Coolant in 3rd Gen 4Runner

[MyFirstRunner]

Hi folks, rookie mistake I guess but I picked up a gallon of coolant at Autozone this weekend as my mechanic noticed the reservoir was a bit low. I read that I should avoid the green and my mechanic said to grab some of the orange stuff and so I did...I thought. Right about when I was done filling I realized it was green coolant coming out of the orange jug.

I this okay for a few weeks until I can flush it or should I pump it out now? Or should I just leave it? The bottle is this AutoZone universal coolant that can be "mixed with any color".

AutoZone/50/50 antifreeze and coolant AXA053 at AutoZone.com - 2 reviews

Thanks. For clarity, the reservoir was filled just to the L line, I added coolant to the F line.

 

[quatin]

Check the reservoir. Is it the same level as when you left it? Is it the same color? Maybe none of the coolant entered the radiator. I think the cooling system only sucks in coolant from the reservoir when the the radiator is low and a little when the pressure goes up and down. You might get away with sucking it out now before it mixes.

Also, mixing the green coolant is ok if you flush regularly anyways. The only coolant I know that will actually damage the engine short term is the orange DexCool stuff.

 

[ajonesnv]

Don't be too worried about it. I realize that many here are Toyota Red Nazi's, but have had nothing in my radiator except green since long before I bought the truck at 112,000 miles. She has 211,000 now and when i did my timing belt I continued to use Peak Peak Coolant.

Its my understanding is the only one you need to avoid is the GM Orange Long Life, which is not the case with the bottle you linked.

FYI, unless you are in freezing temps, next time just use distilled waster.

 

[Unner]

You should not mix Toyota Red and green. It will turn into a muddy mess. When I switched my Supra from green to Zerex G05 (same as Toyota red essentially without the price) I made sure I flushed everything out of the system super well. If you haven't driven the car since adding it just empty the reservoir and fill it with the correct stuff.

Also, not sure why your mechanic told you to add the orange coolant... I'm 99% sure the orange coolant is the GM Dexcool. You want the Toyota Red, or equivalent like Zerex G05 for your 4Runner.

 

[Ol'Blue]

Ok since I deal with stuff every day at work I'll throw it out there. When it comes to Toyota we put in Red at our Radiator/ Automotive shop in most Cases. If you are going to run green it's ok too. Just for the life of your truck do not use dex-cool I mean crap cool. It sounds like you put 50/50 in. Really if you wanted too just drain out that stuff and put strait green in it for now until your ready to do a power flush and clean the system really good and then go long life red.

Hope it helps

Blue

 

[BrianSD_42]

OP,

No where in your original post did you state what type (color) coolant was in your truck before you added anything to it.

What type was in the system before you added anything?

Basically if it had red then do not add green to it or vice versa. Period.

There is nothing wrong with green though. You just need to change it a bit more often. That is all. There has been a lot of ttechnical detail written up on the different coolant types in other threads here on the forum so i won't repeat it in this thread. Just do a search on "red vs green coolant" using the link in my signature if you want to know more.

 

[bolt]

I use straight green, no problems yet. I do not "buy*" the special 'red' BS. There is a saying in automotive business, "Always be selling".

 

[kball]

There's nothing wrong with that AutoZone coolant. It's not "green" like people think of the old green type. It says right on the bottle it's extended life, mix with any type. It's FINE!!!

As a matter of fact, Napa has this type on sale this month for $6 a gallon so go stock up and quit worrying!

 

[MyFirstRunner]

As for the original color, it was orange/red/pink, was kind of hard to tell as there wasn't much left in the reservoir and the opaqueness of the reservoir made it difficult. I'm assuming that's why my mechanic said orange, as it looked orange and he was suggesting to get the same color, as most of you have.

I bought the truck less than a year ago so I plan on doing a full flush when the weather breaks as I don't know when it was done last. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't an "oh shit, replace that now" kind of thing.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[jgue467]

Aluminum

I thought utimately what Really matters is if the coolant in question is designed for aluminum engines, No? :cowboy:

 

[nevada]

Hi folks, rookie mistake I guess but I picked up a gallon of coolant at Autozone this weekend as my mechanic noticed the reservoir was a bit low. I read that I should avoid the green and my mechanic said to grab some of the orange stuff and so I did...I thought. Right about when I was done filling I realized it was green coolant coming out of the orange jug.

I this okay for a few weeks until I can flush it or should I pump it out now? Or should I just leave it? The bottle is this AutoZone universal coolant that can be "mixed with any color".

AutoZone/50/50 antifreeze and coolant AXA053 at AutoZone.com - 2 reviews

Thanks. For clarity, the reservoir was filled just to the L line, I added coolant to the F line.

its perfectly fine to use.

 

[csp]

I use straight green, no problems yet. I do not "buy*" the special 'red' BS. There is a saying in automotive business, "Always be selling".

