I have a 2005 Camry with 15,000 miles. It is time to change the coolant, but the Toyota brand is about $20 per gallon while most of the other brands are about $11 per gallon. Any suggestions on an equivalent to the Toyota brand?
FIW, Valvoline claims its Zerex DEX-COOL (orange stuff) is compatible:
http://www.valvoline.com/zerex/pdf/Zerex_CoolantChart.pdf?coaid=1B5D1AEA1AFC
Personally, I just use OEM coolants in my cars, it’s easer than trying to figure out what is really compatible.
Check the maintenance schedule in your owners manual and I think you will find that you have about 3 years or 85k miles, which ever comes first before you have to change it. $20 every 4 or 5 years isn’t so bad.
Any of the new long life antifreezes will do. The requirement is for non phosphate, non borate detergents and anticorrosion packages. The new antifreezes are called HOAT which is an acronym for hybrid organic something or other. This antifreeze is compatible with Dexcol (OAT) as well as older formulations.
BTW, I used one of the first HOAT antifreezes in my 97 Nissan truck back in 2000, just got around to changing it last month after 100k miles. It was still doing its job protecting the engine. I don’t recommend going that long, it was just an oversite.