Which brand antifreeze is colored red?

[KANTANKRUS]

I am contemplating on putting RV antifreeze in my closed radiator system. Is that copacetic?

[Warren Mohler]

1 hour ago, RestoringNV said:

I am contemplating on putting RV antifreeze in my closed radiator system. Is that copacetic?

NO! this is for boats and RV's it is meant for freeze protection ONLY, GM used red for some time but most people change to green that product was not what  you have pictured.

[Fernando87mj]

Toyota also has red anti freeze 

[KANTANKRUS]

I got a tongue lashing on FB about this very twinkie post... lol!

[JMO413]

GM has red called Dexcool, Mopar also has a red coolant. You need automotive antifreeze not RV. Your truck would have started life with green.

[eaglescout526]

Wouldn't we use only green in our MJ's? Not just because age but just because that was the only coolant that existed for automobiles. Can we even run any of the other colors?

[Warren Mohler]

you can change, Mopar does have red and I believe most red is compatible with green now but it costs more and corrosion protection was questionable in the past

[derf]

Coolant has changed a lot in the last 10 years.

 

There's at least 3 or 4 new types of coolant on the market.  Some only lasted a few years before being replaced by something else.

 

For a few of them, mixing is a "bad thing" so don't do it.

 

For my XJ and MJs, I stick to the old fashioned green coolant that's been around forever.  Though I have seen some "mix with anything" replacement coolant at the parts store.

[omega_rugal]

does the color has anything to do with the properties? also brands use diferent colors in any way they like...

 

besides, i´m beginning to believe that "using only water damages the engine" is a myth, the father of a friend bought a GM C-10 brand new in 1988, with the 250 inline-6 mated to s SM460, shortly after it converted it to propane and has been running on it ever since, also since he worked as a trucker, always put oil designed for diesel engines and filled it with tap water as coolant, it drove it like that for the past 30+ years, has tons of miles on it, the odometer gave up at 250, 000 long ago and i[m ashamed to say it runs BETTER than my 4.0, it doesn´t burn a drop of oil, not a single coolant leak, never being repaired, the truck has seen better dyas but the engine still pulls as if was new...

 

there must be something in the antifreeze that works as a catalyst and eventually eats the engine from inside, specially the ones with aluminum heads,

 

iron block + aluminum heads + antifreeze means failure... my only guess is that the ethylenglycol breaks the oxide layer that protects the AL from rusting...

[AZJeff]

The original “orange” antifreeze was GM Dexcool, and was intended for use in GM vehicles that had aluminum cyl. Heads.

 

Then along came antifreezes with HOAT, and some of those also happen to be orange, but are NOT the same as Dexcool.  Both Ford and Chrysler use HOAT type coolants now, as do some foreign brands.  They are NOT always orange.

 

Some types of coolants do not mix well, and can cause damage.  Dexcool is for sure among them.

 

The primitive engines in the MJ/XJ do not need, nor do they benefit from, HOAT type coolants.   Plain old “regular” green coolant is quite acceptable.

 

if you vehicle has orange coolant in it, and you don’t know if it’s HOAT, Dexcool, or something else, don’t add green stuff to it.  Instead, flush and restart with fresh green stuff.

 

And RV antifreeze is intended for use in the water systems of RV’s.  As such, it’s not poisonous to humans.  It also is very poor as a coolant for internal combustion engines.

[KANTANKRUS]

Nothing gets done to it right now. I spoke to its PO and he told me that the person who owned it before him, had the hoses all replaced, the radiator too, yes that has been 7+ years ago, but the PO barely drove it. I get the feeling that he used it for a toy, running in the deserts.

[Eagle]

15 hours ago, omega_rugal said:

 

besides, i´m beginning to believe that "using only water damages the engine" is a myth,

 

 

It's not a myth.

[omega_rugal]

4 minutes ago, Eagle said:

 

It's not a myth.

 

all-iron engines seem to not care, unless you put hard water in them. use destilated

[AZJeff]

37 minutes ago, Eagle said:

 

It's not a myth.

CORRECT.

 

Antifreeze contains chemicals that perform at least two important functions:

 

1.  keeps corrosion from building on engine block and other metal parts of cooling system

2.  lubricates seal on water pump

 

Plain water cannot do that, even if it is distilled.

[omega_rugal]

like i said in my example, that GM engine has been running 30+ with plain water and still has the same pump it came from the factory

 

my moms 2000 Nissan has always used antifreeze, last time i flushed it a lot of rust came out so i have my doubts... again, it has aluminum heads...

[75sv1]

I use Zerex Z05. I believe it is OAT. I read on  BITOG that the newer green formulas are OAT. The Z05 is for aluminum engines. Ford and Mercedes use it. Sine I have a MB240D and a Ford Contour SVT, I prefer to use one type of anti-freeze. I would not mix any of the newer formulas. My neighbor works at a dealership. He said they mixed two different colors of the newer stuff and it congealed up. 

        I thought the RV stuff was polypropylene  or such.  I think similar to Evan's waterless coolant. 

[omega_rugal]

why not mix them BEFORE you put them in the engine and see what happens...?

[Warren Mohler]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 9:35 AM, Eagle said:

 

It's not a myth.

work on boats for a while and you will see the difference antifreeze makes even fresh water inboard engines rot away from the inside, salt water engines 100x as bad. Iron block Mercruiser engines that have been in service for a while, say 350's when you pull cyl. heads the threaded holes in block will not be reuseable do to corrosion they just get too thin and won't stand up to retorque of bolts and can't be helicoiled

[omega_rugal]

1 hour ago, Warren Mohler said:

work on boats for a while and you will see the difference antifreeze makes even fresh water inboard engines rot away from the inside, salt water engines 100x as bad. Iron block Mercruiser engines that have been in service for a while, say 350's when you pull cyl. heads the threaded holes in block will not be reuseable do to corrosion they just get too thin and won't stand up to retorque of bolts and can't be helicoiled

 

just being near salt water is enough to rust a car...

[DirtyComanche]

5 hours ago, 75sv1 said:

I thought the RV stuff was polypropylene  or such.  I think similar to Evan's waterless coolant. 

 

RV antifreeze is either alcohol based or propylene glycol based, or a mixture thereof, but will contain zero of the additives needed to survive being used in an engine and not destroy said engine.  Evans is quite a bit different, although it is based on either propylene or ethylene glycol originally, they put it through several processes which change the molecular structure; I had a good paper on this somewhere but can't find it.

 

You can buy propylene glycol engine coolant from CAT and other equipment dealers, as sometimes they're required to run non-toxic coolant, and that's really the only point of propylene glycol as it's inferior to ethylene glycol otherwise.

 

Beyond that I'd say just use the green coolant.  And remember that half the point of it is to stop the engine from freezing.

[mjeff87]

5 hours ago, 75sv1 said:

I use Zerex Z05. I believe it is OAT. I read on  BITOG that the newer green formulas are OAT. The Z05 is for aluminum engines.

 

Z05 is HOAT (Hybrid OAT).  It contains an additional anti-corrosion additive.  It's all I use in the 3.7L in the KJ with aluminum heads (when it's running, lol).

All I ever used in the 2.5 and 4.0's I've had has been the plain old green stuff.  Never an issue.

 

50/50 mix of either, using distilled water.