DEX-COOL Antifreeze in Toyota?

[lambition]

I recently had to replace my radiator and I also changed antifreeze to Prestone DEX-COOL antifreeze.
Toyota manual said to use no silicate antifreeze and that prestone DEX-COOl did not have slicate, so I used it.

It has been running just fine until now (has been about 6 months), but I just found out that DEX-COOL has many issues. (I hear it may case sluge and eat away gaskets)

I don't see any problem for now, but do you think it will really cause problem later?

[onefiend]

Stick with the Toyota red/pink coolant, you can pick it up at any Toyota dealership. Using anything else is bad for your radiator in the long run.

[lambition]

Stick with the Toyota red/pink coolant, you can pick it up at any Toyota dealership. Using anything else is bad for your radiator in the long run.

My local Toyota dealer only had Toyota Super Long Life Coolant in 50/50 premix. (Did not have concentration) and they were charging $20 a gallon.
It may be an ok price for just adding antifreeze, but when flushing and replacing antifreeze, its too costy.
They were really over charging for that stuff.

Toyota manual says "Only use ”Toyota Super Long Life Coolant” or similar high quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrite, and non-borate coolant with long-life hybrid organic acid technology."

Which I belived Prestone Extended Life DEX-COOL Coolant was at the time. But now I'm not sure if it really is compatible.

[gnegroni]

Stick with the Toyota red/pink coolant, you can pick it up at any Toyota dealership. Using anything else is bad for your radiator in the long run.

What he said... show the middle finger to THAT dealer.

[BomberA26]

Stay away from that stuff!!! My wife has a 98 Chevy Blazer with Dex Cool. I added Prestone that said it was compatible, however, the antifreeze turned to sludge. Heater stopped working and I spent about $100 to flush the whole system. I have replaced it with regular Prestone--Will never go back to Dex Cool

[Midias]

My brothers 2001 GMC jimmy had dex cool and after 30k miles it was full of brown sludge and needed to be flushed and it never had any other kind of coolant in it.

[NightRider]

in reply to the poster of this thread. with the cooling system of the car spend the little extra money on the oem stuff. there are too many generic brands out there. and besides i was told from many toyota mechanics to use the pink coolant and nothing else on the cars that have the pink coolant.

[NightRider]

oh and after reading some of the replies about this dex cool stuff. brown sludge?! thats all bad. i would make time and flush out my system pronto! good luck!

[CorCamrySE]

im a toyota tech, and personally id rather spend the extra money for the super long life toyota pink coolant than buy dex-cool
toyota specifies to only use toyota super long life coolant in your solara, so id stick to that.

i have toyota red long life coolant in my 2003 SE, but thats just what it came with from the factory since 2004 was the switchover to the SLL pink coolant

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

^^ What he said...ensure you flush really well before adding any toyota red.

[gnegroni]

^^ What he said...ensure you flush really well before adding any toyota red.

Will residue from the first mixture ruin the Toyota fluid, or the actual residue cause coolant system problems.

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Its not advisable to mix fluids. non-silicate is whats the key. Will the residue cause coolant system problems....depends on your flushing ability...When I changed from green stuff to toy-red on my celica, I ran on pure distilled water for a hard drive on highway......to ensure full flushing. I'm not saying you need to do that...All i'm saying, a read good flush should be suffice. Don't go to a plce to flush..do it yourself....this way you will know its flushed well

[gnegroni]

Its not advisable to mix fluids. non-silicate is whats the key. Will the residue cause coolant system problems....depends on your flushing ability...When I changed from green stuff to toy-red on my celica, I ran on pure distilled water for a hard drive on highway......to ensure full flushing. I'm not saying you need to do that...All i'm saying, a read good flush should be suffice. Don't go to a plce to flush..do it yourself....this way you will know its flushed well

Hehe...distilled water. I'd do that too, and now that you said it yourself, its a sure thing.

I wonder how does the Toyota fluid compare to other OEM fluids and if there would be any benefits in using the Toyota.

[Aotoyota]

If you do not need a lot, get the premixed coolant from the toy dealer. its about 12 bux compared to the $30ish for the concentrated stuff.