Which Antifreeze-Red or Blue?

[clivvy]

ah bugger, my local Nissan dont have the mechanics in and they dont want to give me the wrong advice which is fair enough. he didnt seem to think it would matter with the newer OAT but he wanted me to check tomorrow.

I will probably go to Halfords and ask them, as I want it done today!

 

[cncfabs]

ah bugger, my local Nissan dont have the mechanics in and they dont want to give me the wrong advice which is fair enough. he didnt seem to think it would matter with the newer OAT but he wanted me to check tomorrow.

I will probably go to Halfords and ask them, as I want it done today!

If its brown that will be rust from having no antifreeze in it.My fourtrak was like that when 1st bought it 7 years ago several flushes and new radiator later its still brown despite having 50% antifreeze in it

 

[Banshee]

I use Green!!!
This is what i was advised to use and what was in the system already

I was told that this was better for old engines like these as the Glycol level in the is much better that doesn't wear on the metallic parts of the cooling system like the Red and Blue stuff does

:nenau

 

[clivvy]

well, i went to Halfords and checked the guide. for 1993 - 2003 use OAT, for 2003-2007 - refer to manual, WTF?

Spoke to chap there, and he said that the red OAT ends up brown over time, so that probably explains that!!

I still cant get a straight answer, but OAT says tis suitable for vehicles MANUFACTURED afetr 1998. well, mines 2003, the guide in Halfords says its suitable so I cant possibly be so wrong its going to do any hard, otherwise there would be a more deifnate and specific answer!!!

 

[firebobby]

well, i went to Halfords and checked the guide. for 1993 - 2003 use OAT, for 2003-2007 - refer to manual, WTF?

Spoke to chap there, and he said that the red OAT ends up brown over time, so that probably explains that!!

I still cant get a straight answer, but OAT says tis suitable for vehicles MANUFACTURED afetr 1998. well, mines 2003, the guide in Halfords says its suitable so I cant possibly be so wrong its going to do any hard, otherwise there would be a more deifnate and specific answer!!!

Like I said, your truck may be 2003, but how old is the engine design, I wouldn't be surprised if the engine cooling internals are the same as a 93 model, if so, you SHOULD be OK.

It's never easy, is it

 

[edgerton19]

I had a long look at the antifreeze requirements for Nissan the book says L250 or Ethylene Glycol, so far so good.

L250 concentrate seems to have been replaced by L248 (ready mixed).

The big problem is which corrosion inhibitor to use I think there are several options with the more modern coolents using organic inhibitor. Last week I looked at the MSDS for L248 and Nissan use Ethylene Glycol + Sodium Benzoate (which seems a realy good choice if you read the research papers) but I could not find any off the shelf concentrates that uses the same system.

There are several reports of none Nissan antifreeze causing problems by loosening residual casting sand and bunging up the radiator.

In the end I went for the Nissan L248 so if I left any in the heater etc. there would be no problems and purchased 2 X 5 litres from Vospers via Ebay (came with 48 hours)

 

[rustic]

Turns out the coolant isnt red/pink, its brown. even more odd, there is what I can only describe as clay in there too, quite a big lump.

I wonder if there is some rad weld in there, or alternative like Kseal:nenau:nenau

Rad weld is brown and gungy, and it should start its life being put into the radiator, after removing some water. BUT someone may have put it into the expansion tank directly. :doh

Flushing a system that had rad weld in, and then putting in new antifreeze, might just open up previous small leaks in the system:doh So watch out for that.

