I just noticed that my coolant is a little bit low so I went out and bought some stuff at my local kragen (I believe I got some generic prestone antifreeze). However, I just read my manual and it says that I should only use Honda All Season Antifreeze/Coolant Type 2. Is this necessary?? Or can I just add the prestone stuff I bought?

 

You could add the Prestone and *probably* be fine with mixing it, but I'd say its safer to use the genuine Honda stuff since its long-life. The Type 2 from Honda might be a different color, but it is the same.

 

Thanks, s2kracka! I'll just return the stuff I got and pick up some genuine honda antifreeze

 

No problem

 

I would recommmend some water weter! You can get it at most automotive parts places.

 

Good thing that you are returning the Prestone. Generic Prestone is a "regular" antifreeze. Honda Type II is a long life coolant - a different formulation. If you mix a "regular" coolant with a long life coolant, the result will be a gel - NOT GOOD. NEVER mix the two types of coolant. If you form a gel pocket, you can create a fluid lock in your system. I don't think I need to tell you what this means.

ps. Unless you require a better transfer of heat in and out of your cooling system, like for a tracked car or one that is used in extreme hot climates (eg. Arizona desert) Water Wetter is totally unnecessary and is a waste of money. 99.99% of these cars have been running on a 50/50 mix of antifreeze/H2O for as long as they have existed. For these cars, Water Wetter has provided NO advantage. Don't let the advertising hype fool you like it does so many people. Oh, did I mention that 99.9999999% of ALL cars in N. America have been running on 50/50 antifreeze since the dawn of automotive time and have done miraculously well?

 

To my understanding, genuine honda coolant is not a DexCool type long life coolant such as the ones GM uses. It is a glycol based coolant, and is fundamentally compatible with Prestone or normal ethylene glycol coolants. The difference is that it supposedly does not have phosphates which helps to reduce wear on the water pump seals. So I don't think you will have the same problems mixing them that you would with a DexCool/glycol mix, but if you want to be on the safe side I'd stick with genuine Honda coolant.

Interesting side note, BMW and Honda are the only non-DexCool companies I have seen that specify their OEM coolant. I am 99% sure they are identical. They both claim to have no phosphates, they are both exactly the same darker shade of teal, they come in identically molded bottles and both cost nearly $20/gallon at the dealer.

Peter

 

Sorry, it's actually silicates, not phosphates according to this:

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/HondaCoolant.html

Of course I cannot verify the source of that document so take it FWIW.

Anyway there is no mention in their of special long life properties or DexCool, or incompatibility with standard glycol antifreeze. Honda has specified their own coolant for many years, and you can be sure anyone who does not service their 10-15 year old 200k mile Civic at a dealership is not getting Genuine Honda Coolant. It may not be ideal, but I don't think it's going to cause your cooling system to pack up immediately.

Peter

Edit: Toyota also has their own special coolant, which is red like DexCool but is not DexCool. Rather it is a glycol based coolant which is silicate free, just like the BMW/Honda coolants. I remember in my MR2 owners manual they may have recommended Toyota antifreeze, but they specifically stated that regular ethylene glycol antifreeze was also acceptable.

 

At no time did I ever infer that Honda Type II coolant was "Dexcool". If you read this into my response, that's YOUR problem, not mine.
Here's all you ever wanted to know about modern day coolants and what they mean:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...408/ai_n9453107

You know what? I could care less if you mix "normal" coolant with Honda Type II with Dexcool, with Pixie Dust. I'm just giving you a precautionary warning and maybe save somebody a little grief down the road. If you don't like it, do whatever you want. You think I post this shit 'cause I got nothing better to do?

 

I'm sorry you took my post as a personal insult. It was not meant to be. In all the information that I had read about Honda coolant, there was no mention of severe incompatibility with commercially available glycol coolants, if I was wrong to lump all long life coolants as being of "Dex-Cool" type then I accept that. I agree it's best to use Genuine Honda coolant and stated as such, so I don't think my post was as contradictory as you read it to be.

The only thing which didn't sound right to me was that mixing Honda coolant with commercially available coolant like Prestone would cause a gel to form. The article you linked (which was very informative, BTW) didn't suggest that either. It did suggest that in the absence of silicate, the remaining borate in a generic/Honda mix might be harmful to aluminum, which is good to know.

The article you linked also makes the same mention of Honda coolant being silicate free as the note that I linked. I think this is all good information, and I wish we could continue to share it without getting so defensive. I can accept it when I'm wrong, and I don't mind someone correcting me with some good information. But I did not make my post with the intent of "calling you out" or labeling you as full of sh!t, so if you continue to take my posts that way then maybe your trigger is a little too short.

Peter