Turbosolara wrote:^ I agree you should use toyota red no matter what because they have speical addictive to help you prolong the water pump life. I dont think all the water pump were made in same materials and design. Toyota red is not expensive anyway and i was told you only can use it in toyota.
That pretty much sums up my feelings. I thought Prestone orange was the "all make and models" type...maybe its not?
My water pump did explode, but it probably wasnt a cause of the coolant type I had in there.
If I had to make an educated guess, I think its because I didnt premix it (I did 50% coolant straight in, then 50% water). At some point before the water was able to circulate enough to mix completely with the coolant, it might have dropped below freezing, causing the water portion to freeze and expand and rip up my cooling system, including my water pump. When the guy opened it up, he said there were metal shards all over the place. Could have also been because I think I used hose water instead of distilled water. Could have been a million things.
But i'm still sticking to Toyota Red. It only gets changed once every 2-3 years anyways.