So I bought 12 unused gallons of coolant last fall at an estate sale for about $1.00 each. Opend one up recently,and it`s blue. I`m just a lil confused....what do I have and is it ok to use? The jugs all say ethylene-glycol on em like they should.
Years ago, I worked in the business recycling antifreeze. Best Leasing contacted us about mixing Blue for them.I believe they also had one of the manufacturers mixing new coolant for them that was blue.The only difference should be the color.
These days, you have green, blue, and orange coolant. They are NOT interchangeable. The green and orange mixed together results in a jello-like goo in your cooling system. Here is what I found online about it... The two types should not be mixed. Most of the antifreeze products on the market currently are ethylene glycol base material with additives to prevent corrosion, lubricate seals and water pumps and aid in heat transfer to the coolant from the metal of the engine. Antifreeze should be mixed with distilled water (tap water contains high amounts of minerals such as calcium and iron that can precipitate and coat internal parts) at the ratio of one part antifreeze to one part water. This gives freeze protection down to minus 34 degrees and boil-over protection up to +265 degrees. Never use pure antifreeze in a cooling system without using at least 30 percent water in the mixture. Most antifreeze products sold for the past several years have been the traditional "green" coolant. This type is good for two to three years and up to 30,000 miles. The green antifreeze contains silicates, phosphates and / or borates as corrosion inhibitors to keep the solution alkaline. As long as the solution remains alkaline, corrosion is controlled and the system is protected. Over time, the corrosion inhibitors will be depleted and the corrosion protection is lost. It is for this reason that green antifreeze should be changed every two years or so. Aluminum is especially vulnerable to corrosion and many vehicles have heads, radiators and other aluminum components in the cooling system. If the coolant in an engine cooling system is changed before corrosion inhibitors reach dangerously low levels, corrosion damage is prevented. An alternative to tradition green antifreeze is a product currently used by many engine manufacturers. "Orange" antifreeze is a long life or extended life type of antifreeze used to increase the useful life of engine coolant. It is ethylene glycol base as is the green antifreeze. The difference between the two colors is that orange antifreeze contains a different type of corrosion inhibitor that has a much longer service life than silicates, phosphates and borates. Orange antifreeze contains organic acids that protect engine parts from corrosion. Silicate (green) type antifreeze does not mix with orange type antifreeze. Never mix the two colors in a cooling system. The organic acids in orange types will cause precipitation of silicates in the green type and corrosion protection is greatly reduced. Orange type antifreezes are good for five years or 100,000/150,000 miles in newer vehicles (1996 and later). They can be used in many older vehicles (ask your vehicle dealer if it is safe to use orange antifreeze) if all of the green mixture is flushed from the system and is replaced with the orange mixture. Useful life is about four years or 60,000 miles in older cars.
In the 1970's the engine / parts shop I worked at had jugs of blue anti freeze. Be careful some of the blue ones were corrosive.
My buddy use some type of blue coolant in his big block 474 Olds that is in his '50 Merc. I think it's for a motorcycle. He claims it lowred the temp. like 30 degrees I think. It comes in little jugs and is pretty pricey. I'll ask him what kind it is. I think some of the Japanese cars like Honda and Subaru are using a blue coolant.
There should be some info down in the fine print to show who made it or who it was made for. It sounds like it might be a house brand made for some sort of store chain.
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