or adams ant bout any coolant producer. I use Oreally too for bout everything. Oreily house brand is prestone.
End users have mixed coolants choices in the past. Big no no is using low cost yellow "old school" engine coolant with ext life or long life.

GM got sued over Dex Cool

I am just wondering what the coolant formula makeup. of Toyota Long Life coolant (red/pink) (borate free) and true differentation might be.
Water quality varies . Coolant quality, formula makeup and proper application are important.
However the rest like color dye agents and word marketing aka "long life" "ext life" are just that marketing and branding.

I use the cheap green stuff. Always have and why not? It always works. And it's cheap. And it works.

Why, when something works, bust a nut to find something else?

I say Amen to that!

I use the green stuff 50/50 mixed with distilled water. Every year I stick the positive lead from my Voltmeter in the water fill in the radiator fill neck (in the coolant) and the negative lead on the negative battery terminal. When it starts reading more than .01V it's time to change the coolant.

Source: Checking for Electrolysis in Coolant

I'm pretty tight with my money (have to be , I only make $17K a year) so I tend to squeeze as much life out of things as possible.

I hear ya re: budget.

Last fall I got around to flushing/changing the coolant in my '94 F150. The FACTORY coolant. :eek:

I'm sure many would howl at the callousness of my abuse; however, it's the only vehicle I've ever bought new, and I've taken care of it from day one. Over the years I have checked the coolant, for color and with the hydrometer. Like other things on the truck, I finally changed it out of pure guilt. Like the air filter element I changed at 80,000 miles and over 10 years old- changed out of pure guilt because really, it wasn't filthy and could have stayed in service. This is the truck that still proudly wears the factory battery! :eek: In MN! :eek: :thumbup:

Oh, and when I did the coolant flush, there was no evidence whatsoever of any cooling system problems. There was a wee bit of sediment in the overflow tank. A visual down the radiator neck showed no accumilation of anything. Oh yes, in addition to the 16 year old battery, it proudly wears all the original hoses and plug wires. Shoot, I have replaced the serpentine belt once though.

As an owner of a GM car that had Death-Cool in it, I like having choices. I'm using the Prestone extended-life since it was BOGO and I had a rebate back when I last changed it after the lower intake gaskets were changed. Saved another 3800, yes!

I'd use the mixes-with-any kind after flushing as much of the factory stuff out as possible.

...same situation "here," a 1999 Malibu 3.1L V6 that had to have intake manifold gasket replaced at ~60K miles because Dex-Cool "ate" the gasket.

I'm sticking with G-05 or the old green stuff. The only place I can find the G-05 is Napa.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...8/ai_n9453107/

Hey
thanks for the link very good reading. I am thinking that "G-05" is NAPA house brand.
Thanks
04PriusSlvg

The low cost product is fine on defined application. Toyota has used a pink/red dye with OAG with no silicates and some phosphates and this is incompatible to that application. Toyota owners are seem to be "adamant" bout Toyota Long Life Coolant though.
thanks
04SlvPrius

...samething affects us Pontiac Vibe owners who have a vehicle with a GM-nameplate but 99% of the parts are Toyota-made...including the factory (Freemont, CA) installed OEM pink (not Dex-Cool!) coolant.

I always use whatever happens to be cheapest or has the largest rebate. This year I bought Prestone because with their rebate of buy one gallon get a gallon free, it brought the cost down to $4.25 a gallon at the local Wally World for full strength.

Best coolant
 

This stuff is very good:

http://q8oil.ro/co/en/Q8%20Antifreeze%20Long%20Life.pdf

I have the very best experiences with this coolant, and I highly reccomend it.

It comes in a Zerex bottle. Specified by Mercedes, Chrysler and Ford. Autozone used to carry it, but I haven't seen it there in a while.

Zerez G-05 is legit. "Old Green" works great in older motors, but has unwanted effects on corroding plastics and aluminum which are WAY to common on newer vehicles. My father decided to run green in my mom's 3800 after a flush, and not a few months later, blown manifold gasket led to engine hyrdolocking. If you have to change dex-cool every 3 years... and it costs $4 more a gallon... Come on people, it's not THAT much more.

One thing I didn't see mentioned is the use of Distilled water when filling the system. If you put in less minerals, there are less to build up in the system. I understand that when you flush it with a garden hose, you'll get tap water in there... But hey, I'm OCD.

I use the old green stuff. Though it's getting harder and harder to find. Only place I can find it now is Kmart as Peak Original Green. It's always worked well in my old engines and that's all I want to use. And my engines have plenty of aluminum and plastic parts.

I'm not up on all these different types being discussed, but for all I know, anything "extended life" = Deathcool. I won't use any of it.

I think Zerex still makes the old green stuff, but I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere. And I think NAPA's own coolant is the old green too.

For what it's worth, I used to be of the perception that coolant was coolant and I would just buy whatever was cheapest at the time. That is until I owned a 1997 VW Golf. VW and other Euro-cars like to use this expensive Blue coolant. I don't remember if it's made by Bentley or Mercedes or whatever. So, being low one day, I topped it off with the green stuff because some packages say it if safe to use with coolant of any color. It didn't take long to notice an issue. The coolant in the cooling system began turning into a sandy mud and bascially just clogged its own arteries.

I pulled the thermostat (replaced it), flushed the system of all that crap, refilled with 50/50 cheap green stuff and never had another issue. But to say that all coolants are universal would be a false statement.

I think the argument that I hear most about the green stuff is that it's "corrosive" and needs to be changed at least a few times during the life of a vehicle. I say "so what?" It costs about $20 and takes half an hour to completely flush and fill your cooling system on an average sized car. Throw in a new thermostat and your only out $35.

VW coolant is pink. And Mercedes coolant is G-05, which is yellow in the Zerex bottle. I've never seen the factory Mercedes coolant color. I've heard the blue stuff is BMW, but I've never seen it myself.

Two years is usually the recommended change interval for the green stuff. Coolants are designed to retard corrosion, but the additives do not last forever.