 

[larson]

Flushing a system that had rad weld in, and then putting in new antifreeze, might just open up previous small leaks in the system:doh So watch out for that.

lol he was already in a spin.. now he will be dizzy for sure

 

[jims-terrano]

lol he was already in a spin.. now he will be dizzy for sure

Worse still what colour would you get if you mixed blue and red?????
:doh:doh:doh:doh:doh

 

[rustic]

Worse still what colour would you get if you mixed blue and red?????
:doh:doh:doh:doh:doh

A ship carrying blue paint, collided with a ship carrying red paint, both cargoes spilt into the sea, and the ships eventually sank, what happened to the crew?:nenau



They were marooned...:doh


:lol

 

[trophymick]

Worse still what colour would you get if you mixed blue and red?????
:doh:doh:doh:doh:doh

Purple. :thumb2

 

[clivvy]

lols!

ok, I decided to just chuck in this OAT stuff from Halfords and use my other ready mix for my Stilo.

I gave the system the best flush I could using Rustics method. Eventually the fluid coming out light orange and smelled of coolant so I was happy enough. Got it all topped up and ran it. Heating nice and hot, engine tamp gauge about half way and stayed there. Obviously I need a good run etc but I am really glad I decided to flush the system and check everything - I now have a very clean expansion tank!

I did a little bit more research and no surprises our Terrano engines don't seem to get a great deal of straight answers. As far as I can see, modern OAT ethanol glycol coolant is fine for our engines. By all accounts this new modern formula is fine for all engines manufactured after 1998, and I cant find anything anywhere that states this is not the case for the TD27. I can reasonably assume Nissan made whatever modifications to the engine to allow these longer life coolants so I am fairly confident it will be fine. Apart from a small mix I am not really mixing coolants, and for all I know OAT is already in the system, its certainly not blue or green so :thumbs

What a lot of fuss, I feel (as does one of my mates) that I have probably thought way too much about it, but its an interesting topic as it turns out and worth discussion because the OAT coolants are far more common than I realised.

 

[solarman216]

Fernox Alphi 11 is what I have used for 20 years in solar systems, it has a 20 year life in a sealed system and is compatible with all metals, had not considered it for the T2, maybe I should, Rick

OK been doing some checking via service histories of the hundreds of thermal solar systems I have fitted, recently ( a few months ago) I have had a lot of service calls from old customers that have had their systems for many years several in particular for over 20 years, now the ones I have become interested in are those that have never called in regarding low pressure, and on me calling to do a service check have found systems for one reason or another have been and still are completely leak free, drained the fluid, to find it clear and looking almost as good as the day it went in although low in antifreeze quality, clearly the corrosion inhibitors have performed very well, compared to other systems that have had minor leaks and been "topped up" a few times over the years leading to dilution of the product, where the liquid was very dirty and rusty, and I do remember the founder of Thermomax evacuated tubes saying that "car AF was no good for solar systems" , hope this helps, but I know what I will be using in the future, in my motors, Rick

 

[Sweety]

20 years ago most anti freezes were the same but each manufacturer had a different colour ie unipart was green, motorcraft was red & so was vauxhall IIRC:augie. I know the stuff in mines blue but my 1999 T2 was green & when I replaced it I just added green.Anyway hope the OAT's works out ok for you but no matter what reg your T2 is the TDI's are all the same

 

[solarman216]

Alphi 11 is clear, think this is it's only disadvantage for most, I have a tester so sample needs to be taken from time to time to check the value, and the T2 is not a completely sealed system as it vents into the top up container so contaminating the contents with outside air, clearly makes a difference, Rick

 

[clivvy]

quick update. topped up the coolant this evening so everything seems fine. no weird chemical reactions as yet and the cooling system seems to be working better. With the new thermostat, the system is warming up to temp within a few minutes, the heater gets nice and hot and the temp gauge sits just about halfway nice and steady!:thumbs

 

[rustic]

Alphi 11 is clear, think this is it's only disadvantage for most... Rick

I went into Asda yesterday, and I went to look at their Antifreeze, and was amazed at what I saw...

On the shelf was a litre bottle of Blucol antifreeze, the problem was... it wasn't blue.

The liquid was clear, and the label said compatible with ALL types of antifreeze.

This really confused me, unless they were selling just water:lol:lol:lol