How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
My wife has a 2003 Camry that we purchased new. The owners manual
states that the coolant used is Toyota Long Life Engine Coolant. When
at look at the scheduled maintenance, it states that the coolant is to
be replaced at 24 months or 30,000 miles. This doesn't sound like long
life coolant. Even my Ford F-150 with standard coolant called for a
change at 45,000 miles. Is Toyota talking out of both sides of its
mouth. I stopped in at the dealer today and he said that the long life
coolant is good for 60,000 miles. When I showed him that the warranty
book calls for 24 months or 30,000 miles, his response was "Well, I
guess that what it is then". Can someone shed a little light on this
for me?
Any help will be appreciated.
timbirr@mailcity.com - 05 Jan 2008 01:05 GMT
> How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Any help will be appreciated.
Leave it in as long as you want....Of course Toyota engineers say it
needs to be changed at 24 months or 30K. I would suspect they know
more about it than we do...
Glowska - 05 Jan 2008 01:15 GMT
The 'long-life' label must mean that if you change it per owners
manual, 'every two years' then the car will have a long life?
>> How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
>>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>needs to be changed at 24 months or 30K. I would suspect they know
>more about it than we do...
timbirr@mailcity.com - 05 Jan 2008 01:24 GMT
> The 'long-life' label must mean that if you change it per owners
> manual, 'every two years' then the car will have a long life?
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -
I don't know...honestly...I have heard that if you filter the stuff
instead of replacing it you can use it forever, but even at the
outrageous price they charge for the TOYO coolant you ain't a gonna
find me out running a couple of gallons of it through a coffee
filter....although I heard Wonder Bread works better.
But again, I figure Toyo knows better than I do on some of these
things...just like you can leave the timing belt go past 90K....and I
do...until about 110K....figuring they must put some 20 percent or so
safety margin in there....but for about 18 months after I hit 90K I
sorta have some misgivings from time to time.
johngdole@hotmail.com - 05 Jan 2008 02:57 GMT
Yeah, the Toyota schedule for 03 Camry does say 2yr/30K miles (!). Too
short for an expensive coolant. That schedule would be understandable
for the good old Red coolant, which is much better at fighting
corrosion than the new pink. The pink was tested to have "significant
[metal] weight loss" by a lab. IIRC 20-30x the acceptable 1mg/cm^2/
week.
Originally they spec'ed the pink to be good for 100K miles and then
50K miles after that. But the pink is basically a GM Dexcool knock-off
without the 2EHA acid (fast-acting inhibitor).
The reason Toyota doesn't want 2EHA (a plasticizer) near its cooling
system is probably because the cheap plastics used that can soften and
cause leaks.
However, owners reported no problems with the Prestone All-Makes
coolant, which does contain the 2EHA in earlier Camrys. So go figure.
Prestone, owned by Honeywell, makes OEM Honda, Toyota, etc coolants.
Maybe they do know better. But before then, I'd recommend Toyota Red
with DISTILLED WATER.
> How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Any help will be appreciated.
Mark A - 05 Jan 2008 04:04 GMT
> How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Any help will be appreciated.
Toyota Red Long Life Engine Coolant is not, in fact, a "long life" product
comparable to the other long life coolants that have been marketed in recent
years (as explained by another post in this thread). The chemicals in true
long life coolants can damage other engine parts (seals, water pumps, etc)
and Toyota has (wisely) chosen not to use a true long-life coolant, which
accounts for the Toyota coolant maintenance schedule with Toyota Red.
Toyota marketing thinks that consumers are too stupid to understand that the
long-life coolant products can damage engine parts, so they also use the
"Long Life" description in Toyota Red to do everything they can to encourage
consumers to use it instead of the other crap.
Glowska - 06 Jan 2008 08:26 GMT
Wander how Prestone gets away with their "long-life all makes", that's
supposedly good for anything? Think they'd be facing a few lawsuits
from fleet runners.
Personally I am leary of using the long life stuff.
>Toyota Red Long Life Engine Coolant is not, in fact, a "long life" product
>comparable to the other long life coolants that have been marketed in recent
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>"Long Life" description in Toyota Red to do everything they can to encourage
>consumers to use it instead of the other crap.
Mark A - 06 Jan 2008 08:56 GMT
> Wander how Prestone gets away with their "long-life all makes", that's
> supposedly good for anything? Think they'd be facing a few lawsuits
> from fleet runners.
>
> Personally I am leary of using the long life stuff.
The coolant itself is long-life. As to whether it causes premature damage to
other engine parts, just about all other coolants other than the Toyota Red
will cause some premature wear of engine parts, not the just the long-life
coolants.
johngdole@hotmail.com - 06 Jan 2008 22:53 GMT
Actually, Valvoline filed a complaint against Honeywell (maker of
Prestone) with the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) on it's
"All-Makes" claim. However, Honeywell, who also makes Toyota original
factory fills, simply "declined to comply" with the NARB
"recommendation." And I heard nothing after that so go figure.
That's another reason why I didn't want to use the All-Makes besides
the fast-acting 2EHA acid inhibitor content. But like other said, they
reported no problems in the short years it was used in their cars. But
long term? Don't know. Then again I might try All-Makes later.
> Wander how Prestone gets away with their "long-life all makes", that's
> supposedly good for anything? Think they'd be facing a few lawsuits
> from fleet runners.
>
> Personally I am leary of using the long life stuff.
Glowska - 12 Jan 2008 08:13 GMT
I can see that it would hard to prove that the radiator fails after
6yrs due to Prestone Allmakes.
Impossible to prove fault.
I am sure people are using all the different forms in many cars, and
many are getting mixed even so incompatable. After all, on purchasing
a used car, which antifreeze would one use to do a top up? The red,
pink , blue, yellow, ????
Have to flush every used car. Some long life ! Shoould be called
short lived.
I am frustrated, and can see that they have figured out how to sell
us on long life, and we see even shorter life.
Even more pissed that Toyot called the two year red as long life. Very
misleading indeed.
>Actually, Valvoline filed a complaint against Honeywell (maker of
>Prestone) with the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) on it's
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>>
>> Personally I am leary of using the long life stuff.
johngdole@hotmail.com - 13 Jan 2008 00:04 GMT
That's another reason I'm staying away from the All-Makes (for now),
because Prestone seemed to avoid answering the old silicated coolant's
effects on the cheap water pumps with rubber o-ring seals. Silicates
were no problems to domestic and European pumps with unitized carbide
seals, but they grind down the rubber o-rings fairly quickly. Maybe
the organic acid technology becoming more prevalent the rubber seals
will come back (!)
So even the regular Prestone lasts as long as Toyota's "long life"?
Maybe Toyota was using only
water as a coolant, and compared to water the red was long life ;)
I'd just use the Toyota Red with distilled water and drain/refill
every 2 years.
> I can see that it would hard to prove that the radiator fails after
> 6yrs due to Prestone Allmakes.
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Even more pissed that Toyot called the two year red as long life. Very
> misleading indeed.
M.Balarama - 05 Jan 2008 16:52 GMT
good question_I flushed and filled my 98 camry with Peak long lasting-will
flush again in 2 years-I did not know what to do--
> How long is that long life coolant good for?? (pink)
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Any help will be appreciated.