pink radiator fluid

i was told the stock fluid eats away at the heads and other internal parts. should i change it to prestone? thanks

 

The pink radiator fluid is the toyota super long life coolant. The change interval for it on the tacoma is 100k miles. I've read that all +05 toyota vehicles use it. If it were bad for them, then that would be a whole lot of vehicles with corroded engine parts. If you mix in other types of antifreeze that would probably be bad for it.

Who told you it would corrode the engine parts and why?

 

You got some bad info man. Our trucks use the super long life pink coolant. It should be flushed out around 100K miles. Don't use anything but OEM pink coolant.

 

Here's a not very informative quote from toyotaownersonline

 

Is it possible that Toyota just wants us to by their products?

 

The pink stuff is organic acid based which provides superior protection. It etches and creates a protective layer on the engine metal similar to how Aluminum has an aluminum-oxide protective coating (that it self generates) to prevent corrosion. When you add green-goo silicon based antifreeze you are relying on the silicon to "paint" the metal surface with a protection layer. As green goo silicon based antifreeze ages the silicon can drop out of solution and create a sludge and abrasive. It therefore has a shorter life.

Stick with dealer pink antifreeze. It's not the same as GM's Dexcool. Dexcool has created many problems in GM's, especially when you put it in older engines with mixed metals - like say having a brass heater core and aluminum rad, head and cast iron block. The most reactive metal in the mix will get corroded away if there is air in the system that has Dexcool in it.

 

I use Green in everything.

 

I prefer the green as well. It's been around for ever and a day, and I have not been shown any evidence that the pink is better. Just Toyota marketing hype which says only, it's better because we said so and put it in when you bought the truck.

 

Okay so I could either stick with the pink toyota antifreeze or go with the green coolant? How about the high performance antifreeze like the blue coolant? I am going to change my coolant in 3k miles. My buddy recommended I go with maxlife coolant which is suppose to last 150k miles. Can you get the pink antifreeze from other auto parts like Baxter or Napa?

 

I usually keep a vehicle 5 to 7 years, and drive around 6K miles a year. So, I'm not worried about any of this pink vs green stuff.

 

Im am considering changing the coolant bc i dont know if the previous owner did. I bought a gallon of the pink stuff, isone enough? Do i need to mix it with purified water? Shoud i use 2 gallons? What about adding REDLINES Water Wetter for extra protection? Cliams to loweer temps by 20 degrees.

 

redline water wetter won't make the engine cooler. It may help say a Corvette engine that has fundamental issues of running hot. Water wetter is only a surfactant to help reduce the water's surface tension and keep it in contact with the surface. It is commonly used in race cars that use straight water without antifreeze. Antifreeze has its own surfactant built in. The thermostat is what controls temperature.

read these:

http://www.gates.com/downloads/download_common.cfm?file=MOTORCoolantFeature.pdf&folder=brochure

http://www.search-autoparts.com/sea...estandard//motorage/162005/156227/article.pdf

My VW had "lifetime" OAT based pink antifreeze. When the car was 7 years old I decided to change the water pump. The antifreeze came out like brand new. With OAT antifreeze you need to replace the antifreeze when you add a new metal part to the system, so there will be sufficient chemicals present to protect the new non-protected part. Besides, always a good idea to not put back old fluids.

 

i think that we should stick with the coolant that comes from the factory. i had some leaking problem but thats only because of my radiator cap and asked around, and not stealership people, but others on this forum and such and the conclusion i drew was that we run really good coolant and thats how i am going to keep it.

 

I bought 3 gallons to do my 4 cyl when it hits 100k. I'm not sure how many the 6 cyl takes, but it's probably 2-3 gallons. Check your owner's manual to be sure. If you're using the pink stuff from Toyota, it's premixed so don't add water. If you bought the red stuff, then it is not premixed and requires dilution. The pink stuff is what is recommended for our trucks.

 

I run pink in my supercharger intercooler, and green in my normal coolant system. This way if I ever have a leak I will know where it is coming from.

 

Haven't there been warranty issues when the coolant wasn't pink?

 

pink.....i like a warm pink center. just like her "insides" lol

 

From what I've hear, I couldn't think of any reason why they would put bad antifreeze in our vehicles. I've heard that the pink antifreeze is a non-petrol. based and wont harm the animals if they get into it. I'm pretty sure it's pink because of the treehuggers now, not because of the fact that green was bad antifreeze. My motto is: "if thats what they put in it with a 100,00 mile sticker, then thats what I'm going to put in it for the next 100,000 mile sticker."