Red vs pink coolant question after flush

[tmontague]

When I bought my Yaris 2 years ago I drained the radiator and put green coolant in. Realizing the mistake I decided to do a full flush and put in the proper coolant.

I bought a jug of the red concentrate as I assumed it was the same as the pink minus the water. It would've cost over $45 for the 2 jugs of pink diluted so I went with the one jug of red and I just mixed it at a 60/40 with deionized water.

I could not find any solid info online regarding red vs pink. I know either are compatible but my question is how long is the life of the red coolant if mixed with and flushed with deionized water before filling?

The best answer I could find online is change every 2 years or 46,000km.

On a side note the t-stat was really stuck in there and had to be pulled out with pliers. I decided to replace the t-stat and gasket with one from Canadian tire since I have 126,000km on the Yaris and the original t-stat had some corrosion on inside.

The radiator drain ended up removing virtually all of the coolant and only a small fraction came out if the engine block drain valve.

[ajkochev74]

I use Zerex Asian Vehicle AF, same color and supposedly ingredients as the pink Toyota AF from what I've read. Amazon and the Oreiley Auto(local store) carry it. About $15 a gallon, pre diluted. For me it would be ether this or the genuine Toyota AF, nothing else. Been using this to top off the over fill on occasion for my wife's RAV 4 and plan to use it in my Yaris.

Sounds like you know your using the wrong stuff already. Ask yourself, is it worth saving a few dollars now by using the wrong stuff to possibly have problems or a major repair later?

[tmontague]

I now have the correct stuff in my Yaris (toyota Red) and I fully flushed out the mixed old coolant with deionized water. I'm just curious as to what the specified drain interval is of the red coolant. I'm likely going to change every 2 years to be on the safe side.

[IllusionX]

I remember that the OEM pink coolant is 8 years 160k km / 100k mi.

[alanwagen]

I'm not sure but wouldn't distilled water be better? Somewhere I read that deionized water can be more corrosive but the antifreeze may negate that.

[dave mac]

As per Toyota, the original coolant from the factory is good for 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. All subsequent changes are 5year/50k miles (half the time & miles of factory fill). That is based on using Toyota Super Long Life pink coolant, not other types/brands. The reason the time/mileage intervals are halved after the initial coolant change is the coolant system is not factory clean anymore, there is dirt building up and degradation of metal, plastic & rubber parts in the system. I just had my first coolant system full-flush, done at the Toyota dealer w/a machine and the factory fluid, for $159. They even cleaned out the overflow bottle.