plasmaok

ok iv had my honda for a year now so far its been truelly great i love the car my next car deff will be a honda for sure but what im woundering is for the past year my car has had the green antifreeze in it should i change it back to the blue antifreeze or just leave it alone it all works just fine but i know hondas are picky on there fluids just wanted some freindly honda owners advice on the selection of antifreeze thanx for any help that can be provided


oh forgot to clearify that the car had the green antifreeze in it when i purchased the car

mikey1

i would definitely change it back to the OEM blue coolant....the problem is getting all the coolant out without pulling the water pump off....drain the rad and pull the drain plug on the back of the block, that should get most of it out, but to get it all out you really need to remove the water pump, which is a huge job

ezone

04 might have come with dark green long life coolant from the factory. (I can't remember exactly when the switch was made.)


The only coolant we keep now is the premixed blue long life stuff.

If you go aftermarket, Honda specs "silicate and borate free" conventional coolant.

There is no such thing as universal coolant, no matter how big they print the word on the bottles.

plasmaok

So what about running water through it till it comes out clean then refill with the Honda rated antifreeze that should cover it and how many gallons does it require for the d17a1

ezone

Trouble with that is, if you fill the cooling system with water and drain it out, there is still a bunch of water inside it....unless you can drain both radiator, engine block, heater, etc.... Not always easy.
A totally empty system might hold 2-2.5 gallons or so (SWAG), but you can't get all of that out with a simple drain.
(Just like a new dry engine might hold 5 quarts of oil, but you only drain 4 quarts during an oil change.)


The Honda Type 2 coolant is already pre-diluted 50/50.
Assuming you pour it in on top of the water that already remained inside the cooling system, the mixture would turn out far too weak.



If I do the same as what you are asking, I would flush with water, then drain only the radiator.
(That leaves the engine and heater full of water.)
Then pour in straight undiluted antifreeze. (For some reason, nobody I work with seems to comprehend how this works.)
Run the engine for a while so the liquids are thoroughly mixed, then test the concentration after it cools down.
That would probably give me a freeze protection of somewhere between -20F and -35F, which is fine for my area.

Someone living up north where the bitterly cold winds blow may need more freeze protection than what a 50/50 mix provides.



If you only drain from the radiator, you will pour back in (approximately) a gallon.
If you drain the engine too, that's (approximately) another gallon.