Just go to the store and read the containers. I have in front of me a gallon of Prestone Concentrate Antifreeze/Coolant. It says that it is for All Makes; All Models, For ANY car or light duty truck; Works with ANY color antifreeze; Will NOT void warranty; Up to 5 years or 150,000 miles of protection. I have used Prestone in our older GM car with no problem mixing with Dexcool. Prestone is easily available at a nearby car parts store for a reasonable price. Don’t know what GM gets for Dexcool; have never bought it.
Dexcool, by the way, has worked without problems for the last 5 cars that we have owned including two now at 97k and 39k miles.
You mix antifreeze at your own risk. Even the bottles that say it’ll mix with anything.
I cannot see any reason whatsoever to take the risk. There are those that have done so without problems, but there are also horror stories. Variables such as the materials that the engine, head(s), radiator, and gaskets may be factors.
IMHO coolant isn’t so expensive as to not put the correct coolant in.
I too see no reason to ever mix coolants or use anything other than the specified coolant for your car. There’s nothing to gain by using one-size fits all coolants.
True, your car will probably be OK, but what if it isn’t? Why take the risk? Universal “all makes, all models” coolants are a myth. It’s simply not possible.
But to @frobe, it’s going to be near impossible to prove that any damage was done to your car by adding Chrysler Red coolant to your car, of which we know nothing. Not even the year, make, model, issues, etc.
The in question is s 2005 Sebring with the baby V6. It’haf a small watervlesk for some time. At regular oil change intervals Luke Chrysler wadto check all the fluids. That means if the water leak was bad enough, Chrysler should have added fluid. That they added their red to the original green. The result was a light brown scum. I aurthorized them to fix the leak. They elected to power flush the system. This caused the heater core to plug. They say that I’m at fault fir not cleaning the system earlier. I naintain that their decision to power flush caused the blockage. Especially, since Hal’s Radiator fixed the blockage in just a couple of hours. They got about 1/2 a cup of the same sludge out of the water jacket and now the heater worjs fine.
This is quite a mix up. “Baby V6” suggests you are talking about a Sebring sedan with a 2.7L engine, the coupe has a 3.0L Mitsubishi engine.
The 2.7 DOHC aluminum engine has used Mopar 5-year HOAT red coolant since the late 1990’s. All Sebring sedans in 2005 came with 5-year HOAT coolant. You should not have green coolant in your cooling system.
You are assuming that during oil changes coolant was added, they may have added water. Coolant is an expense, if the car was 1/2 a gallon low this should have been documented and you may have been billed for the coolant.
Quote from TSM: “You mix antifreeze at your own risk. Even the bottles that say it’ll mix with anything.” Unquote
Quote from asemaster: “Why take the risk? Universal “all makes, all models” coolants are a myth. It’s simply not possible.” Unquote
Gentlemen: As per my post, I did add currently available Prestone antifreeze to Dexcool already in my car’s cooling system without making a problem. I believe that Prestone has made certain that mixing is possible or else they would severely damage their reputation.
I want to do the right thing for my car so if you can provide information contrary to Prestone’s advice as provided on the container, that would be useful.
Personally, I tend to trust the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations over aftermarket product manufacturers’ recommendations. Even Prestone’s.
But it’s a personal choice. We all have different levels of risk tolerance.
Quote from tsm: “Personally, I tend to trust the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations over aftermarket product manufacturers’ recommendations. Even Prestone’s.” Unquote
Auto makers are not as expert with antifreeze as are antifreeze makers so it seems prudent take a nationally prominent antifreeze vendor’s advice over a car maker’s advice regarding antifreeze.
Prestone, Peak, Carquest and Durex and have versions of antifreeze that state on the bottle that they are compatible with any antifreeze of any color. The Durex antifreeze states that it is compatible with any antifreeze including Dexcool, Ford and Chrysler antifreeze. Mixing a competing brand of antifreeze with Dexcool may not have been advisable in the past but it appears that antifreeze mfrs. have adapated their products to make them compatible where stated on the bottle. Brands compatible with Dexcool state on the bottle that the system needs to be flushed and refilled to get the 5 year 150,000 mile antifreeze lifespan. This seems obvious as the age of any residual antifreeze may be unknown.
Are you asking (A) if you can mix them, some of each in the radiator at the same time, or (B) if you can use any of them in your car, if you replace all the fluid with the new one?
