Thread: Have I made a serious mistake with my coolant...

I did a service on the discovery last weekend, with the assistance of a mate who is a mechanic.

We changed the coolant, however being in a bit of a hurry, and given that it was in good cndition, didn't remove the alternator to drain the block.

The part that worries me is that we used coolent that he had in stock, Tectaloy Extra Cool Red. Although it says "Silicate and Phosphate Free" I don't think its an OAT coolant.

So given there would have been a fair amount of coolent left in the block, and I have possibly mixed two different types of coolant, do I need to flush the entire system and start again? If so where in Melbourne is the best place to get OAT coolant on a weekend?

Thanks in advance

Matt

Originally Posted by LOVEMYRANGIE

If its red, then its basically an OAT coolant, green and its Ethylene Glycol.
GM use a specific orange coloured one also.

All coolants now are colourcoded for application.

Cheers

Andrew

No offence but this is a bit misleading, colour coding as explained is not really the full picture.

One such product on the market, Shell (with the well known Shell trademark) Coolguard OAT is red/pink in colour and states on the label:

"Shell Coolguard OAT ready to use is an ethylene glycol coolant/antifreeze specifically formulated with Organic Additive Technology for excellent stability, long service, excellent corrosion protection for all metals, when used correctly. It is nitrite, amine phosphate, borate and silicate free........" It goes on to list that it meets the requirements of international standards and major automobile manufacturers with a number of such standards and car manufacturers etc.
It further states that it is suitable for all automotive applications, including cooling systems incorporating aluminium materials.....also antifreeze, antiboil and antirust.

The product is freely available from K-Mart and other retailers of auto products. (I am not connected with either the product or any company/individual that retails it, purely for information only).

The above is simply for clarification and warning in regard to the colour coding issue stated because it has OAT prominently displayed on the label and is pink/red in colour. It really pays to read the labels of such products before making any decisions.

Again, not looking for any arguments here, but facts are facts. Apologies to mods if mentioning retailers or manufacturers breaches any form protocols.

Cheers
Mick