The coolant reservoir is located on the driver's side near the center of the engine compartment in front of the windshield. It will have white lettering on a black cap including the words " Do Not Open When Hot". You should top it off to the level indicated in the reservoir with a 50-50 mix of long-life antifreeze and water. Brand does not matter.

You can buy long-life or all-color, all-types antifreeze already in a 50-50 mix or buy full strength and mix it yourself.

How old is your antifreeze? Long-life antifreeze is good for 50,000 miles or 5 years, regular antifreeze is good for 2 years. Yours might need changing.

Doug

 

we'll hopefully you guys know that your not sappose to mix different types of coolant..
if the car is a 98-99 it may take yellow coolant and mixing in long life may cause some problems..

 

Do you know something all the major producers of antifreeze don't? All of the long-life antifreeze labels state it will mix with all types and all colors of antifreeze.

Edit: Well I have been thinking about this, and maybe everyone is not aware of the fairly new development in long-life antifreeze in that at (least the ones I have seen) they state they can be mixed with all colors and all types of antifreeze. Of course maybe not everyone believes or agrees with this.

Doug

 

well then why does jaguar have a bulletin on coolant sludge on 98-99. Due to people mixing long life and regular coolant together cause sludge and plugs heater cores.. and heater valves.

 

I have a question about the long life coolant. I was told the IT IS A "DEALER" ITEM ONLY. It's the orange colored coolant, dont even know if its jag issue. im pretty handy but have been reluctant to flush and change coolant because of the so-called proprietary JAG coolant. thoughts? suggestions? ideas?

 

many threads on the green vs orange coolant around the boards...some say ok to mix, others say no. I like a consistent fluid, and I buy the concentrated dexcool product for mine, mixing it myself with distilled water. I do not buy the jag branded coolant, not many I know do.

 

sweet. thanks h2o

 

I USED to subscribe to the "any mix with all" theory, until I plugged two different heater matrixes (matrices?). Anyway, only the aluminum rated yellow stuff for me now!

 

The following is a TSB (from Ferrari of all people) I received about 3 years ago and I think it still applies today:

Until recently, the color of the most commonly used antifreezes for both light duty and heavy-duty engine cooling systems was predominately green. Its change interval is normally about every two years or 30,000 miles (50,000 km) of use.

Then, long life (LLC) / extended life (ELC) coolant / antifreeze was introduced in an effort to reduce maintenance costs, downtime and environmental disposal costs and issues. With the introduction of this totally new concept, antifreeze manufacturers wanted to differentiate this new product from existing antifreezes.

To accomplish this, they introduced different colored dyes for their LLC / ELC products. Orange and red dyes were used first; now it appears there may be virtually no limit to the different dye colors that may be used.

The purpose of this bulletin is to describe the dye colors currently available, the chemical technologies being used and which vehicle manufacturers are using which technology based on the information that is readily available at the time this bulletin was published.

The member companies of the FMC are confident this issue is not static and new technologies and dye colors will continue to be introduced in the future.

Antifreeze is used in cooling systems to both lower the freeze point of water and raise its boiling point. It is also used as a carrier for different types of additives such as sodium silicate to protect aluminum from corrosion, anti-foaming agents and other corrosion inhibitors. Although straight antifreeze actually freezes and boils quicker than tap water, when mixed with water in the proper proportions (a 50% / 50% mix is ideal) in a cooling system, it greatly increases the cooling system's ability to perform its designed function of removing heat from critical engine parts and to enhance the service life of the various cooling system components.

Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT) is the chemical composition for the traditional antifreezes that are green in color. An IAT can be used with either ethylene glycol (EG) or propylene glycol (PG). The normal IAT service life is two years or 30,000 miles (50,000 km).

Organic Acid Technology (OAT) was the first LLC / ELC introduced in North America in 1994. OAT antifreeze had been widely used in Europe before its introduction in North America. OAT can be either EG or PG but is mostly EG based. Its first dye colors were orange and red. These dye colors are still used by General Motors and Caterpillar. Green, pink and blue have been added to the list of available OAT antifreezes. It is recommended that OAT not be mixed with any other antifreeze technology. The normal OAT antifreeze service life is 5 years or 150,000 miles (250,000 km).

Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT) is a combination of IAT and OAT with nitrites added. This makes HOAT suitable for use in both light duty and heavy duty systems. Currently, two manufacturers are using HOAT for their vehicles. Daimler/Chrysler's version is dyed orange and contains 10% recycled antifreeze. Ford Motor Company’s version is dyed yellow and does not contain any recycled antifreeze. Both of these HOAT antifreezes use the marketing designator of GO-5. They are compatible with each other but mixing them with IAT or OAT is not recommended. The normal HOAT antifreeze service life is 5 years or 150,000 miles (250,000 km).

Nitrated Organic Acid Technology (NOAT) is an OAT with nitrates added. This makes NOAT also suitable for use in both light duty and heavy duty systems. NOAT and HOAT are very similar in performance characteristics. Currently, no OEM vehicle manufacturer is using NOAT. The normal NOAT service life is 5 years or 150,000 miles (250,000 km).

Since antifreeze is clear when it is manufactured, and water is clear, dye is used to color the antifreeze for identification and marketing purposes. The color of antifreeze is no longer an accurate indicator as to whether it is an IAT, OAT, HOAT or NOAT formulation. Further, some antifreeze manufacturers market a “universal” antifreeze they say is compatible with all OAT, HOAT and NOAT formulations. These "universal" formulas are not for use with IAT and they will not convert an IAT to an LLC/ELC antifreeze. Mixing IAT with OAT, HOAT or NOAT antifreezes will not damage your vehicle’s cooling system; however the mixture
will negate the long life/extended life attributes of these formulations.

In conclusion, there are currently two oranges, two reds, green, dark green,
yellow, blue, blue-green, clear and pink dye colors available. With this variety of
dye colors and more to come, the service technician’s ability to properly service
and maintain light duty and heavy duty cooling systems properly will be greatly
challenged. It is imperative the technician be fully aware of what the vehicle
manufacturers' requirements for antifreeze are and those recommendations be
carefully followed.

 

I did a COMPLETE flush of my system and replaced with something I could buy easily over the counter. I also chose an Alum-Safe Yellow Pre-Mix. Now I can top off easily without worry about plugging the system.

When I did the flush, I did have the THICK Sludge in the system. (I'm guessing the previous owners mixed and matched.) I ran a Flush through it, then ran the engine with a running hose in the reservoir and the radiator drain open for about 60 mins. Allowing it to heat up to open thermostat and then opening drain again a few times back and forth so as to drain ALL coolant.

Now, my heater is warmer than it's ever been! Well worth the time, and I'm hoping I headed off a VERY tough heater core replacement job.

Edit: I guess one would have to KNOW the coolant is orginal Jaguar and not already swapped out, or adding orginal Jaguar would cause the sludge... In this case, I recommend a Complete Flush either way just to be safe, whether you want to use Original or replacement fluid. For the $30 or so dollars it's going to cost, why risk it against valves, pumps and heater cores.