Peak Long Life Coolant

I recently had my timing belt and water pump replaced since the old one was on 100,000 miles. I just realized that my mechanic used Peak Long Life Universal coolant when filling the radiator. I don't believe this is a HOAT type coolant, but it does not contain silicate, amine, nitrite or borate as the manual suggests. The product states "Compatible for use in all automobiles and light-duty trucks"
Is this going to be a problem? I can flush the coolant if I have to.

 

Idk. I was curious as well. Because that's all I've been running since I got her 3+years ago. As that's what it looked like it had in there to begin with. Did my timing belt and water pump kit about 10k miles ago. And put about 30k since I bought it before the kit. Seems clean as a whistle still. That is no sludge or anything like that. But I recently read somewhere here that some guys swear not to use anything but Toyota. And others said it's ok. I plan to keep going with it.

 

No problem. I rebuild Toyota trucks for fun. Everyone is a front end crash. I never use Toyota antifreeze when I replace radiators. Been doing it 18 years and have had no issue.

 

They'd be in deep shit if their product didn't do as promised. and of the thousands of vehicles that do use it, there isn't any or enough issues caused by the product to force them to change their advertising or pull their product from the market. so they must be doing something right.

I'll say it's safe, but I personally never offer or recommend that stuff at my parts store just cause the price isn't that much off from OE. he should have at least used the 675130 zerex asian coolant...

 

A person has a right to their opinion and that was just mine as well.

I do have a good friend that is a Master Mechanic for Toyota. He told me his theory on why Toyota water pumps never seem to go much past 100,000 miles or less before they start to leak. He thinks its the Long Life AF. He claims this is a theory. He changes a lot of water pumps.

Since all my vehicles were crashes and required new radiators, I would replace the AF with a quality brand that is usually on sale. So far, in close to 20 years, I have not had a water pump failure. I know, not very scientific, but it is just my personal experiment.

 

I'm also betting my mechanic used tap water instead of distilled to dilute the coolant. It sounds like I shouldn't worry too much about it. I have plenty of work to do on the truck and my other car still, so I guess I'll add a coolant flush to the list but as a low priority. Next time I'll either do the water pump myself or specify that I want a certain coolant when they fill it.

Any more input on this is welcome.

 

Same thing I used about 2 gallons....easy job.... Open radiator, remove reservoir (empty and clean), drain engine block coolant. If I'm not mistaken by draining the engine it also drains heater core. Once everything is drained. Tighten plugs and refill. Done

 

Where can I find the engine block drain plug on an '04? I saw a picture of a 2001 taco that had it right in front of the engine mount on the passengers side and you could get at it from over the tire, but by 04 doesn't have the same valve.

 

passenger side forward of the motor mount. Loosen bolt at blue arrow and coolant flows out nipple at red arrow.

 

That's the picture I saw before, but mine looks different:

 

further up, follow shock going up and you should see it.

 

NOOOOO!! You NEED to do a flush ASAP if you really are being serious about the possibility of tap water being used. Or ask the dude. That's a big no no.

 

Found it, thanks! it was further back not further up though. Looks just like your picture. Any idea what size tube will fit over the nipple?

I honestly don't know if they used tap or not. So I think I'll do the flush to be safe and put in the correct coolant from toyota, especially now that I found the engine block drain plug, should be a quick project this weekend. It looks like I can get the coolant on eBay for a decent price, unless the shipping cost is per jug.

 

When I looked at my block drain "thing-a-ma-jig" some years ago and again last August I decided that it wasn't worth trying to loosen. I don't think that I had the right tool though. If somebody can tell me exactly what combination of tool(s) they used to loosen the fitting I would really appreciate it. I have a 1998 3.4 liter engine.

 

If no one gets back to you on that, I'll let you know this weekend. It looks like it's going to need a u-joint socket and 10 or more inches of extension. Not sure what size yet, looks about 8-10mm.

 

Ok, I just checked it out. It's a 14mm socket, you'll probably want 10 inches or more of extension, you might be able to turn it without a u-join adapter, but the u-joint would make it easier. The nipple will have a nice snug fit on tubing with 1/4" inner diameter. If you have long enough arms, you can get your hand in above the tire to push the tubing on without too much trouble.

 

In our shop, we use Service Pro universal green coolant pre-diluted that meets the requirements of all domestic and foreign manufacturers and haven't had a single issue in any vehicle. I think the thing with coolants being all different colors is dealers want customers to believe they absolutely HAVE to buy a certain brand, type, and color for their vehicle so they don't go around buying the universal stuff that meets the same requirements anyway and is much cheaper and more widely available.

 

what about the different chemicals?

zerex's G-05 for fords use: ethlyene glycol, diethlyene glycol, sodium benzoate, disodium tetraborate anhydrous.

zerex's dexcool for GMs use: ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, potassium 2-ethylhexanoate

standard green antifreeze uses: ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, denatonium benzoate

many antifreezes use many different chemicals.

though ethylene glycol is the main ingredient that allows antifreeze to do it's job (diethylene glycol is just a byproduct), it does not really offer any corrosion resistance or rust inhibiting capabilities. it's the other added chemicals that provide extra protection and/or lubrication to other components in the cooling system.

for the most part, I believe the added chemicals to these manufacturer specific antifreezes are specially formualted for these new aluminum engines and heads that there are. I personally don't think it would be wise to use antifreezes made for an all steel engine like your average chevy 350 in any of our aluminum designed engines.

of course though I could be wrong. let me know if you wish.

 

I also think it comes down to how often you change the coolant.

It seems for one reason or another no matter which coolant I use it seems to get drained and replaced once every 2 years if not sooner .

I have a few cases of the Toyota Red I am using now.

I have been using well water as long as I can remember only the last few years did I have a source for distilled water.

If I had any harmful effects I did not notice.

 

That's crazy!! Must be some clean ass water.. my mom was putting tap water in her 94t100. Didn't take long for that to build up sludge and rust by the time I found out she was doing that, few months time iirc. It had a leak so she kept filling with tap water and coolant. It was nasty. I'm sure it accelerated with an incorrect mixture but still. I have well water at my place and I refuse to drink it. I buy drinking water.