Cooling system problems are the number one cause of engine failures. You REALLY need to think about that . Long Life means maintaining the freezing level of the coolant. Great technology. Trouble is there is nothing to stop your engine from contaminating it.

Actually, the long life coolant only works well with an engine that was designed for it. The design of the engine does not create contamination. If you have a head gasket problem or other breach of the coolant system, then you have problems.

There is no valid reason for changing the long life coolant at 30K. There is no buildup of corrosion and there should be reletively few external contaminents in the system. It is sealed after all. YOU should THINK.

I'm not sure what you mean by engines designed for long life coolant. EGR (not new) design means coolant is more critical.
The new "extended life" antifreezes are the same as conventional antifreezes except for their corrosion inhibitors.
I agree there may be no valid reason to change it at 30k miles but if you don't mind getting your hands dirty or have it done for you it is in no way false economy.
(getting off soapbox here)

I agree with your general sentiment, but I prefer to avoid spurious maintainance items with minimal returns.

What I meant by the engine being designed for the coolant is that the type of materials used in parts that contact the coolant (so not only the engine block and head coolant ports, but also the radiator, thermostat, water pump and any piping that contacts the coolant) are selected to be compatible with the particular blent of anti-corrosion additives in the manufacturer's coolant.

So, if you take the new long life coolant and put it in an older 4-runner, which doesn't have the compatible metal parts in the cooling system, you won't get the "long life" because the internals of the cooling system are probably not compatible. In fact, you may get a reduced life and substandard corrosion protection. The blend of each of the manufacturer's coolant is different and formulated to work with the differing components in their cooling systems so it would also not be a good idea to put, for instance, GM's dexcool into a new 4runner because there would be no guarantee that it would even prevent corrosion.

The cooling system is sealed and pressurized so contamination should not be a problem. You may get a little oil in the system over time, but this will be extremely rare with a newer vehicle and you can easily check for this by taking the radiator cap off and looking at the fluid. It will not cause corrosion in a cooling system. Their prescence would indicate that you have an engine problem (probably a head gasket) that should be looked at.

I'm not current on the chemistry involved so that is the best explaination I have. There are some good descriptions on the web that I have seen that detail the exact chemicals and metals used in the various manufacturer's systems. This issue is pretty similar to the E85 enabled vehicles having special fuel delivery systems to enable the use of a larger amount of ethanol without having corrosion problems.

I totally agree that changing the extended coolant at 30K will not cause a problem. I think that the benefits are dubious at best, other than getting a good feeling. An owner's time and dollars would likely be better spent on other items.

I plan to let the coolant in my runner go until I either need to change the thermostat or I get close to the 5 year mark. Probably around 4-4.5 years. I don't think I'll be anywhere near the 100,000 mile mark by then. I should be around 60-70,000.

Most excellent plan

The engine V8 that is used in the 4runner is the same engine with the same materials that has been used in the LC since 1998. My 2004 4runner came with the long life antifreeze so it makes sense that the same long life antifreeeze would work well in my 1999 LC, based on your analysis.

I believe the corrosion inhibitors thermally degrade over time. This would be bad for both the iron block and the aluminum radiator core. It would be nice to have a simple test for inhibitors. Therefore, I will replace the factory Red Long Life anti-freeze every 30 k miles unless someone can inform us of a way to measure this property.

People here, have submitted oil samples for analysis. Maybe this could also be done for coolant?

I might be wrong here, but the Toy Red Long Life coolant is no different, as far as time intervals, than any other after market anti-freeze. Most all coolant products have a 30 k mile change period. The name

[QUOTE]Originally posted by greasefingers
[B]I might be wrong here, but the Toy Red Long Life coolant is no different, as far as time intervals, than any other after market anti-freeze. Most all coolant products have a 30 k mile change period. The name

More times than not, lifetime fluid or extended fluid change intervals are nothing more than marketing tools by the manufacturer. I think fluids have definitely improved over the years, but you have to use common sense. Check your fluids regularly and if they start to discolor change them. Screw the mileage.
Don't believe everything the dealer or manufacture says.
A fluid change is cheap insurance especially if you plan on keeping the vehicle long term.

Makes sense. I think the fluids are improved. I will run 7-8K mile one year mobil 1 changes in my LC and with the next change I will start running Mobil 1 5K mile changes on my 4runner until it is out of warranty then I will go with the 7-8K changes.

PS- I've loked at several Lexus LX470's in the past that were covered by the dealer with their extended 100K warranty and the past service records showed that the original owner at 10K mile OCI with dino oil. So that just shows that Lexus preowned vehicles are not the care for vehicles that Lexus wants buyers to believe they are.

I think it's safe to say that someone who leases or trades in a vehicle after 3 or 4 years is not going to follow the same maintenance schedule that someone who buys the vehicle and plans on keeping it long term. Can't blame them, I probably wouldn't either.
Buyer beware.

As a side note to this thread, it really kind of pisses me off when Toyota(or other manuf) claims a lifetime transmission fluid and doesn't provide a drain or fill hole.
GIVE ME THE OPTION!!

There is both a drain and a fill hole. Just no dipstick.

In the '05 V8? Are you sure?
I was under the impression that it was a totally sealed system.

I'm sure. crawl under it and check it out.