Which coolant should I use?

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:34 pm

Ok, I may be replacing the coolant in both my 1998 Civic and 2000 Odyssey this weekend.

I don't have the manual in front of me, but I am sure that Honda wants me to use a "special" Honda coolant. The rebel in me does not like people telling me what to use, so I am inclined to not buy the Honda stuff. So the questions are... What is acceptable? Is there anything special about the Honda coolant? Is there something as good or better for the same (or lower) price?

I am a total newbie when it comes to the differences between coolants. I see talk about "long or extended life" coolants that don't need to be changed for 100K+ miles, low silicant, silicant free, Red color, Green color, "universal" coolants, etc. There is also stuff like the Redline "Water Wetter" as well that I wonder if I should try.

I would prefer a formulation that syncs up with what Honda intended, but will only buy the Honda stuff if there is really a good reason to do so.

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:40 pm

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/HondaCoolant.html

Info about Honda coolant.

Do not mix the red stuff with the green stuff, bad things happen. Personally I think long life or so called lifetime coolant is avery bad idea. Coolant is cheap and easy to swap. Its also a good way to check the condition of the motor every 2 yrs. Where as with the intervals with other fluids things may go wrong before you notice.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:51 pm

Adam Ligon wrote:

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/HondaCoolant.html

Info about Honda coolant.

Do not mix the red stuff with the green stuff, bad things happen. Personally I think long life or so called lifetime coolant is avery bad idea. Coolant is cheap and easy to swap. Its also a good way to check the condition of the motor every 2 yrs. Where as with the intervals with other fluids things may go wrong before you notice.

In my Celica I use the factory stuff. Yes, it's $15 a gallon, but you know that it's mixing red with red (like Adam suggests). As for my Saab and Protege, well, they get what's on special. As long as you replace the coolant at regular intervals, any brand should be good. - AB

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:55 pm

Adam,

Thanks for the info. It does sync some with what I have found in that they say the Honda coolant is a "non-silicate" formulation. But that info only goes on to discuss why the Honda is better, but only focuses on the "non-silicate" nature and why that is better than ones that use silicate. And as the page notes, it is nearly verbatim from a Honda publication, so it's not quite an independent evaluation.

I also am leary of a fluid that is expected to last 100K+ and would much rather replace it more frequently as you say, as a way to monitor what is going on. I don't think either of my cars are supposed to use the long lasting version, but I think some newer Hondas are.

So, I am down to using a non-silicate formulation. The question now is... Is the Honda non-silicate any different from someone elses non-silicate?

Richard

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:27 pm

Ok, the more I read the more confused I am...

It sounds like you can’t trust what the color is to determine much of anything. In general "Green" is commonly the coolant we grew up with. But more recent formulations may be Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow or Dark Green. It seems that each have their own special combination of Silicates, Organic acids, Phosphates and other inhibitors. And that while you may be able to generally determine what it is via the color, you may not be able to do this 100% of the time as some of the "special" formulations may look like the regular old "Green" stuff.

I am confused enough at this point that I may just surrender and buy the Honda stuff.

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

It is a mess, you can't tell an anti-freeze by its color anymore. The new Prestone "All Makes" is green, but closer to a yellow in formulation. The Totota red requirement might be covered, but who knows?
Most folks also agree that the new chemistry is also sensitive to the water you use, so go to Wallymart and stock up on gallons of distilled water for 58 cents a pop.

The infamous "Bob is the Oil Guy" site does coolant too:

http://tinyurl.com/du4tm

Frank

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:05 pm

Richard,
Google (silicate free auto coolant) and you'll get more info than you can use. In short silicates tend to build crystal structures on low flow areas of your engine. one of the critical areas is the seal behind the impeller of the water pump. which will eventually cause the pump to leak..... There are tons of silicate free coolants that won't cost and arm and a leg.
Bernie B

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:46 pm

I ended up just buying the Honda coolant from a local dealer (Crown Honda at Southpoint as they are really close to my house). It was $15 per gallon (pre mixed). I figured I could just pick some other non-silicant fluid, but since there seems to be differences other than silicant/non-silicant, I just decided to punt and go with the Honda fluid.

Next time I will shop around as well as I think the $15/gallon is expensive. I think I found reports of it being discounted down to about $10/gallon at some dealerships.

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:06 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

It was $15 per gallon (pre mixed).

Pre-mixed? I hope that doesn't mean pre-mixed 50/50 with water - that would be $30/gallon anti-freeze!

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:47 pm

Keith Quistorff wrote:

Richard Casto wrote:

It was $15 per gallon (pre mixed).

Pre-mixed? I hope that doesn't mean pre-mixed 50/50 with water - that would be $30/gallon anti-freeze!

It was a 50/50 pre-mix, so yeah, I guess you could look at it as $30/gallon of anti-freeze or $15/gallon of "coolant". Either way I would have paid the same (my water being free). I bought four gallons, which would be enough to do both my Civic and the Odyssey, so it wasn't cheap!

Speaking of "free" water. If what Honda had ended up not being a pre-mix, I was going to use distilled water. I checked a number of places (including Wal-Mart) and I couldn't find "Distilled" water. Plenty of "filtered" drinking water to be found, but I am sure that it was full of minerals. But since the Honda stuff was pre-mixed, it was a non-issue.

PS: The Honda coolant is a dark blue green color.

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:02 pm

I would never run 50/50, especially in our climate.

Water cools better than coolant, so besides the lubrication and additives, all the coolant is doing is keeping the system from freezing. I run 70/30 water/coolant and add a bottle of waterwetter.

BretLuter · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:30 pm

Every grocery store + 90% of drugstores I've been to in the last 10 years have gallons of "Distilled" water, right next to the "drinking" and "filtered" and "spring" water.......... Usually about 0.75-$1 per gallon.

Bret.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:38 pm

BretLuter wrote:

Every grocery store + 90% of drugstores I've been to in the last 10 years have gallons of "Distilled" water, right next to the "drinking" and "filtered" and "spring" water.......... Usually about 0.75-$1 per gallon.

Bret.

I felt the same way. Until I needed to actually buy some and I couldn't find any. I tried 2-3 different grocery stores and one Wal-Mart. Maybe I was just unlucky. None of the grocery stores even had a spot for it. It was all bottled/gallon water and all “purified”. I think that the increased consumption of bottled water is pushing stuff like distilled water off the shelf. Wal-Mart at least said they usually carried it, but was just out. One new addition is "Fluorinated" bottled water. That is a new one for me.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:42 pm

Adam Ligon wrote:

I would never run 50/50, especially in our climate.

Not arguing with you, but apparently Honda feels it is OK. I didn't see an chart in the owners manual that indicated any different mixing ratios. I assume that all Honda coolent is 50/50 premix. If they had different ratios, then I would assume they would sell straight anti-freeze (instead of pre-mix) with directions on what ratios to use based upon climate.

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:59 pm

Well Honda also doesn;t include a list of approved aftermarket parts either, now do they :lol:

Car manufacturers always err on the side of the lowest common denominater.

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Which coolant should I use?

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