Coolant question

Starting to loose a little coolant now, and need to top up. Brought some from Camberley Auto Factors, but it's a different colour.. (blue as opposed to the luminous green that I currently have) I am guessing you cannot mix them?

Blue/green is 'usually' the old style ethylene glycol - and pink/orange is 'usually' the new style OAT.... unfortunately this isn't always the case!

They don't mix very well at all and sometimes cause a gooey sludge. What year is the car and has it ever had a full coolant flush?

AdamElphick;17506 wrote: Blue/green is 'usually' the old style ethylene glycol - and pink/orange is 'usually' the new style OAT.... unfortunately this isn't always the case!

They don't mix very well at all and sometimes cause a gooey sludge. What year is the car and has it ever had a full coolant flush?

The car is an S plate, coolant never been flushed (by me anyway)

Meg is an S and she had old ethylene glycol in when I bought her - I swapped all of it to OAT..

As said, colour is not the problem, it is what you have in at the moment. You shouldn't mix Glycol and OAT as it just makes a mix that won't have the correct properties and may result in problems further down the line.

If in doubt, drain the system and refil with whatever coolant you choose, but OAT is generally accepted to be the superior of the two.

thatone1967 wrote: Starting to loose a little coolant now, and need to top up. Brought some from Camberley Auto Factors, but it's a different colour.. (blue as opposed to the luminous green that I currently have) I am guessing you cannot mix them?

Not advised to mix them, Ethylene Glycol and OAT that is, Bluecol now make a Clear colour antifreeze that can be used with either EG or OAT. as it has not been flushed before i would drain, flush and put in the latest pink/orange OAT (Organic Acid Technology) as it is far superior. it is also reccomended that you dilute it with de-ionised water and not tap water (because of the chemicals in it)

bryan young wrote:

thatone1967 wrote: Starting to loose a little coolant now, and need to top up. Brought some from Camberley Auto Factors, but it's a different colour.. (blue as opposed to the luminous green that I currently have) I am guessing you cannot mix them?

Not advised to mix them, Ethylene Glycol and OAT that is, Bluecol now make a Clear colour antifreeze that can be used with either EG or OAT. as it has not been flushed before i would drain, flush and put in the latest pink/orange OAT (Organic Acid Technology) as it is far superior. it is also reccomended that you dilute it with de-ionised water and not tap water (because of the chemicals in it)

Totaly agree on the de-ionised water. You can buy iyt premixed though and the colour of OAT can be almost any colour you wish, you can even get blue, which is bound to confuse some people.