Mismatched orange/blue/red coolant

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I own a 2004 Honda Civic with 140,000 miles. I have a bubbler for the radiator, a repair manual and a gallon of blue 50/50. The problem is that the person who owned it before me has put something else in it!
 
My plan was to drain the radiator, cap it back off and fill with the no-spill funnel. Let it run and get rid of all the bubbles.
 
Originally Posted By: onetwoothreee
My plan was to drain the radiator, cap it back off and fill with the no-spill funnel. Let it run and get rid of all the bubbles.


The coolant system extends beyond the capacity of the radiator.

You would want to flush the whole system out.
 
I doubt that's going to happen unless I'm paying someone to do it. The stock coolant is blue. The car has been in a front-end (previous owner), and the coolant is now orange (which is the wrong spec for this car). I've got a tank full of straight orange.
 
Let me rephrase. Which is better in my application: having a 100% concentration of Dex-Cool, or a 50/50, 75/25, 90/10 (etc) concentration of orange and blue (or red)?
 
Right now, I'm most likely to take the blue 50/50 back for a gallon of the red 50/50 (same as I understand) and stick with my previous plan.
 
I don't think it will be too hard. On my Toyota's, I drain coolant from radiator and from an engine block drain. I make sure the heater it turned to highest heat setting. That's the only way you will empty what's in the heater core. I empty my coolant reservoir. Close everything back up and add Toyota Coolant

In your situation, I would drain all the coolant (I am assuming the civic has a block drain) and then add distilled water to fill up the system. I'd drive it with heater on full heat until it warms up good. Then I'd drain all of the distilled water and refill it again. Run it til it gets hot and then drain it all out. Then I would add the Honda blue coolant. In other words, I would do 2 rinses with distilled water.

If that seems more than you want to do, find a good mechanic who could flush the system for you.
 
Originally Posted By: Gebo
I'd drive it with heater on full heat until it warms up good. Then I'd drain all of the distilled water and refill it again. Run it til it gets hot and then drain it all out. Then I would add the Honda blue coolant. In other words, I would do 2 rinses with distilled water.

The distilled water is not going to happen. Yes, it has an engine block drain; it's right next to the oil filter...
 
Originally Posted By: SirTanon
There's a relatively easy fix for this:

Drain the entire system, flush a couple times, and then refill with the correct coolant at a 50/50 mix.
Dealer wants $139 and my neighbor doesn't want to mess with it. Looks like I'm buying 2 gallons of 50/50. Looks like the owner of this car didn't know what they were doing.
 
$139 at the dealer is a great deal. I'd do that.

Otherwise, I'd rather pop the lower rad hose off than undo the draincock on the radiator. Pretty common for them to leak after being removed.
 
I’ve got some DOT 3 on the way. If I drain it and it’s Peak, I’m going to replace it with that. Don’t make mistakes.
 
You dont have a clue about anything around your car...and yet you are complicating all the time
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Go to your 3 neighbours with the lifts and ask them for how much they will change your coolant...and try to be polite at that time
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Leave your nerdiness at home!
 
We have a saying here: "don't listen to people from Slovenia". The total capacity for this cooling system is 4.1 qts. There's a head gasket issue with this engine and a chance it's yellow anyway. I'll take the bus over to the store after I drain it out and make a decision then. Or maybe I'll just walk.
 
Fluid at the radiator cap is pale yellow. So I have a choice of red or blue. Coolant is no longer a top priority. I won't be able to get at anything for a week after this weekend. I want to do at least one drain to see what it looks like.
 
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