Toyota "Red" Antifreeze coolant aftermarket selection

I've been trying to find a good alternative to the Toyota Red Antifreeze and after a few hours of trying to determine what’s in Toyota's coolant as opposed to aftermarket coolants, I stumbled across a coolant that claims to be a direct replacement for Toyota's Red long life coolant. It comes as concentrate so you can mix to your preference. It’s $25 at O'Reilly Auto Parts for a gallon as opposed to $22 for a 50/50 mix from my local Toyota Dealer.


Pentosin Engine Coolant
Pentofrost A1
Part# PF-A1-1

Why does this matter? Without getting too involved, there are different chemicals in each brand of coolant that will be either more or less corrosive to different metals. Also, additives like phosphate and silicates will also interact with impurities in water (if you’re using tap) and with affect how cooling system seals deteriorate.

If anyone has used this, let me know what you think. I'm about to try this in my Tacoma and Camry.

 

Well I wouldn't try it on my own truck. All I've ever put in my truck is Toyota fluids except for the oil of course. It just doesn't make any sense to me to save $5 bucks on some coolant when I can get the OEM coolant and not have to worry about it.

 

Savings is more like $20 assuming you buy two gallons. A product like that is attractive to anybody that isn't in close proximity to a dealer. Are there any equivalents to Toyota's SLL pink coolant that you know of bawilson21?

 

I've been using Valvoline/Zerex Asian since I replaced my radiator:



http://www.valvoline.com/products/brands/zerex/antifreeze/105

O'Reilly's carries it also. It specifically mentions Toyota on the label.

Pentosin is a well respected brand also. I wouldn't hesitate to use it. It's popular with European cars.

 

Yup, as bbob said, Zerex is another brand that makes an equivalent to the pink stuff. It only comes in 50/50 though. I've read that basically, any coolant made for Toyota, Nissan, Honda, or Mazda is essentially the same on the inside, though they do have different colors. They are all made by the same company called CCI. Unfortunately unlike Aisin, they only sell to the auto manufacturers and don't make aftermarket parts.

 

Toyota red long life is (not)pre mixed 50/50 from the factory, it needs to be diluted down. The new pink extra long life for the sec gens is pre mixed. So looks to me from the prices the OP
posted its cheaper to buy the toyota than the Oriellys stuff. Not only that my local orielly only carries asian pink stuff around the winter months and its not available any other time in store.

 

I'll stick with the premix unless mixing with distilled water. Tap water has minerals in it that can over time precipitate clogging radiator tubes.

 

I have only used Toyota antifreeze and have never had a radiator problem in any of my vehicles.

 

We've come a long way since I used to stick the garden hose in the radiator of my '76 Datsun. I didn't even realize different manufacturers used different coolants or that some came diluted.

 

Wondering what makes "Asian" cooling systems different from "American and "European" systems?

 

Believe it has something to do with the metals and materials used in the engine, radiator, etc., and different coolants offer better corrosion inhibitors based on that.

 

I doubt that "Asian" or "European" vehicles have any specific metals or alloys that they use that aren't used in any other part of the world. Motor vehicle manufacturing is a global industry.

 

great research OP

 

It is a difference in the metallurgy. There is not justmetal in your heads and block. There are minerals and other additives includedbesides the mixture of base metals that is why they are called alloys. I haveseen the direct results of incorrect fluids being used in cars, particularlyHonda's.

If you plan to have your car for a long time, say 300k+miles why not spend a few dollars more to make sure it will get there withminimal issues. How much would a rebuilt engine cost you at 200k miles? Whatwould the extra expense be to use factory fluids to get 300k+? Spend the extra moneyover many years instead of a big ticket all at once.

But then again it is your own vehicle, do what you want.

 

Both the Pentosin and Zerex coolants are OK. The 2nd gen owner's manual explicitly allow non-Toyota brand coolant:

Both the Pentosin and Zerex coolants meet the requirements, though they likely won't last the longer drain intervals of 2nd gens (5 years / 50k)

 

Just bringing this thread back since it's a reasonable topic.

After doing my own research, I would use the Pentosin concentrate on my 1st Gen Taco.
It looks safe to me. Since my truck will never see below 40F or over 90F, I'll use 30% anti-freeze and 70% water. I'll just flush it every year with about 1/2 the concentrate. My conditions are not extreme and clean fluids trumps dirty-old fluids. I used to use distilled water but water from the hose is fine in my conditions.

I'm doing the same thing in my BMW M3's, which I've owned 7 of them. Again, I flush every year and never see freezing temps.

My next question is if there is a plug in the engine block to do a more thorough flush?

 

There is a drain port on the engine block that I found out about while going looking at this site
http://forum.ih8mud.com/95-gen-toyo...ooling-system-flush-tacoma-3-4-v6-5vz-fe.html

Refer to image below. Grab a hose and put it on the nipple, then use a ratchet to turn the bolt above it. Dont forget to close when you're done of course.

 

Not sure what you guys are paying for antifreeze at your local dealerships but here it is 16.95 a gallon of pre mixed. I just picked 3 gallons the other day to do a fluid change on the truck and it was 55.81 otd

 

It's probably more here in California because of disposal laws.
Otherwise, the red Pentosin Gallon of concentrate is $25+tax.
That's $27 for the whole job for me.

That will make a 36% coolant / 64% water mix.
Since I only see 40F to 90F, I don't need it thicker than that.
Other folks may need more.

 

I'd like to add a possible contender to the mix here. Beck/Arnley makes coolant (just discovered) and they appear to make a 2 products for toyota. A red concentrate, and a pink diluted mix. I have not found a good image of the back though to see if it contains silicates, phosphates, or has Sebacic acid as an Organic Acid Treatment. Also found that Aisin makes a coolant for toyotas aswell that may work.


Whats more interesting though is that by calling around to different Toyota dealerships in my area, I found that they each offered coolant at different prices and found one that sold a gallon of the red Toyota Long Life Antifreeze Coolant concentrate for $21.95 which is a bit cheaper then the Pentosin stuff I recommended earlier from OReilly's (They now sell for about $27 where Im at). It pays to call around your area.