my girlsfriends coolant level was extremely low. i checked under hood due to damage i posted about on previous thread. well the coolant reservoir showed dangerously low coolant level. the coolant is pink. we went to autozone and we found this. disregard walmart link the product is same.
the fluid in this container is green. it says all vehicles.
she has a chevy trax 2015 LT.
is there any danger or problem with mixing coolants? i dont know what she had in there previously but it was pink. this current coolant from prestone is green.
its a 2015. i think she needs to replace her car after it is paid off but not having a car payment might benefit her. i dont think its considered an old car if its a 2015.
Is there a good reason to use a generic coolant (Prestone) rather than the coolant specified for the car? A major price difference, availability etc?
The engineers who designed the engine know what materials were used, and therefore are in the best position to say which coolant will do the best job and cause the least amount of deterioration to the cooling systemâs materials.
If you needed to top off the coolant in an emergency with a generic, probably not something to lose sleep about in the short-term, but best for the wallet to do a flush and refill with the correct coolant spec at the earliest convenience.
I should add Iâve always used Prestone in all of the cars Iâve ever owned, 60+ years of driving, and never had any major cooling system problems. But my cars are all much older than yours.
According to the ownerâs manual you should use 50% Dexcool with drinkable water. Tap water works or you can buy distilled water. Add it to the overflow tank. See pages 10-17 through 10-19. Hereâs a link to the ownerâs manual if she doesnât have one.
Donât use anything else, including universal coolant. The chemical makeup of the replacement antifreeze must be identical to that of Dexcool. Otherwise you risk damaging the coolant system. Buying Dexcool is cheap insurance against coolant system damage.
autozone website says the coolant is compatible with the car. arent you going a bit overboard? she also claims she used prestone coolant in the past. im about fed up with cars at this point. i want to have enough money to be done with combustion engine cars altogether i figure electric cars are way easier to maintain. why would prestone claim their coolant is universal if it really isnt? isnt that a pending lawsuit? it literally says any car on the container.
OK, you came onto this website to ask can you mix coolants, basically EVERYONE has said Yes you can, but No it is NOT recommended, could/will cause long term damage, now you are arguing about being able to mix itâŠ
If you are NOT going to accept the (same) answers giving by basically everyone, then WTH did you even ask us in the 1srt place??? It would be different if you were getting mixed answersâŠ
Do you go to the Dr and ask what is wrong with you, and then argue with the Dr why you think he/she is wrong, cause you read xyz???
Not reading all the other comments, that pink stuff in a 15 Gm is likely long life dexcool,. You donât want to let air in or mix it with non dex. Go to Napa or some place and get the dex fluid. Mine says prestone dexcool.
Prestone âuniversalâ is yellow (not green as in the subject of your post). If I was in a pinch and the only choices were âuniversalâ yellow vs green, then Iâd throw some yellow in. But then, if I wanted to keep the vehicle for a while, Iâd do a cooling system service and put it all back to OEM spec at the first opportunity.
Trusting Autozoneâs recommendations is a bad idea, as noted above.
I wonder if there are any scientific studies published comparing long term use of Prestone Universal vs whatever coolant Chevy recommends? If not, its entirely possible the Prestone product produces the same result. I should add that pro-mechanics seem to believe, presumably by their own experience, that the correct coolant produces better results.
Like I said that pink in a 2015 Gm is more than likely orange dexcool. Bad idea just to dump in anything that does not say dexcool on the bottle. Ya say you donât like the dex because it clogs up the cooling system? Try mixing it. If in a pinch, just use water. Sheesh.
i argue because on the container and on the site with info it says the prestone fluid we got to replace is compatible with all OAT, POAT, HOAT and IAT coolant fluids
There may be no way to know for sure. Prestone, the car manufacturers, they all have a potential conflict of interest for their claims. Experienced pro mechanics on the other hand seem less likely to have a conflict of interest on coolant choice, so their recommendation may be the best you can get.
