Easy question, hard search. Nissan blue antifreeze in an '04 toyota.

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I need to change the coolant on a family member's 04 Toyota Camry w/ Toyota redish-pinkish coolant - probably original. The car has 80K miles on it and should have come with red (it wasn't made in Japan, in which case it would have been pink). I have gallons of Nissan Blue premix. It appears that they may be compatible, or maybe not. It looks like the toyota version maybe doesn't have the phosphate additive. Pink and Red appear to be quite different - Organic vs. inorganic.

Thoughts? I would love to get rid of some of this OEM Nissan stuff. When I look up Pentosin, they recommend A1 for the camry and A3 for the Nissan (blue).

I thought I saw a toyota bulletin that said pink could be used to replace red, but then I read on here that pink will eat the older radiators. So, is blue likely to be destructive?

Thoughts on Blue? Would it be worse than potentially 16 year old reddish-pink?

edit:

The Manual states:
Toyota Super Long Life Coolant is filled ...use only similar high-quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrite, and non-borate coolant with long-life hybrid organic acid technology. - sounds like Nissan Blue to me?
 
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I’d use only the Pink stuff. I work for Toyota and if someone comes in with a cooling system issue and has different color coolant in it we can’t touch it and have to refuse it because according to them that is likely what caused the issue. I personally own a 2004 Camry I’ve only used pink in it. I would compare the values on it and see if it seems compatible but I honestly wouldn’t use it. If it is rated different it will cause issues most likely.
 
Okay, here's the lowdown
Toyota/Lexus/Scion 1985-2004 use LLC (red)
Toyota/Lexus/Scion 2005+ use SLLC (pink)

The only deviations to this could be FR-S/86/iA/Yaris, as they are mechanically related to Subaru and Mazda
 
Mehh...

Yaris....out went whatever pink it was there since 2008....in went pink Glysantine G40 (G12++)

The same 1.4 D4d engine in BMW Mini OneD calls for Glysantine G48 (G11 green or blue)...BMW has been using green one since forever...

LC came with and will have G48 in a future...
 
My Honda civic has Toyota red in the rad. I don't think your choice would be terrible, but that's me. If the family member wants Toyota coolant then let them know and tell them to pick up the correct coolant.
 
The family member doesn't care. Their inclination was to run water since it doesn't get cold here, or just leave the 16-year-old stuff in it. I feel compelled to change it and I just happen to have the leftover of my last 12 gallon purchase of nissan/infiniti blue.
 
The family member doesn't care.
Then I would use the blue. All the Japanese makes use essentially the same stuff, just different dyes.
I used Zerex Asian pink in my previous 2006 Toyota Matrix. It looked and smelled exactly the same as Toyota pink (didn't taste it though!)
The other colors of Zerex differ only in the dye used.
 
Thanks, as far as I can tell, the only difference is the dye. I'm going to do it. All the things toyota says must not be present are not present, the base formula matches.

Thanks!
 
All the Japanese modern POAT coolants are nearly identical with the exception of the dyes added. They're all made by CCI, if you look at the SDS's for Honda Type 2, Nissan Blue, Subaru Long Life Super, and Toyota SLLC the SDS forms are all nearly identical. The ingredients section are nearly word for word identical even down to the percentages, the only real difference is that Toyota SLLC does not list diethylene glycol which is a by-product in the production of ethylene glycol and is almost always present in coolant in a small concentration. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc don't make coolant nor do they design it, they just buy it from another company, and it happens that they're all buying it from the same company.
 

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There is a lot of misinformation out there. Pink is not diluted red. That is not true. Red has different
ingredients than pink. Your 2004 should use red and you should dilute it to a 50:50 mix. Those are the
facts. Just look in your owners manual. Pink came into the mix in 2005 (general statement) and Pink and
Red are different. I would not use anything but Toyota Red.
Okay, here's the lowdown
Toyota/Lexus/Scion 1985-2004 use LLC (red)
Toyota/Lexus/Scion 2005+ use SLLC (pink)

The only deviations to this could be FR-S/86/iA/Yaris, as they are mechanically related to Subaru and Mazda

You are 100% correct! Ain't it amazing all the misinformation out there?
 
Toyota Pink Coolant is not just premixed Red. The pink coolant is an OAT (organic acid technology) that typically has a longer service life. The red coolant on the other hand is an IAT (inorganic acid technology) that is considered to be more “conventional” but still longer lasting than some other coolants on the market.

What Are the Ingredients of Each Coolant?
Toyota Pink Super Long Life Coolant:

  • Water (7732-18-5)
  • Ethylene Glycol (107-21-1)
  • Diethylene Glycol (111-46-6)
  • Sebacic Acid (111-20-6)
  • Potassium Hydroxide (1310-58-3)
Toyota Red Long Life Coolant:

  • Ethylene Glycol (107-21-1)
  • Diethylene Glycol (111-46-6)
  • Water (7732-18-5)
  • Organic Acid Salt (532-32-1)
  • Hydrated Inorganic Salt (1310-58-3)

Being compatible is sorta like saying this ATF is good for all transmissions. I would never mix them.
 
It is generally recommended that you use Toyota Red in older vehicles. This is mainly due to the fact that older Toyotas usually have non-aluminium radiators and Pink is not formulated with the inhibitors necessary to protect them. The Red Long Life coolant had molybate and a triazole to protect the metals (copper, etc.) in the older radiators.

Toyota Red can also be used in later model cars, but from the factory they come with Pink. The Pink coolant was used in most Toyotas from the early to mid 2000s
 
After more research:

Toyota does state that their two coolants are compatible, but we would always exercise caution when mixing coolants. If you are thinking about changing between them we would flush the system completely before adding the new, different coolant.
 
"Compatible" does not translate as "most desirable."

So, according to what I understand. They should not be interchanged. But, you would be more safe using Red in everything.
 
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