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All dragons have some type of resistance or immunity against certain materials and energy types.(fire, acid, electricity, cold, steel, adamantine).

Can we kill a dragon with the related element as a drowning condition? They have lungs right? Lets say we want to kill a red dragon, can we make it drown in lava?

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Dragons do need to breathe (note that black dragons have the ability water breathing, indicating that a dragon without it can't breathe under water and is subject to drowning rules), so anything that asphyxiates them will kill them, regardless of the element. A dragon's resistance to damage of certain elements doesn't save them from needing to breathe, just from being directly injured by that element.

However, there is no information on how long a dragon can hold its breath, so how long it takes to drown a dragon is up to the DM's discretion. An easy answer is that you would just use the normal drowning rules, so how long it takes depends on a dragon's Constitution score, but there's nothing to stop a DM from house-ruling that dragon physiology works differently in their game's setting.

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Well, the Draconomicon may have a thing to say about this. Too bad I don't have it handy. Also, I seem to recall the CON modifier plays a role in this... or was it a Swimming Check ? – Nigralbus Aug 17 '12 at 15:50
@Nigralbus Yeah, using the drowning rules as a default occurred to me, though a given DM might choose to house-rule that. Added that to my answer. – SevenSidedDie Aug 17 '12 at 15:53
"A character who has no air to breathe can hold her breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. If a character takes a standard or full-round action, the remaining duration that the character can hold her breath is reduced by 1 round. After this period of time, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check in order to continue holding her breath. The check must be repeated each round, with the DC increasing by +1 for each previous success." – Rob Aug 17 '12 at 16:22
"When the character fails one of these Constitution checks, she begins to suffocate. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following round, she drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she suffocates." – Rob Aug 17 '12 at 16:22
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That would be a separate question, as the Tarrasque isn't a dragon and has a number of special rules about how it can be killed. If you'd like to ask it, submit a new question. – SevenSidedDie Aug 17 '12 at 17:02
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