Green Coolant vs Green Coolant

So I made a stupid move and assumed the Nissan dealership would carry the OEM coolant for my Xterra.

I went and pulled the radiator to replace the condenser expecting to be able to pick up some coolant today to top the system back up.

I know, stupid right?

Well "parts counter guy" says they don't use the dark green OEM fluid anymore, and just use a generic light green coolant.

I'm not sure I want to just ignore the factory fluid specifications, and was thinking of just filling it with distilled water to get me around for a few days and order some fluid online unless I'm just being overly paranoid and should stop worrying about using Carter era fluids in my Nissan.

So, Green vs Green? Am I justified in wanting to use the specified fluid?

There are three total antifreeze production plants that make all of the antifreeze sold in the US. It's all the same stuff, in a different bottle. Go get the cheap stuff off the auto parts store shelf and quit worrying.

Probably its fine, but it's summer so topping off with water while you wait is ok too.

Most of the light green modern stuff like the Prestone all makes / all models is pretty much dexcool or similar.

Do you know if the green stuff it came with is truly old school green or something different?

If it's truly old school green, you can find that stuff at parts stores. If you flush the system well, you can also convert to Zerex G-05 or similar HOAT coolant. Another safe bet if you flush is Peak Global Lifetime. Or if the original green stuff wasn't truly standard green, Zerex Asian is probably similar enough (after a flush).

Gaunt596 wrote: There are three total antifreeze production plants that make all of the antifreeze sold in the US. It's all the same stuff, in a different bottle. Go get the cheap stuff off the auto parts store shelf and quit worrying.

No, no, no, no, no! There are a hell of a lot of different types of antifreeze. Old-school green IAT, there's HOAT and then OAT. And there's a few different additive packages within each of those types. Some things can be substituted safely, others can't.

If you can't find OE fluid at the dealer, there is a brand sold at auto-parts stores that has "manufacturer specific" coolant like this:

I know I got some red fluid for a Toyota from a regular auto parts store. You could also try an Infiniti dealer.

I don't blame you for wanting to use the "right" fluid, there are so many variables these days that it is just cheap insurance. In fact, this weekend we were looking at a used Scion XA and one of the (many) things that turned me off on it was a radiator full of generic green fluid.

Don't fill with just water, even temporarily; corrosion is not fun.

Pretty much all of the modern "long life" coolants are of similar, compatible chemistry. The "old green" that people worry about (and it's my understanding the whole deathcool thing has been fixed anyhow) fell out of factory use in the 90s. Peak Global is good stuff but the cheap "all makes all models" isn't going to hurt anything.

dculberson wrote: Don't fill with just water, even temporarily; corrosion is not fun.

Why? I've done this a lot. For months at a time, actually.

BrokenYugo wrote: Pretty much all of the modern "long life" coolants are of similar, compatible chemistry. The "old green" that people worry about (and it's my understanding the whole deathcool thing has been fixed anyhow) fell out of factory use in the 90s. Peak Global is good stuff but the cheap "all makes all models" stuff isn't going to hurt anything.

It wasn't fixed two years ago. I promise.

The OEM stuff is a dark green/forest green. It is a HOAT coolant and I REALLY don't want to flush the system right now. (It's one of the few things I'd rather pay someone else to do and would prefer wasting fluid topping it off now than having to pull the block drains myself.)

If you find out the chemical composition of the factory stuff (Ethylene Glycol or Propylene Glycol) and then if it is a silicate or sodium composition after that, you should be able to top it off without issue from a parts store brand.

I forget what I used when I put an engine into mine, but it was from a parts store and matched the Nissan stuff, too. Just web search on the Xterra forums for antifreeze.

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: Don't fill with just water, even temporarily; corrosion is not fun.

Why? I've done this a lot. For months at a time, actually.

Antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it. I put straight water in my Lemons car per the rules and didn't change it out for a while and ended up getting a lot of rust (well, red water) out with the water when I drained it. That was on an iron block engine, but I have to assume that any OEM would engineer things to remain corrosion free when antifreeze is present and not necessarily when only water is present.

dculberson wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: Don't fill with just water, even temporarily; corrosion is not fun.

Why? I've done this a lot. For months at a time, actually.

Antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it. I put straight water in my Lemons car per the rules and didn't change it out for a while and ended up getting a lot of rust (well, red water) out with the water when I drained it. That was on an iron block engine, but I have to assume that any OEM would engineer things to remain corrosion free when antifreeze is present and not necessarily when only water is present.

Huh, for how long? We've run straight water in our Lemons car too, plus on the street for summer months a few times over my career, and never have seen anything strange.

As someone who's ended up with vehicles that had "straight water" run in them, I can definitely attest to the fact that over time it will cause corrosion. Freeze plugs rust and leak, radiators get full of gunk, coolant passages corrode and fill with crap...

The whole antifreeze situation now is all berkeleyed up. Every car I own is pre-1993, so I just want basic, no bull-E36 M3 green antifreeze. But all that can be found in the stores, seemingly, is "100,000 mile" stuff that's either green or yellow, depending on the brand. Is that stuff compatible with the old stuff- which is never 100% flushed out of a system, no matter how hard one tries?

