Coolant colour?

M

MikeWithTheBike

Greenie N00B Member
Hi guys,

I just changed some coolant in my 2010 Mazda 3 GT (2.5 L engine). I only ended up draining 1/2 of it, which I wasn't too happy with, but apparently the official Mazda service manual says to do it that way (empty the radiator, don't worry about what's in the block), so I guess that's ok...

My question is about coolant types... This is the first time I've changed the coolant, I have about 200000 km on the car, owned it for 7 yrs, so I'm assuming this is the first time it's been changed. The sticker on the overflow reservoir says FL22, so I refilled it with FL22... But the stuff I bought was green (from the dealership, consistent with everything I've read on here) and the stuff that came out was orange? Rusty? Wasn't a very deep colour...

I wasn't anticipating these being different, so I added the FL22 before thinking about it and coming on here...

Is it possible that there was orange FL22 at some point 10 yrs ago? Or that it loses its colour over time? Maybe with a little rust in there for the faint orange colour? Or was that the orange long life coolant despite the FL22 sticker?

If I *did* mix coolant, is the only downside the black colour I've heard about? I haven't drained any out yet to check, but the overflow still looks bright green after 2 days...

Thanks for any clarification on this!!

Mike
 
First of all welcome to mazdaspeeds.org, thank you for joining. Also this is the mazdaspeed section good start to posting with your first post being about a non mazdaspeed in the mazdaspeed section...

With that out of the way do you have a pic of the coolant that came out of your engine? Dark orange could be rust sure. Ford stuff is usually orange coolant.

No mixing orange and green coolant isn't a good thing as it's inorganic mixing with organic.

I'd drive for a few days burp it really good, make sure you've got good heat coming through the cabin and then do a another Drain and fill and see what colour comes out. That'll probably help dilute it if it's a different coolant. although being the original owner and never Changing the coolant my guess would be you waited a little long to do a coolant change.
 
Thanks!

Sorry about posting in the wrong section... Realized right after posting... I'm probably just envious of you MazdaSpeed owners...

Pic to follow after work - old coolant is still bottled up.

It's well burped with good heat into the cabin. I have an extra 4 L of the Mazda FL22, so I may go ahead with that extra drain and fill... Or maybe just get the Ford concentrate and flush a few times with distilled water...

Not the original owner, but I've had it for 7 of its 10 yrs (less than half its milage). Interval on Mazda FL22 is supposed to be 10 yrs, or 192000 km, so I thought I was ok... That is a really long interval, though!

Appreciate the advice!

Mike
 
Gotcha see I don't know the 2.5L service schedule.
I'd stay away ford stuff whether it was or wasn't in it I'd keep going with the Mazda coolant you know that that's the right stuff in it. If you're going to flush with distilled water I'd top back with Mazda coolant again.
 
Problem with the Mazda stuff is I can't get the concentrate here... If I can only get the 50/50, and I can only drain from the radiator, then I'd end up with half distilled water, half 50/50... A 25/75 final mix won't cut it in Canada :(

A bunch of people have posted that the Ford concentrate is FL22, so plan, if I'm going to flush, would be to flush multiple times with distilled water, add a little under 4L of concentrate, top up with distilled, and end up with a 50/50 mix...

Totally open to better ideas, though!! Pics of old coolant to follow shortly.

Thanks again!

Mike
 
Yup! I've read through the coolant threads here and elsewhere. Valvoline/Zerex/Ford seemed to be the most commonly suggested alternatives for concentrate, depending on what you can get locally. Haven't really looked around yet - maybe just prestone around here... I was hoping someone would say that FL22 fades over time, the light rust colour is normal at 200000 km, and I didn't have to do anything :p

I'd gladly flush with 50/50 if someone would sponsor that :)
 
Only explanation for orange coolant is...

A- previous owner put in Zerex coolant

B- it's the original OEM stuff that is rotted

In either case with your mileage, you should probably flush and fill it with fresh stuff. Dont go crazy buying flush mix from the auto store. Just drain the current sludge, fill with distilled water, and run the engine until it gets to operating temperature. Repeat once more, and then fill with FL22/Zerex/whatever you choose.
 
Comes out darker than it is in that pic. Here's the colour of the jug of distilled water I ran through it (ignore the black on top - we dispose of oil and coolant at the same place, so I emptied a few drops of oil on top. Unrelated.)
 

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In other news, the overflow is pretty dark... Not quite black, but it's getting there... Looks the the previous owner put something else in there despite the FL22 label and being *way* ahead of schedule... Maybe an early repair?

From what I've read, it doesn't seem dangerous to have the mix in your system short term. I have a little time Thurs to flush it. Time to bust out the distilled water...

Thanks everyone for the help!
 
I apologize if this question has been answered elsewhere, I couldn't find anything. But I just needed to top up my coolant on my Speed 6 and the Mazda dealership swore up and down that the FL22 was only for SkyActive motors and that I needed to use the OEM Mazda "Green Formula". If I mix that with what's left of the FL22 that's already in my car is that going to cause a problem? I know the FL22 is a 45/55 concentration and this green formula doesn't say anything about that.
 
Oem mazda coolant should be fl22...also check your manual it says use fl22, heck the resovoir cap probably says it. Fl22 is compatible with green, I've even had some of the greenish blue on there without issue.

As long as your coolant is not orange you're good (mixing green and orange coolant will turn it into black badness)
 
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