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Got the feared “COOLANT LEVEL LOW” red warning light this morning (strangely, it went away after a minute of driving). Since it’s Sunday, autozone is my only option.
move heard of green and orange, but pink coolant? Is this correct, or do I wait a day and go to a jag parts department for this? Is there some kind of unobtanium in our antifreeze?
thanks...
I had that warning once, as you note when the liquid heats up and expands the warning goes away, which in itself told me it was borderline low. From my recollection I only needed a minor amount so I topped it off with distilled water. Probably sacrilege to some of the car worshippers but hey, I am just a rube from the backwoods of Florida who grew up running around with no shirt or shoes. So such things are expected of me.
Check your Owner's Manual; my 2010 XK 5.0L NA mandates coolant meeting specification WSS M97B44, which is met by Prestone Dexcool (orange color). About $5 less inexpensive at a Walmart (or even Home Depot) than an auto supply store...
Thanks. That # is on the coolant tank as well. Thing is, I don't see that number anywhere on the bottle - or on the bottles of Prestone that I checked. My fluid looks reddish-orange, so I don't know if it's compatible.
You can use anything but green, pretty much. Yellow, blue and pink are okay also. Don't use any IAT. Stick with the HOAT type. The newer OAT probably needs a full flush of the system.
You DO NOT want to mix different coolants, bad things happen. DEXCOOL is the correct OAT coolant for the last 20+ years, HOAT is NOT and is used by many German marques.
This is another OAT coolant, was $7 a gallon last year buy EVERYTHING is going up...
You can use anything but green, pretty much. Yellow, blue and pink are okay also. Don't use any IAT. Stick with the HOAT type. The newer OAT probably needs a full flush of the system.
Originally Posted by OzXFR
I have been using pink OAT for years on all three of my Jags and never had a single problem.
Originally Posted by jahummer
Surely can be done, but a thorough flush should be done for the conversion. For top offs though, stick with what’s already in.
Thanks as always. I always appreciate what I learn here.
But how did this become a rabbit hole?? (Read four threads on this on this forum alone.) What happened to "green or orange?" What happened to being able to just buy a gallon at the gas station? And pink? What the hell's pink?
The reason coolant type is important and why you can’t just use any type is how the chemicals react to the various materials in the cooling circuit. Ask GM about it…..
The reason coolant type is important and why you can’t just use any type is how the chemicals react to the various materials in the cooling circuit. Ask GM about it…..
I hear ya. But since this is color-coded, since our cars have orange (yes?), wouldn't any orange do? And if the formulation switched from OAT to HOAT (its own rabbit hole, and it seems you're right that mixing those is a bad idea), wouldn't that dictate a new color? And if the coolant maker (Prestone) indicates a new color coolant for the XKR (pink), why no note that it's not backwards compatible? Just seems overly confusing.
Oh, and Larger Issue: that reservoir tank was EMPTY. I ended up dumping in about a quart. And now that I'm noticing it, yeah the car smells like coolant when I shut it off...
I have no intention of selling the car (though now would be the time to do it), but I remember this happened with my old SL500 at about the 130,000 mile mark. Issues just started appearing. Tie rods,oil tubes... when I ended up with a cracked power steering pump, which is one big assembly and not a cheap job, I decided to let the next guy do it.
At the autozone - is this the right stuff?
