Actuary

My Coolant level is low (It's below MIN). I have some generic antifreeze from CDNtire I used for previous car however, manual says I shouldn't be using silica based antifreeze on TL.

So I went to store and looked around but couldn't find anything that says "Non-silica" formula. I found generic and Prestone thats all they have at walmart and CDN tire. Also some of them said GM-Dextron(?) on them.

So If I don't have the Honda Coolant, what brand can I use?

scrb09

Quick Search revealed the RR Journals on Coolant

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=coolant

Actuary

So can I use anything else than Honda? Prestone (It says it can be mixed with any car any brand)? GM? Ford?

cliff

whatever u do, dont put death-cool into ur car, they should be an orange color, stick with the green stuff in the tl

SodaLuvr

There's nothing wrong with Dex-Cool, it is phosphate-free and silicate free. It is a universal antifreeze now for just about every application, as silicated antifreezes are slowly being phased out.

I'd highly recommend topping it off with the Honda Antifreeze, as antifreezes for some reason don't seem to mix well from past experiences. If you wish to change coolants, I'd switch to the green colored, Prestone All Makes/Models which is a Dex-Cool based formula in a different color and works well for every application.

Mike

need4spd

Just go to the dealer, they will do it for free, and with the right stuff (hopefully).

Why are you buying it when it is for free?

Also, if it is low, there may be another problem, such as a leak, let the dealer take a quick look while the presurise the system, which will show any leaks right away.

Actuary

A good link found

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...00166#continue


* Japanese phosphate-OAT. We haven't seen an aftermarket brand yet, so shop the Toyota or Honda parts departments for the best deal.

bar2v

I was in the same situation about a month ago. After some research, I decided to flush the system with Honda coolant rather than be sorry with Prestone. RoadRage, as well as some others, reported that even non-silicate coolants can cause gelling with the existing TL coolant in certain parts of the engine. It was also said that its hard to get rid of "ALL" the old coolant to do a complete coolant swap.

Shoot2Thrill

There is a radio program on WWOR on Sunday morning "The Car Doctor".

http://www.wor710.com/car_doctor.shtml

The guy owns a gas station and generally gives very sound advice. Week after week he advises to remove the Dex-Cool from GM vehicles as soon as they out of warranty.

SodaLuvr

That is misinformation this guy is giving out.

People across the internet kept hearing rumors about Dex Cool “killing” engines by causing leaks in the intake manifold gaskets of GM 3.1, 3.4, and some 3.8L 6-cyl engines. (Particularly 3.1 and 3.4) This is actually a myth, as the intake manifold gasket leaks were purely a design problem and had nothing to do with Dex Cool. If a person has an older GM V6 (anything <2002), I highly recommend flushing out the Dex Cool system, and replacing with a premixed 50/50 mixture of Prestone Extended Life 5/150 Dex Cool (Silver Jug) and Distilled Water and adding a treatment of GM Coolant Supplement (P/N 3634621) which will attempt to seal any possible point of coolant intrusion internally. Not a guarantee, but safe insurance.

They are millions of cars on the road today running on 5 year flush intervals with Dex Cool since around 1996 with no issues. I don’t disagree that there have been some isolated problems with Dex Cool, but that is bound to happen with just about everything out on the market…(It may not work 100% of the time, you’re always going to have some weird stuff happen) but again, the majority of the cars on the market have no issues with Dex Cool. Any concern about “rust” in Dex Cool in simply caused by low coolant levels exposing the Iron parts of Iron based engines that is causing them to “rust,” and causing the rust to mix with the coolant, thus, causing the “rust” appearance.

Remember that some coolants on the market today that have a “green” color are still loosely based along the lines of a Dex Cool type technology. For example, the Supertech regular coolant, even though its green, is actually a silicate free formulation much like the Dex Cool. Very few silicated coolants exist on the market today due to the issues they’ve had with the silicates in the past.

Hope this resolves it,
Mike