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Offline Farmer Jon

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Anti freeze colors
« on: November 18, 2018, 11:25:50 AM »
 This might get a little windy but all these colors are a bit confusing. I would like to clear the water so to speak. I am partly color blind so that just adds to the confusion.

We have a small fleet of trucks and a bunch of equipment old and new. It seems like they all take a different antifreeze. We had yellow, purple and red. Accidentally bought a case of pink once. I had a Mack at the time so I called Mack. Their oil and coolant supplier had just been there and informed the shop that that all colored is the same. As long as it says EXTENDED LIFE. You can put red in purple and pink it don't matter but it MUST say EXTENDED LIFE. Over the past couple years I asked a couple different mechanics the same question expecting conflicting answers. They all backed up the story I got from Mack.

OK fine. So we bought a 55 gallon drum of red for the new stuff and a drum of green for the old. This has been working out for us very well for the past few years. Until now. We are out of green so I had the boss order another drum. We purchase lubricants and coolant through Cenex CO-OP. They can't get green anymore. Its yellow. But not extended life yellow. This yellow is compatible with green and the orange Dex-cool only. Are you confused yet? Isn't Dex Cool extended life? I thought it was.  Anyway so, now in our shop, yellow is the new green. The fun does not stop there. Not when you throw John Deere in the mix. We have 2 pieces of equipment under warranty. We must use the exact fluids that Deere says to use or risk not being covered by warranty. Guess what color the coolant is. Yellow. But not the new new yellow, its the old new extended life yellow. These 2 yellows are not compatible.

The moral of the story here is make darn shure you know exactly what coolant your vehicle has in it. Take a paint pen and write it down under the hood. Read your labels before purchasing coolant.  I have a feeling this "new yellow" will be popping up around stores before long if not already. Although I seriously doubt you will find any John Deere extend life yellow coolant in any vehicles. Thank goodness you can avoid that confusion. Just remember, extended life goes with extended life.
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Offline KensAuto

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Re: Anti freeze colors
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2018, 12:27:56 PM »
Great point Jon. Yes, make sure of what goes in your vehicle .
I can't even keep track of brand colors anymore: pink, red, green, orange, blue, purple, and gold. Each manufacturer dyes their coolant differently.  Pink means OAT in GM and Toy, but it might be HOAT in a Dodge....then you buy some HOAT  from Mopar and it's orange....the color of Dex !!!The one that really ticks me off is that you can't buy Dexcool branded pink or red, even through the dealer....but it comes from the factory that way.
There's basically only 3 types of available coolant in the auto world. Not sure about the big truck and farm world.
First the old fashioned green (IAT), Dexcool style OAT,  and HOAT (Ford version is GO5).
Shawn and I had this discussion a while back about Mopar switching from HOAT to OAT and what happens if you put the old stuff in a newer engine (gaskets,water pumps,etc are designed for certain coolant).
Sorry for being longwinded but it's a sore subject with me.  (Don't get me started on transmission fluids)
« Last Edit: November 18, 2018, 01:09:03 PM by KensAuto »
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Offline Bob Smith

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Re: Anti freeze colors
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2018, 01:55:24 PM »
Went through this not long ago while changing the coolant stuff in the jeep. Nothing easy about it any more. 

Offline Nate

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Re: Anti freeze colors
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2018, 04:31:12 PM »
 :popcorn:
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Offline Flyin6

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Re: Anti freeze colors
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2018, 05:34:29 PM »
Went through this not long ago while changing the coolant stuff in the jeep. Nothing easy about it any more. 
Did the EPA somehow get involved???
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