But, but, but, how? Your T4R will die an early death if you don't drink the OEM/red coolant/whatever else Kool-Aid!:frisky:

 

[gamefreakgc]

Obviously everyone has an opinion on what color to use. Basically it comes down to what your favorite color was growing up as a kid.

However, you do not want to mix colors. Seeing that you had something other than green, and then you added green, is BAD. Adding 8 oz of green isn't going to kill it, but if you dumped half the bottle in it's going to react poorly. You cannot mix colors and keep it in for long.

And for the record, you most likely had pink Toyota long-life coolant in it. Most shops and dealers are swapping out the red for the pink-long life, since the red coolant is sort of the "old" type.

 

[csp]

As was already noted, the green that the OP used isn't the old Prestone jug found way in the back of dad's fluids cabinet.

It's formulated to be compatible with other green, GM Dexcool, and wait for it.....Toyota red!

 

[reelamin]

Can all of you post up what brand/model instead of color you are using I need to replace mine but I don't have many choices where I live. I'm interested in what works I can get in almost any area, so I if I ever need some I don't have to worry about contamination. Running around with a gallon of anti freeze becaue I had to special order it in is not very practical for me.

 

[BrianSD_42]

But, but, but, how? Your T4R will die an early death if you don't drink the OEM/red coolant/whatever else Kool-Aid!:frisky:

Despite a few heated threads on the subject my belief is that 75-80% of people on this forum are running Green.

 

[csp]

That's probably true. It's not like Toyota uses some proprietary metals in their blocks/heads/rest of the cooling system that is profoundly allergic to green coolant. Countless thousands of vehicles have had long coolant system lives with green in the radiator. No reason why Toys shouldn't either.

 

[StreetCreeper]

Despite a few heated threads on the subject my belief is that 75-80% of people on this forum are running Green.

I run green.....coincidently I smoke it too :

 

[BlackWorksInc]

The biggest point to make is that typically most "Green" coolants contain a healthy amount of silicates. Its not as big an issue with a 3rd gen (since Toyota "Red" Long Life Coolant [LLC] is a LOW Silicate Formula), but it still poses an issue.

You're actually better off running something more like a silicate-free coolant like Toyota Pink or Zerex Asian Formula than anything that is closer to Dex-Cool (IIRC Toyota actually has a statement somewhere in TIS that says not to use DEX-Cool coolants in their vehicle) or higher content silicate ethylene glycol based coolants. Among a few other reasons, the Toyota stuff has a few things missing/in lower concentrations that most of the "Universal" coolants do have which can cause some issues later down the line. Again, its not as big a deal as say the 4th or 5th gens that should be using Toyota "Pink" SLLC (Super Long Life Coolant) and/or a compatible Non-Silicate, Non-Amine, Non-Borate, Non-Nitrate, based on a Hybrid-OATs technology; but it still is different than your generic "universal" coolant.

There's a reason Toyota phased out LLC in favor of SLLC, one of the many reasons is this:

That's Silicate that has actually fallen out of suspension in the coolant itself, as you can imagine that then sand blasts the inside of the engine and cooling system. Is it an issue if you flush the coolant every 30k like the old days? Probably not, is it an issue if you're trying to run the coolant 5yr/50k (like Toyota "Red") or longer? most likely, yes.

The thing to keep in mind is that coolant has come a long way from just dyed green ethelyne glycol, the additive packages and formulations are tailored to more than just "Aluminum Engine Safe." While the 3rd gens are not that new, Toyota switched to Toyota LLC back in the early 90's; so this isn't exactly a new thing.

Bottom line as long as you find a coolant that matches up to make-up of Toyota Long Life Coolant (aka Toyota "Red") It should be fine to run in the vehicle. Do not get tricked or lulled into a false sense of security just because the bottle at the parts store says "Universal;" 9/10 that's more marketing BS than actual fact these days. Not to sound like I am trying to sell the Valvoline stuff, but I did corner the factory guys and question the hell out of them as well as looked at some of the spec sheets. The Zerex Asian Formula is a great coolant for both the Toyota "Red" LLC & Toyota "Pink" SLLC if you're looking for a good alternative. Amsoil also makes a good coolant as well (again I berated them with some questions and feel comfortable enough with the data to recommend both coolants as SLLC replacements, which would mean they'll work fine for LLC applications as well.)

 

[reelamin]

I did my comparisons of ingredients and lack of ingredients ...and I'm going with Peak Global. Guess what color it is.....AMBER!! So now we have a new color to add to the color mix.
PEAK | GLOBAL LIFETIME FULL STRENGTH | Antifreeze / Coolants | Auto Products

Another side note while at NAPA they showed me their screen for options to use with or in place of Zerex Asian.....drum roll......Zerex Dex Cool. Now that was straight up a 100mph fast ball down the pipe!!