Toyota red long life & pink super long life same?

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Great discussion. When my reservoir on my 2015 Corolla was low a week ago, I looked at it and said "oh, this is just diluted Toyota Red". However, the parts fellow I've known for over 10 years told me I needed to use Pink and the Pink is definitely not just diluted Red. Sooo, I picked up a jug of the Pink and was on my way.

I checked my 2015 Corolla owner's manual and it says to use Toyota Super Long Life Coolant or "a similar high quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrite, non-borate coolant with long life hybrid organic acid technology". So, if the Red has sodium benzoate (an organic acid salt and not true organic acid), my take is that the Red might not be suitable (at least in my case).
 
Originally Posted By: Hickory34
I think I solved the mystery.
Both Red and Pink are the same (or similar enough to produce comparable performance).


That's a pretty bold statement to make. There's been many reports of the new Toyota Pink causing leaks in water pumps. Not sure what the reason for this is, or maybe it's just a fluke. I know that "officially", Toyota says Pink is backwards compatible with Red, but that could just be corporate marketing in efforts to consolidate products and make it easier for their service centers.

Either way, Toyota Red has been known to be of high quality provided you follow the 2 year drain interval. Unless there's good science behind Red vs Pink, I'll be sticking with Red on my old 4Runner because that was factory fill.
 
On our 2011 Toyota Highlander I decided to just make the switch to Peak Global Lifetime in the Gold Bottle. It was much easier to obtain as a concentrate and I have had no issues.
 
Quote:
...There's been many reports of the new Toyota Pink causing leaks in water pumps. Not sure what the reason for this is, or maybe it's just a fluke. I know that "officially", Toyota says Pink is backwards compatible with Red, but that could just be corporate marketing in efforts to consolidate products and make it easier for their service centers....

I've posted before on this board that I'm skeptical of the anecdotal reports of Toyota water pump failure, attributed to or stated caused by Toyota SLL pink AF. Not long ago member KingCake posted a related imo TSB posted HERE that would appear provide an alternative explanation by Toyota to those alleged pump failures.

As for the thread resurrection, I didn't see any new information that changed information already covered in this thread. Toyota Red and SLL Pink are alike in that they are both Asian PHOAT AFs. The LL red is the older shorter service interval AF that comes as a concentrate, and it seem uses at least one different inhibitor(sodium benzoate), than newer SLL premix. Information posted previously says SLL pink uses sebacate as an inhibitor, and has the newer longer service interval Asian PHOAT used by most Asian vehicles now.

When it comes to MSDS sheets, for readers here it's fairly common knowledge that they are not a reliable source of every component of a product, in this case AF. We know about the differences in Peak Long Life and Peak Global Lifetime because Peak has said the difference in at least one email reply to a member and posted here. Also Peak goes out of it's way to say no 2eha in PGL in it's advertising. And Peak has said in the past that it's LL contains 2eha.

As for SLL pink being backward compatible to the LL red, Toyota says it is. I suppose one can attribute that to some kind of corporate conspiracy to put all their vehicles under one application. However afaik, Toyota Red is still sold for those that prefer to use what was originally spec'd and don't mind using the older shorter interval Red LL. Which I see nothing to indicate it has changed from that recommended service interval. So if one doesn't trust what Toyota says about SLL backward compatibility, use the red LL.

Just as fyi, like the previous poster I've been using Peak Global Lifetime concentrate from Napa in an 01 Tacoma for 3+ years now with good results, no issues. Still has original radiator.
 
The local Toyota independent I take my car to occasionally uses the pink SLLC for all circle-T/L applications. However, I used the pink as a top-off for my old car that used red, and I noticed the smaller coolant hoses had a white residue on them. Toyota also had water pump issues on the GR-series V6 and Prii are known to weep at the water pump leak hole, however I pulled the pump on my parent's Sienna with the 3MZ-FE and there was only a slight amount of weepage.

I feel with Japanese cars, stick to that era-correct formulation, while Honda is specing their blue SLLC across the board others like Nissan and Subaru still have 2 formulas, Nissan also says the newer formula can be used in all their cars. Subaru says use the green in pre-2008 cars, and their blue in anything beyond that.
 
Originally Posted by toyo
I have been working on Toyota's since the late 80's. Worked as a Technician and then Service Manager at a very large and reputable dealer. I am no longer employed by a dealer as I have my own independent shop. I have always sworn by Toyota Red. I always use distilled water to make my 50/50 solution. I have never had one customer that needed radiator, heater core, water pump repairs due to the coolant.

On my personal vehicles I of course use the Red. On my 2001 RX300 it came with Red. It currently has just a tad under 380K miles on it. I recently replaced the timing belt, pump, and the heater bypass hose underneath the intake. All the coolant passages that I was able to observe were as clean as day one. If you remove the radiator cap and look down into the radiator it still looks brand new. On my 2006 LS430 I did the timing belt, water pump, and thermostat at 100K. I gave it a very thorough flush including the heads. I reinstalled with Red. On my 2008 4Runner, which I recently obtained and did not know 100% the maintenance history. I flushed it last week as well. Again, Red is what I installed.

Toyota Red has never let me down and I feel 100% confident in using it. I will say this with 100% certainty, every time I have removed a radiator cap, inspected recovery tank, etc with the Pink installed it has a somewhat cloudy film at the top. Kinda hard to explain what I trying to describe.

I really wish Toyota would not make it so confusing to figure out which coolant to use. Same with the WS. Toyota is very head strong when it comes to this kind of stuff.

I'm not trying to argue or dis-prove anyone on here. Just giving you my real event history in using this stuff.

Now, I have a question.... I have a lot of the Honda coolant left over from my Honda motorcycle. Are you guys saying this is the same formula as Red or Pink?


Hi all sry to revive this old thread. But I've been running toyo red in my motorbike sv650 for 5 years now. All parts in the cooling circuit are aluminum; not sure bout the pump impeller which might be plastic. Which is the main reason I don t want to mount sebacate or 2eha containing fluids.
Now since 2003 the bike was filled with classic silicate coolant; refreshed every 2 years. Then in 2013 I flushed really well and mounted toyo red. Then refreshed in 2015. Now after 3 yrs I want to refresh again. But I notice the radiator wall and mesh inside contains some kind of whiteish-beige stuff, like some kind of smear or paste. The drained toyo red and 3 subsequent flushes with distilled water didn t contain any particles. Now I wonder can thisbe precipitated phosphates or is it alu oxidation? Can it be because the concentrated toyo red had a production date of like more than 6 yrs old? (though the bottles are sealed). What is the shelf life anyway. Today I could only get a 1liter bottle concentrated with productiondate 2010! Maybe the phosphates are falling out faster because of the small coolant volume(1.8 liter)?
How could I remove this stuff;could I just run some vinegar through the system?
 
No pink and red are not the same. Here is an old test of some coolants, and Toyota Red was one of them. Red uses sodium benzoate, and pink uses sebacic acid.









coolantspecs.jpg
 
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