We had a Dexcool GM product from MY 2000... Orange Death killed the cooling system- had to replace everything the coolant touched. The intake manifold gasket went last year.

IAT...HOAT...OAT... WTF???

It isn't just cars, either. We're in the process of procuring new diesel locomotives, and the engine manufacturer (Cummins) states that IAT, HOAT, or OAT may be used, with varying degrees of needing "coolant additives" and change-out periods.

Supposedly most of this stuff is compatible now...do I trust that??

Don't forget the "Subaru Specific" coolants needed to supposedly save the head gaskets.

Sorry this got off topic and rambling. I just have yet to really get a satisfying answer with regard to what coolant to use in my vehicles.

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: Don't fill with just water, even temporarily; corrosion is not fun.

Why? I've done this a lot. For months at a time, actually.

Antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors in it. I put straight water in my Lemons car per the rules and didn't change it out for a while and ended up getting a lot of rust (well, red water) out with the water when I drained it. That was on an iron block engine, but I have to assume that any OEM would engineer things to remain corrosion free when antifreeze is present and not necessarily when only water is present.

Huh, for how long? We've run straight water in our Lemons car too, plus on the street for summer months a few times over my career, and never have seen anything strange.

That's not actually true. We've had varying degrees of dirt and crap problems in the various 460's we've had. it got so bad that we had to replace the radiator before the last race- the first radiator we bought (to replace the OEM Ford radiator) was heavy with dirt.

I just drained the whole cooling system after the last race, and intend to run coolant until its next race outing.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

I know we ran straight water in Charlie a few times before cheating with water wetter

In reply to rslifkin:

this. I analyze coolants every day and I hate them. There is no standardization in the industry, and everyone is doing something different.

I was a flat rate tech at a private shop when all the dexcool cars fell out warranty. I saw more than a few motors destroy themselves due to mixing so I'm especially paranoid about it.

I'm about to go knock on the counter at the dealer and see if they have a different answer for me in person about what they carry.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: The whole antifreeze situation now is all berkeleyed up. Every car I own is pre-1993, so I just want basic, no bull-E36 M3 green antifreeze. But all that can be found in the stores, seemingly, is "100,000 mile" stuff that's either green or yellow, depending on the brand. Is that stuff compatible with the old stuff- which is never 100% flushed out of a system, no matter how hard one tries?

As I understand it, yes, it just won't be happy mingling in there for 100k/10 years (I.E. service it as you normally would). The "universal" light green/yellow stuff is related to DexCool but the chemistry is tweaked to prevent the whole death cool thing from happening.

rslifkin wrote: No, no, no, no, no! There are a hell of a lot of different types of antifreeze. Old-school green IAT, there's HOAT and then OAT. And there's a few different additive packages within each of those types. Some things can be substituted safely, others can't.

This. And for the love of all you may consider holy, if you own a German car be EXTREMELY careful about what coolant you put in it. Unless you enjoy cleaning peanut butter out of coolant passages...

And mixed with distilled water. Only distilled water.

Yeah... I have a shelf full of different coolants because I work on so many different cars.

BrokenYugo wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: The whole antifreeze situation now is all berkeleyed up. Every car I own is pre-1993, so I just want basic, no bull-E36 M3 green antifreeze. But all that can be found in the stores, seemingly, is "100,000 mile" stuff that's either green or yellow, depending on the brand. Is that stuff compatible with the old stuff- which is never 100% flushed out of a system, no matter how hard one tries?

As I understand it, yes, it just won't be happy mingling in there for 100k/10 years (I.E. service it as you normally would). The "universal" light green/yellow stuff is related to DexCool but the chemistry is tweaked to prevent the whole death cool thing from happening.

Dude I promise it will happen, and happen quickly. Don't mix Dexcool with anything.

My rule of thumb is this: most cooling systems can survive a few different types of coolant, but only if things are flushed well before fixing. Mixing any 2 different types of coolant (especially any OAT like dex-cool with a non-OAT) has a high risk of filling the system with nasty sludge. And of course, make sure that any coolant you put in isn't incompatible with any metals, seals or gaskets in the system.

Brett_Murphy wrote: If you find out the chemical composition of the factory stuff (Ethylene Glycol or Propylene Glycol) and then if it is a silicate or sodium composition after that, you should be able to top it off without issue from a parts store brand. I forget what I used when I put an engine into mine, but it was from a parts store and matched the Nissan stuff, too. Just web search on the Xterra forums for antifreeze.

This is probably the best/most direct response in the thread. I appreciate knowing where to start when trying to make a determination.

As it turns out, the dealer had the appropriate fluid sitting on display ON THE berkeleyING COUNTER!

When did EVERYONE become incompetent? I'm going to the dealer specifically to avoid this kind of E36 M3!

Also, why would they want to send me somewhere else for something like this anyway? Especially for someone who specifically wanted factory fluid?

I'm not even going to address their telling me they use generic coolant in the shop....

FWIW, Nissan VQ's use a nonsilicated ethylene glycol fluid, in case anyone was wondering.