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red or blue coolent in corolla from halfords or toyota?

hi, have a 94 corolla. (80.000 genuine miles and runs well). the owner before me had it toyota maintained, so when i needed some coolent a couple of years ago i went to toyota dealer to get some. it seemed to me expensive compared with halfords.

now i need some more coolent, so this time i went to halfords. they said do you want blue or red? i went outside to see what colour it was. it is basically a dirty grey, but i guess there might be a hint of red colour there, but am not really sure.

is it important the a difference between red and blue for a car like a corolla? would it be worth paying the extra for the genuine toyota coolent from the toyota dealer on an eleven year old corolla? if i get the halfords one should it red or blue no-one in halfords knew. many thanks.

Reply to
jw 11111
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They're different. Whether or not it'll matter on a 94 is a much complicated question

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Reply to
Duncan Wood

Toyota use 4life coolant which IIRC is red. The name 4life indicates it is a long-life coolant and it's probably worth getting the proper stuff, as long as the car isn't leaking it all out again!

Reply to
Chris Bolus

Recently asked for some ForLife from Toyota, I was asked "red or green?" - amazed me as I thought they only did red too. (It's actually called LongLife now :-/ )

Reply to
Johnny

The message from "Johnny" contains these words:

A nice robust red, please.

Reply to
Guy King

Possibly one is based on Alcohol, the other on Glycol. Glycol or glycerine based antifreezes being more expensive. Just make sure the one you use is compatible with ally engines, rads, or cyl heads, and is changed at it's recommended intervals. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Not so sure about an alcohol based anti-freeze; whilst alcohol might supress the freezing point it's not going to offer an awful lot in terms of anti-boiling protection. I suspect that both red and green are ethylene glycol based and the differences lie in the corrosion inhibitors and other additivies present. are the reason for different coloured antifreezes.

Andy

Reply to
AndrewP

You may well be correct. I was just offering one possible explanation for the two different colours. I can assure you though, that ethyl alcohol based antifreezes were, if not are, used in vehicle cooling systems. As for 'anti-boiling' protection. Pressurising the system raises the coolant boiling point, but AFAIK adding antifreeze doesn't have any significant affect on the boiling temperature, as compared to plain water. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

The Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers' own-brand coolant is dyed red so you won't confuse it with the blue stuff. It's low in silicates (or something) ans is premixed with distilled water.

Some methanol antifreezes are red in colour but these can cause bad problems in car engines.

Reply to
Mark W

My wifes Mazda 323 (and it was actually built in Japan too) has Green coolant.

Reply to
Johnny

took up the matter at the local toyotas'. they said red and blue are the same, but dont mix them. why not? so more frowns and consultations. then; red if for jap made toyotas and blue for u.k. made toyotas. the only difference is the colour though. all clear everybody ????

Reply to
jw 1111111

Welcome to the parts desk.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

And sanity is lunacy in denial

Reply to
jw 1111111

Not really, as my Toyota is british made and has 'Red' coolant!

Reply to
Peat

jw 1111111 ( snipped-for-privacy@REMOOVEvirgin.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Because you end up with a horrible muddy purple... Don't you remember playing with plasticine when you were a kid?

Reply to
Adrian

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