Hi,

Just fitted a radiator and flushed everything by removing the thermostat.

Refilled with Halfords (2yr) coolant as nothing else was open only to find thermostat housing leaking meaning a full drain yet again.

I have read many threads about coolant and as far as I am concerned anything safe for aluminium engines is ok bar the new OAT blah stuff just to be on the safe side.

Also I assume all the coolant from the reservoir in the wing has come out as well?

I have some pre-mixed Toyota Red Coolant lying around (really top stuff), would this be ok in the Scoobs?

What would you go for, Vauxhall long life stuff or Toyota RED Stuff?

- I am not buying rip off halfrauds re-packaged stuff again.

Thanks guys...

 

I use the toyota red coolant in mine and it is totally fine.Of the toyota coolants the red is the best as it keeps it cooler

 

kiranbaloo - Top man, thanks for that. I also have the "RED LONG LIFE PREMIXED STUFF" Always knew it was good coolant, Toyotas are a little sensitive to coolant types so must be ok.

I will stick that in my scooby that does like 500 miles a year lol, just worried that the reservoir in the wing wont be empty and it will mix, any ideas anyone????

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the "Toyota red coolant" you're talking about contains "the new OAT stuff" you claimed earlier you didn't want to use fn.

For what it's worth the new Alu-Protect oats are fine, at least on engines with steel gaskets. Whether it has a problem with the older fibre ones I couldn't say.

As for the expansion tank, it's easy enough to remove and clean out. Once done fill with more of the same coolant, simple.

Edited to add: The Toyota longlife coolant is OAT.

 

Thanks Splitpin,

Hmmm, now you got me thinking...Mines a 96 running 313 horses so assuming some gaskets have been upgraded. Might just stick with Vauxhall stuff then hopefully that one should be OAT free and cheaper. Just seen some posts about OAT stuff frothing out the expansion etc.

You know, I bet it would be ok, the more you read about this stuff the more paranoid you get, suppose £1800 is a lot of money if your head gasket blows hey...

Thanks for the reservoir tip, always assumed it was tucked away inside the wing and would have to take the wing cover off, actually got a pela pump so could use that...

Kiranbaloo - what year is your scoobys?

 

mine is a '99,thoughI work for toyota and they have used the red coolant in the older cars which have the fibre gaskets so I am sure you will be fine. Toyota have now got a super longlife coolant which is pink in colour which is only used on cars after 2002.

 

Thanks - Aha, you work for Mr T then. Yes they did say it was being replaced with PINK stuff when I bought some for the 1UZFE. Toyota coolant is quality though, just bought some Vauxhall stuff although would have used the Toyota stuff anyway, I will save that for the T's. The Vauxhall stuffs Pink although I know its just a dye.

Cheers for all the replies, much appreciated....

 

fn, it's "just" a dye in all of them. The dye colour is an indicator of the chemical composition. If this Vauxhall stuff is pink, it's almost certainly G30 OAT-based. Blue/green is G48 hybrid etc. Red is another type of OAT.

Toyota and GM don't make this stuff themselves, they (like most of the others) buy it in from a major chemical manufacturer.

 

REALLY? I read somewhere that there was no standard as such but what you wrote has changed my mind now about what I thought I knew.

Hmmm I did my flush and change yesterday and ended up putting Vauxhall stuff in, ended up sticking the OAT stuff in the end anyway hey...

I also used de-ionised water for the mixture, are we scooby owners a bit over paranoid about these things do you think?

Yes most of the big boys re-badge or get others to produce for them, the worst is SEALEY TOOLS, they will stick the SEALEY badge on anything, I have seen some really horrid quality chinese stuff re-badged whilst you can get the exact same part for 20% of the price. I vowed never to buy SEALEY again.

Should be ok unless someone can confirm its really bad for the cooling system on a 96 Import Wrx

Halfords think OAT is ok, BTW I hate that chavvy text speak lol 3rd question down: http://answers.halfords.com/answers/.../questions.htm