Coolant Colour

Hey guys,

Just had my 80k service completed on my 550 yesterday, along with a change out of all oils & fluids.

When the ute went in, it had green coolant. The invoice specified that the coolant was replaced with Nissan Blue coolant.

I checked the levels this morning, and the coolant is green.

So, after noticing this, straight away I think I've been charged for a something that has not been completed.

Get on the phone to the local Nissan dealer who did the service, and was told that it was blue coolant that was used, however once put into the engine, it turns green straight away.

Is anyone able to confirm this??
My initial thoughts are that it is a crock of s*#t.

Thanks,
Gary

"Blue coolant" is a Nissan term and should refer to their own brand of coolant not the colour. Nearly all coolant is green, though there are exceptions I'd hope that the dealer did the correct thing and you have had your green coolant changed.

sounds abit strange but maybe there right. theres a chance the Blue coolant could go abit Green when its diluted with water. i ,ve only seen red and green coolants myself.

Nope. My d22 had blue coolant from the factory. I changed it about a year ago with nulon blue coolant and it is still very blue. That's looking at it in the recovery bottle too, where the colour may appear different because of the amount of light going through it.

Thanks guys. Keep the comments coming.
I might go in there when I get home & ask them to show me how the blue coolant turns green.

what colour was the coolant before this service ? if it was not blue maybe the system wasn,t hose flushed and some old dirty coolant water was left inside.

Like I said Nissan Blue is their own brand but the colour now used appears to be green??. It's just the dealer using whatever they choose that conforms to the same standards as their own stuff.

Just confirming my mate in the scrub gets his 09 d40 serviced when he goes to town, the dealership charged by the litre for Nissan Blue yet the coolant is definitely green.

when i got my bottle they ask which colour was in my system green or red(i think).
she is green. the long life coolant ethylene glycol l248 GP, pn 10120llc005 i bought off them is a green liquid in the bottle. this was more for a like a top up.

The colour is a dye so that you know not only that there's a leak but which fluid it is. Colouring it red doesn't make sense because ATF is red, and used in auto gearboxes and power steering.

Coolant isn't supposed to change colour. The whole idea is that if you know you put a blue coolant in, if you spot a blue fluid on the ground or splashed around the engine bay, you know where it's from.

Methinks they didn't do what they were supposed to do.

it has been mentioned that you shouldn,t mix coolant colours unless you give the total cooling system a thourough flushing, failing to do so can result in radiator blockage. i wonder if this is correct ?

It's not so much colour that's the issue - they're just dyes (like food colouring). It's the other additives in the coolant. To be effective, coolant needs to be around 50% ethylene glycol to lower the freezing point (to around -35C I think) and raise the boiling point (up near 110C). Too little and the freezing point moves upwards, too much and the boiling point falls. There are other additives like corrosion inhibitors and pH adjusters. Different brands may have incompatible additives causing issues like you've raised.

jonney said:

it has been mentioned that you shouldn,t mix coolant colours unless you give the total cooling system a thourough flushing, failing to do so can result in radiator blockage. i wonder if this is correct ?

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If the armchair enthusiasts are to be believed, they can't be mixed.

The reality is different....

The old school antifreeze that is used where cars have copper and brass in the cooling system is incompatible with modern stuff. So classic pre 1990 ish is different.

For normal cars, all antifreeze is able to be mixed. Whilst there are hundreds of different specs these are to do with the anti corrosion additives that the manufacturers think are appropriate. This modern fluid is of course called coolant nowadays and lasts many years, unlikely the old stuff.

The only exception to this is an early version of the modern coolant called Dexcool. This will cause sludging if mixed with anything, generally the source of the misinformation on the internet.

Ive seen two types of green coolant mixed together turn into a sludgy gel over summer in an older commodore
Think it was Castrol something and something cheap

Thanks guys. Have just rang Nissan Australia for some info from the manufacturer. They said that it should not change colour.
Called the dealer back, and the service manager will call me back after she has spoken with the foreman.
If I don't get an acceptable answer back, I will look at doing a coolant analysis through CAT, and go from there.

So, after speaking with the Service Manager today, I was told that Nissan Australia have told all dealers that when replacing coolant, the original blue coolant can be replaced with the green coolant.
This is due to the blue coolant being very expensive. The green stuff doesn't last as long, but is what has been recommended by Nissan.

They offered to test my coolant, to satisfy that it was actually changed. Might take them up on their offer when I get back home, then find out what I was actually charged for.

Wait a sec ... the dealer is going to test the coolant to make sure that they did change it ... my bet is they'll say yes, it was changed.

I'd contend that if you were charged for blue coolant, you should have blue coolant. You don't walk into a bar to buy a Tooheys New and accept a lemonade, do you?

Old.Tony said:

Wait a sec ... the dealer is going to test the coolant to make sure that they did change it ... my bet is they'll say yes, it was changed.

I'd contend that if you were charged for blue coolant, you should have blue coolant. You don't walk into a bar to buy a Tooheys New and accept a lemonade, do you?

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The test they were willing to do was just to prove to me that the coolant had actually been changed. They stated that with their quality checks they do, they are certain it is as intact changed.

I will be checking the invoice when I get back home on Saturday, to see how much I was actually charged for it. Then find out the cost of green & blue coolants.

Totally agree that it should be blue if it states blue on the invoice. I will also be asking for the instruction from Nissan that Green coolant can be used in this engine without affecting the warranty, as it states blue in the service instructions.

That's a good idea, because if you need for some reason to take the vehicle to another dealer for a warranty issue (let's say you need to drive to Sydney and it breaks down) the dealer might see the green coolant and, knowing it should be blue, put the blame on you for the different coolant - especially if your invoice says the previous dealer used blue!

Mind you, if the coolant is good enough quality, that's something you could fight through Fair Trading, but removing the need in the first place by making the dealer do it right is a better way to go.

this does occur quite often as thinking back a few years , my daughter put her car in for a new waterpump / timing belt replacement and i do remember the original coolant was Green and when i looked under the bonnet one day i noticed the coolant was Orange. so this shows they put in whatever they have on the shelf.