Anti Freeze

[David Hallworth]

Hi Guys,

A quick question about Anti Freeze....

Just before winter started we bought a 25 litre tub of anti freeze from Millers Oils in Glasgow. When I opened it I noticed this stuff is bright orange compared to the blue stuff I was expecting.

I've read online that if you mix blue and orange they react and can block radiators and do damage to the cooling systems such as corroding the water pumps etc. There's also a class action on going against GM in America as they reckon the wrong anti freeze was causing the engine blocks to corrode.

I've got no intentions of mixing them, but wanted to know if the orange stuff will be OK to use in the PRV engine or whether it's best just to stick with the blue stuff?

Thanks!

David.

[Dieselman]

Why not phone Millers and ask.

[Dean]

Blue and green stuff is about two years life span and the two can be mixed although i never liked the idea of mixing them.
Orange and Red are oat long life coolants with a 4-5 year lifespan and must never be mixed with the blue or green veriety as corrosion prevention will be non existant as i believe the long life ones use vegetable acids which are broken down by the early type bla bla bla.

All you need to know is they all do the job well but just dont mix them, and if you do go from green/blue to red/orange make sure you flush the system properly............which you would anyway.
Im using blue Citroen spec stuff in the xm with de ionised water and that stays lovely and clean, the Activa has just been filled with comma OAT and that seems to be fine too, my only grip with the orange oat is it looks like the coolant is rusty at a glance.

D

[Dieselman]

A reasonable guide to products.

http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/index/6/13

[White Exec]

DO NOT mix antifreeze types or brands! The two basic types (traditional, and newer 'long-life' OAT [organic acid technology]) should NEVER be mixed.
Take no notice of colour: different manufacturers use colours quite arbitrarily - there is no agreed industry standard.
When topping up, use the same. When renewing or swapping brands/types, flush out thoroughly.
The penalty for ignoring this can be crystallisation, goo, corrosion and blockage. Plenty of info on the web about this.
You could always just stick to Citroen's own - it's hardly expensive.