Big difference between the two. And it takes a careful read of the label to determine which they are referring to.
“Brands compatible with Dexcool state on the bottle that the system needs to be flushed and refilled to get the 5 year 150,000 mile antifreeze lifespan” … this refers to the second case.
Interesting point well made, but I’m not sure the antifreeze manufacturers know more about the chemistry, just the manufacture of the product. Auto manufacturers have some pretty smart engineers and they work closely with vendors. They give the antifreeze vendors all the information they need, and the antifreeze manufacturers ensure that they provide product correct for the application. And information flows the other way too.
Auto manufacturers work closely with their OEM suppliers. But that doesn’t mean that an antifreeze perfect for one application is necessarily going to be good for another application, or that two different antifreeze chemistries will work properly together when the third variable… the application… is added.
As I mentioned, it’s a personal preference. My risk tolerance for mixing antifreeze solutions is low. I simply don’t see any reason to take even a slight risk when antifreeze isn’t that expensive. Others may have higher risk tolerance. And I’m okay with that… as long as they aren’t working on MY car!
I disagree. Automakers, especially European ones, have specific reasons for their specific formulations of coolants.
True, putting “one-size fits all” coolant in your car today will not make your radiator leak tomorrow, or cause a head gasket leak next month, and chances are your car will be fine for the rest of its life. But long term, there are definite issues with using the wrong coolant. I’ve seen plugged up heater cores, water pump housings corroded, thermostats sticking, all of which I believe were at least partially caused by the wrong coolant.
What exactly does Prestone say they will warranty?
In a nutshell, universal coolants are a myth, a risk that I see no reason to take. It’s simply not possible to manufacture a coolant that meets all automakers specifications. Toyota specifies their long-life coolants have phosphates added. VW specifies their long-life coolant be phosphate free. How can one coolant be both phosphate-added and phosphate free?
The main advantage of those so-called universal coolants is that stores don’t have to maintain inventory of multiple types of coolant. Not much of an advantage to the vehicle owner.
Quote from asemaster: “What exactly does Prestone say they will warranty?” Unquote
Prestone’s bottle says: “Quality and satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.” Will any part or lube vendor do more without a fight?
Quote from asemaster: “In a nutshell, universal coolants are a myth, a risk that I see no reason to take. It’s simply not possible to manufacture a coolant that meets all automakers specifications. Toyota specifies their long-life coolants have phosphates added. VW specifies their long-life coolant be phosphate free. How can one coolant be both phosphate-added and phosphate free?” Unquote
I can’t answer this. You might want to call Prestone at 800-890-2075 to ask how they have handled this. I have no Toyota nor a modern VW so I have no need to know.
Again, the bottle says:
For ANY car or light duty truck
Works with ANY color antifreeze
Will NOT void warranty
Up to 5 years or 150,000 miles of protection**
** … when flushed and filled according to directions.
Well, I guess you can believe the vehicle’s manufacturer or the antifreeze manufacturer. The choice is entirely yours. Me? I choose to believe the vehicle manufacturer.
I don’t see how any manufacturer of any aftermarket product can possibly make such a claim. I believe you that they do, but I don’t see how they can.
I have no need to know either, since I only use the proper approved fluids when servicing a customer’s car. If your car came with Subaru blue coolant, it goes out with that. If your car came with VW G12 coolant, it goes out with that. I will never need to answer the question “Why did my car used to have orange coolant and now it has the gold-colored stuff?”. The only honest answer I can think of to that question is “Because I wanted to save $3 when fixing your car.”
I have yet to see or hear one answer that makes any kind of sense as to why you would use universal coolant in your car.
I have no interest in calling Prestone and asking. I would have no interest in calling Folgers about their coffee that is both caffeinated and decaf that the same time, or calling Lucerne and asking about their milk that is both whole and nonfat at the same time. It just can’t be done.
The only reason I can think of is that you’re stranded on the side of the road and it’s the only option. Otherwise, it’s an unnecessary risk, even if one believes the risk is minimal.
I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t mix conventional green coolant with orange dexcool. And if you you did it would congeal into some sort of greyish goop. That was when dexcool first came out though. These days it seems that there’s green, orange, red, pink, and yellow varieties to choose from. I’ve used the Prestone yellow universal coolant before without incident, but that was in an older car without that didn’t require a specific kind of coolant.
