Mixing Picasso antifreeze

This is the Forum for all your Citroen Technical Questions, Problems or Advice.

Moderator: RichardW

Post Reply
bencowell
Posts: 507
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 13:47
Location:
My Cars:
x 1

Mixing Picasso antifreeze

Post by bencowell »

The Picasso has clear antifreeze, but if someone put some of the old blue ethlene glycol antifreeze meant for a 1990's Xsara would it cause damage?
User avatar
Ian Fearn
Posts: 193
Joined: 27 Sep 2004, 01:27
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by Ian Fearn »

The anti-freeze i put in the BX is the normal run of the mill blue stuff from Halfords.
My previous car 2002 Astra 1.6 had the more advanced stuff that was a pinky red colour.
I suspect the recommendation would be not to mix the two.
So ideally use the pukka stuff but in an emergency some must be better than none!
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
My Cars:
x 92

Post by citronut »

not sure what will happen when mixed, but there is blue,green,red and clear may be more antifreeze out there,i do know you must not mix some of them,i belive you can mix blue and green,and you sould use corect one for your system regards malcolnm
User avatar
Kowalski
Posts: 2557
Joined: 15 Oct 2003, 17:41
Location: North East, United Kingdom
My Cars: Ex 05 C5 2.0 HDI Exclusive 145k
Ex 97 Xantia 1.9TD SX 144k
Ex 94 Xantia Dimension 1.9TD 199k

Post by Kowalski »

The different coloured anti freezes should not be mixed, they are for the most part interchangeable but only if you flush the system and get all of the old stuff out.
If you mix the wrong types together they can react chemically and gunge up your system, that is bad for your engine.
bencowell
Posts: 507
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 13:47
Location:
My Cars:
x 1

Post by bencowell »

Thats what i thought. Don't fancy all sort of strange electrolytic reactions in dad's engine. When he said he topped up the coolant I asked what with? I nearly fainted as I believe the clear stuff is some kind of organic acid but I might be wrong.
bencowell
Posts: 507
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 13:47
Location:
My Cars:
x 1

Post by bencowell »

A main dealer told my dad that the clear stuff is what the factory puts in, and that you can only buy blue stuff from them.
Does anyone know what the clear coolant actually is?
drpau
Posts: 330
Joined: 05 Oct 2004, 16:43
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by drpau »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by bencowell</i>

A main dealer told my dad that the clear stuff is what the factory puts in, and that you can only buy blue stuff from them.
Does anyone know what the clear coolant actually is?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I bet its the same stuff. They dont want to sell the clear stuff to the public maybe cos some numpty may think its water/ vodka and down it in one!?
chemexhants
Posts: 54
Joined: 14 Jan 2004, 03:17
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by chemexhants »

As a general rule you should not mix different types of antifreeze as they are not chemically compatible.
Modern cars are filled with OAT longlife antifreeze which does not require changing, merely topping up.
Older vehicles (pre 2000 or thereabouts) were generally filled with glycol based coolant which needs changing every two years.
You can use OAT in older cars but ensure the cooling system is very well flushed before refilling.
It's the hottest day of the year so far, and I've changed my antifreeze!! Hadn't intended to but needed to replace the radiator.
Stephen
Post Reply