Beneteau vs. Yanmar – Green vs. Red Cooling Fluid

[endeavour33]

All diesel engines should use DIESEL ANTIFREEZE (which is pink NOT TO BEE CONFUSED with plumbing antifreeze, which is also pink)
any auto supply which carries diesel supplies will have it , it is about chemical compatiblilty , aluminum parts and corrosion !
P.S. it is only a buck or two more at any automotive outlet, be sure that is is designed for diesels

[US27inKS]

Originally Posted by Giulietta

OK..I have a question, please..for the coolant experts.

I have a Yanmar 3jh4E on my boat. The coolant that came with the engine in separate boxes, (the engine obviously was shipped dry), is Havoline, in a black bottle, I believe its that DEx Cool thing.

Mine is orange in color..I am confused now, but my friend (who happens to be the Yanmar dealer), said that he could put any coolant I want if that is what I wanted..

I gathered my coolant is the bad one?

What coolant do you guys recommend??

Thank you

Alex

Since my boat has an outboard, my marine experience with coolant is zero. I do own an auto shop though, so I know a little about coolant. The orange dex-cool antifreeze is a problem in many engines. Engines that were designed before dex-cool was introduced seem to have the most problems. Most problems seem to be with rubber parts; the water pump seals, intake manifold gaskets etc. Cooling system sludge is another big problem for some vehicles. You don't have to mix other types of antifreeze into dex-cool for it to sludge your radiator.

I would recommend that anyone with dex-cool change it for green.

Red antifreeze is another story. Toyota has used red for years, and it's a very good antifreeze. Don't mix anything with it. For those of you looking for red, check the MSDS on Toyota antifreeze and whatever brand you're trying to duplicate to make sure it's a match.

Pink antifreeze can generally be found in Volkswagen and Audi vehicles. Good stuff as well.

There's also gold, blue and purple but I haven't seen those mentioned yet.

[Skipaway]

I have a jug of “Prestone Extended Life” which claims: All Makes, All Models
Mix with ANY color antifreeze; compatible with ANY coolant ... in ANY.. automobile or light duty truck...

There is no mention of phosphates or silica on the label or ingredients list. I haven't opened it yet so I don't know what color it is.

Should we believe the claims?

(Should I go ahead and use it? I have a Yanmar 2GM20F diesel.)

[Omatako]

Let's start at the beginning: What the heck dooes this mean?!?!?!?

Originally Posted by Swesail

Thanks –But just to be clear, it’s not the antifreeze in the cooling system you are using pretty much every winter (raw water intake) that I’m referring to but rather the cooling fluid within the engine.

Not the antifreeze in the (raw water) cooling system but the cooling fluid within the engine??? This is gobbledegook. What are you people talking about?

Originally Posted by Swesail

If your answer was regarding the cooling fluid rather than the antifreeze in the raw water circuit then it helped. But in any case I thank you for taking the time to read. Please let me know which it is.

Huh?? You use anti-freeze in your raw water? You must go through quite a bit. How do we end up debating six different chemical make-ups and ten different colours of anti-freeze based on statements like this.

I find myself mildly disappointed that someone never tried to answer the last request.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Omatako

Huh?? You use anti-freeze in your raw water? You must go through quite a bit. How do we end up debating six different chemical make-ups and ten different colours of anti-freeze based on statements like this.

I find myself mildly disappointed that someone never tried to answer the last request.

Believe he's talking about the pink non-toxic antifreeze used for winterizing a boat's raw water cooling system.

[k1vsk]

Originally Posted by jason3317

MainSail wrote: when and if you do convert away from Death-Cool you MUST do a complete system flush, with a product like Rydlime, followed by a neutralizer, then a flush with distilled water then the new antifreeze.

OOOPS. I changed my coolant this fall as part of fall decommissioning. I drained the existing (red) coolant, flushed with water, ran a 'Zerex Flush' product through the system and then flushed again 2x with water.

I then used Zerex 50/50 predilluted ethelyne glycol coolant (green).

Did I totally screw this up. I didn't know about the flush with Rydlyme + Neutralizer step?

You don't need to be that anal about it - as long as you thoroughly flushed the entire system observing the color of the final flush water and it is clear, you will be fine. Some chemicals used for flushing also remove mineral deposits which is all well and good, Rydlime being one, but let's not overly complicate a simple task as removing incompatible antifreeze with removing deposits.

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by endeavour33

All diesel engines should use DIESEL ANTIFREEZE (which is pink NOT TO BEE CONFUSED with plumbing antifreeze, which is also pink)
any auto supply which carries diesel supplies will have it , it is about chemical compatiblilty , aluminum parts and corrosion !
P.S. it is only a buck or two more at any automotive outlet, be sure that is is designed for diesels

I agree. For over 20 years I've used the Prestone green antifreeze in my Perkins 4-108. I've routinely changed out the antifreeze and cleaned the heat exchanger over time without any problems. However this winter when talking to a diesel mechanic, he stated that diesels should be using a heavy duty antifreeze vs the type I'ld been using. If I remember right it had to do with cylinder liners and potential problems. I ended up switching to the Prestone Heavy duty( not extended life) after a good flushing of the coolant system. After reading some more about the Perkins 4-108, I decided that the Perkin's cylinder liners in the 4-108 were not subject to the problem(can't remember why), but was happy that I changed out to the heavy duty coolant anyway.

[US27inKS]

Originally Posted by Skipaway

I have a jug of “Prestone Extended Life” which claims: All Makes, All Models
Mix with ANY color antifreeze; compatible with ANY coolant ... in ANY.. automobile or light duty truck...

There is no mention of phosphates or silica on the label or ingredients list. I haven't opened it yet so I don't know what color it is.

Should we believe the claims?

(Should I go ahead and use it? I have a Yanmar 2GM20F diesel.)

I use the universal stuff on occasion, but generally I stick with the formula (and color) it's supposed to have, with the exception of orange dex-cool. I get rid of dex-cool on most vehicles.