Green Coolant

[Bnewton530]

I just bought my car last week. After ironing out a few issues, I found out something that may need attention. The jamoke before me put green coolant in my LS. From what I have heard, it is a severe pain to drain and refill + bleed my coolant. Is it worth replacing all of my coolant with gold? Or do you guys think it is okay?

 

[joegr]

It depends on what green coolant is in there. Some LSes came with a gold factory fill, and some with green. There is a warning sticker in each case warning not to use the other. I think that the issue was that the two factory fills weren't compatible with each other.
That said, there are aftermarket green coolants that are fine and will work for either case. Here is one example.
Prestone Concentrate Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant (1 Gallon) AF2000: Advance Auto Parts

 

[Wabel]

Just curious what year and engine? My 04 V8 owners manual lists "Motorcraft Premium Gold" coolant or equivalent meeting Ford specification WSS-M97B51-A1. If you are looking for an alternative to the Motorcraft then Valvoline Zerex G-05 meets Fords specification and is gold colored as well.

Since you don't know what the green stuff actually is then I recommend that you definitely change it out.

If the specification for your car is Gold then I would put in Gold.

Also, A drain won't get all green out and I wouldn't mix the two.

 

[Bnewton530]

My car is a 2004 v8. The sticker says use gold but not orange. How would you guys suggest removing all of the green coolant? It is full of green. I am thinking that they did a repair that required a drain and they just bought universal.

 

[joegr]

Well, even if it weren't for a repair (surely the plastic has been replaced by now), 13 years would be way too long for the factory coolant to stay in there. Really, it should be replaced every three years, so hopefully, your coolant has been changed out four times by now.

You probably have the universal stuff in there, and I wouldn't worry about it. If it bothers you, drain what you can and put the universal in for the rest. One of mine had the gold from the factory and the other had the green. They both now have the universal green, and have had it for ten and eight years respectively (04 and 06 models).

BMW uses blue colored coolant. You wouldn't believe how fanatical people on the BMW forums get about it. They get very upset if you admit to having green coolant or they catch it in a picture. My 325i has had the Prestone linked in post #2 (same in the Lincolns) for a very long time now. I'm not the only one.

Note that if you don't buy the premixed, it is important it mix it with distilled water, and not tap water.

 

[Bnewton530]

Yeah I work at Autozone part time during college and BMW/VAG owners sure get to pay a premium for Pentosin fluids. I'm glad I don't need to buy those. Most people don't realize that they could save on generics