Green vs. Yellow Anitfreeze

So you just flush out the old whatever color anti freeze you have and then put in the color of your choice and you will not be mixing them together....

My advice is not to mix the yellow and green. Why can't you tell which you have? Is it that dirty? If you really can't tell, I'd suggest flushing the system as completely as possible and using Prestone® Heavy Duty Antifreeze/ Coolant (see

). What the Escape Owner Guide says is:

"Use either green-colored Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant or yellow-colored Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant. DO NOT USE Ford Extended Life Engine Coolant (orange in color). Refer to Adding engine coolant, in the Maintenance and Care chapter."

From the Maintenance and Care Chapter:

"The cooling system in your vehicle is filled with either green-colored Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant meeting Ford specification ESE-M97B44?A or yellow-colored Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant meeting Ford Specification WSS-M97B51?A1. To determine your vehicle?s coolant type (color), check your coolant reservoir.

Add Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant (green-colored), VC-4?A (U.S.) or CXC-10 (Canada) or Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant (yellow-colored), VC-7?A, depending on the type of coolant originally equipped in your vehicle. If you are unsure which type of coolant your vehicle requires, check your coolant reservoir or contact your local dealer.

"Do not add/mix an orange-colored, extended life coolant such as Motorcraft Speciality Orange Engine Coolant, VC-2 (US) or CXC-209 (Canada), meeting Ford specification WSS-M97B44?D with the factory-filled coolant. Mixing Motorcraft Speciality Orange Engine Coolant or any orange-colored extended life product with your factory filled coolant can result in degraded corrosion protection."

If you read all this carefully, you will see that they never say you cannot mix the yellow and green coolants. However, if you go to the Motorcraft web site (

) you get betterdirections:

Premium Engine Coolant

- Green-colored, conventional, ethylene glycol based, universal formulation for use in gasoline and diesel engines

- Approved for engines with aluminum radiators and/or aluminum heads as well as conventional engines

- Provides year-round antifreeze, antiboil and corrosion protection

- Provides year-round protection in both hot and cold climates. Provides -35°F winter to over 250°F summer system protection when used in the recommended 50% mix with

- Do not use in model year 1999 and forward Cougar and Electric Vehicle Ranger

- Do not mix this coolant with systems originally equipped with any orange-colored, extended-life coolant such as Motorcraft® Specialty Orange Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification WSS-M97B44-D or the yellow-colored, extended-life coolant Motorcraft® Premium Gold Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification WSS-M97B51-A1

Premium Gold Engine Coolant

- Yellow-colored, extended-life, ethylene glycol based engine coolant for use in gasoline and diesel engines

- Provides year-round antifreeze, antiboil and corrosion protection

- Only use where specified. Do not mix this product with systems originally equipped with any green-colored, conventional engine coolant such as Motorcraft® Premium Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification ESE-M97B44-A or any orange-colored,extended-life engine coolant such as Motorcraft® Specialty Orange Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification WSS-M97B44-D

Specialty Orange Engine Coolant

- Orange-colored, ethylene glycol based, extended life coolant

- Protects water pump seals and provides high temperature aluminum protection

- For use in specified MY 1999 and forward Cougar and Ford Electric Vehicle Ranger

- Use only where specified. Do not mix this product with systems originally equipped with any green-colored, conventional engine coolant such as Motorcraft® Premium Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification ESE-M97B44-A or the yellow-colored, extended-life engine coolant Motorcraft® Premium Gold Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Material Specification WSS-M97B51-A1

So, if you trust the Motorcraft site, you should be sure to only mix green with green, yellow with yellow and orange (red) with orange (red).

Other references:

I understand OAT [red] may not be compatible with standard [green/yellow] > antifreeze.

[green/yellow]

But what if you want purple antifreeze? :-P

CJ

You're joking, right?

The color dont matter. All antifreeze is ethylene glycol, no matter what color it is. The coloring is just added so you see it is antifreeze. Otherwise would be clear and can be mistaken for water or something. The only exception to this rule is that new "environmentally safe" Sierra brand. That is a different chemical, and might not mix with ethylene glycol (I am not sure).

If Ford says not to mix colors, they are full of shit! Ethylene glycol is ethylene glycol, and the color is just an additive. I suppose Ford says this so that you buy THEIR antifreeze, at probably two or more times the price of the stuff you buy anywhere else.

I have bought antifreeze when it is on sale, all my life. When I need it, I mix whatever brand (and color), I have. It always works just fine, even if I mix green, yellow, red, and blue, all in the same radiator.

You're right that they're all Ethylene glycol, but wrong about compatibility. The additive packages in Dexcool, for instance, can react with regular anti-freeze and cause severe aluminum corrosion and instantly form deposits. Also note that the red stuff in chryslers isn't dexcool or compatible with it. Isn't this fun?

To the original poster: If you can't tell, take some out and look at it. If you still can't tell, it's time to dump it and change it. It's good to change it every couple years anyway, and it's only going to need one gallon.

NOT SO! GM has a red antifreeze called Dexcool which is NOT compatable with the regular green ethylene glycol. I never heard of yellow, though.

[green/yellow]

I don't think so. Prestone makes a DEX-COOL approved anti-freeze and the only caveat I can find on their site is that if you mix regular anti-freeze with the DEX-COOL, you will lose the extended life protection. The extended life mix is intended for aluminum radiators, mostly. The regular Prestone stuff is also compatible with aluminum radiators.

mike

Texcao also makes the claim that you could mix Dexcool with conventional antifreeze - "Compatible with conventional antifreeze. Dilution with conventional antifreeze will reduce extended life benefits. ChevronTexaco recommends that this product not be diluted by more than

10% with conventional coolants."

However, there are enough horror stories out there, that I'd avoid mixing Dexcool with other types of anti-freeze.

Ed

For the newer vehicles Ford specifies: Add Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant (yellow-colored), VC-7-A (U.S., except CA and OR), VC-7-B (CA and OR only), meeting Ford Specification WSS-M97B51-A1.

Then further states: Do not add/mix an orange-colored, extended life coolant such as Motorcraft Speciality Orange Engine Coolant, VC-2 (US) or CXC-209 (Canada), meeting Ford specification WSS-M97B44-D with the factory-filled coolant. Mixing Motorcraft Speciality Orange Engine Coolant or any orange-colored extended life product with your factory filled coolant can result in degraded corrosion protection.

Yellow is the new 100,000 mile type antifreeze for Fords.

If your vehicle requires it, don't mix with another type.

John