Is Walmart's red coolant compatible with the Gen 2? I've Googled and Googled and have gotten 8 different answers. 1. OK in the engine but not the inverter. 2. OK in both 3. Not OK whatsoever on and on I've read there are HOAT, POAT, and PHOAT coolants and for the life of me can't figure out what's what.
When in doubt; use the OEM coolant........ 'Ya feeling lucky punk' (Clint Eastwood).......... If you put the wrong stuff in there, that could be a costly mistake. I'm also wondering if what someone tells you on a forum is any better than Google AI???? Clearly there's a lot of confusion out there and how do you know someone isn't just "parroting" something else they've read, that may also be WRONG??? If your confused; I sure other people out here are too. Food for Thought.....
Toyota doesn't insist you use their coolant, just cautions (in Owner's Manual), that if you use an alternate, it should meet certain criteria (long laundry list of of do's and don't ensues). The best I can say about that list, is that I understood "some" of the words. Accordingly, I stick with the Toyota coolant. For gen 2, is it "Long Life Coolant", or has that been updated to "Super Long Life Coolant"? Replacement interval is shorter with the former, IIRC.
Buy the red coolant from Walmart and use it without much risk. I used OEM coolant in the 19 years I own the Prius but it did not protect better any cooling system parts. In 200k miles, I have replaced 4 water pumps, 2 inverter coolant pumps, 1 three-way valve. What more protection did the OEM provide over aftermarket coolant?
The quality / applicability of anything but the original factory fluid is a question that can't be answered, nobody knows for sure if it's as good as factory, but we do know it's more likely that it's not. For the best price buy it from one of the many dealers that sell online, or get a price there and ask your dealer to match it.
