I changed my coolant when the car was 3 years old, at 32.5K miles. I used a gallon of Genuine Honda Type I coolant priced at $14.95 at my local dealership, along with a $0.59 gallon of distilled water.

Now that the car is 5 years old, I need to change the coolant again according to the service manual, even though the car only has 45.5K miles.

The dealer's parts dept now says the Type I coolant is discontinued and is superceded by the Type II coolant, which is pre-diluted at 50/50. The price? $15.95 for a gallon of diluted coolant! This means I now have to buy 2 gallons of this watered down stuff to get 1 gallon of coolant! What a joke!

I really don't enjoy getting reamed with a 113% price increase over an already steep price two years ago, so I'd like to avoid it if all possible. Sounds like they're waterng it down and passing it off as equivalent to the Type I - the parts person even told me one gallon of Type II would be enough to change the coolant, even though it's not (our cooling system takes 6.5 quarts)

1. Is the Type I coolant still available?

2. Does anyone know of an equivalent coolant that would meet the manufacturer's requirements? No borates/phosphates is a requirement I assume.

3. What have y'all been using when replacing the coolant?

-- Alex.

 

Type I is not available, and hasn't been for awhile. Dealers set there own price mark-up. I'd shop around for a different dealer. (It's $9. 95 at my local dealer)

The Type II is now blue as well.

 

I'd recommend calling another stealership. I just bought a gallon for $4.95, not $14.95. Maybe they have a screwed up system, or maybe the one I bought from does!

 

My advice, Shop around, I found that out when one dealer in Princeton wanted $4.95 for a quart of Honda Oil, yet another dealer in Old Bridge charged me $1.29 for the same oil.

 

10.29 @ my local stealership but the s2ki club gets a 10% discount
Shop around

 

I just got my S2K in January, so I'm new to this game. Is there something special about the Honda coolant that makes it better than other brands?

Thank you

 

If I recall correctly, the MY's 00-01 owners manual recommends replacing the coolant within 5 years or x amount of miles. The MY's 02 and up owners manual states "TEN YEARS" or x amount of miles, then every five years or 60k miles thereafter.

Maybe the type II coolant supersedes the type I coolant

 

The Honda coolant is silica free. It is designed for use with an aluminum engine and head. Use of silica will corrode your engine and head. I suppose you could use a non-Honda cooland as long as it silica free and designed for use with aluminum.

I think I will use the Honda coolant when the time comes. I have another 8 1/2 years

 

Here in Boston, about the only two brands that are readily available are the universal coolants from Peak and Prestone.

Both claim compatability with EVERY manufacturer, both are silicate and borate (the European car coolant no-no) free, and both are yellow.

They also claim a 5 year/150k mile life when used in a complete flush.

Being a backyard hack, I cannot get the right concentration of coolant using the 50/05 stuff after a radiatior flush. Too much water left in the block and heater core, and I'm not doing the freeze plug thing.

You could always go the Porsche lifetime coolant at $44.00 gallon!.

Regards,
BD

 

i use orange prestone that is silicate free. bought a gallon of it for like $7.99 at autozone when i flushed mine a year or 2 ago. switched my 00 from green to orange coolant. the bolt you unscrew under the oil filter is easy to get off (its 19mm IIRC) but its hard to find cause its in a spot you can't shine any light into, you have to feel for it.