Antifreeze is an engine coolant that equally prevents water from freezing in the winter. It’s also effective in cleaning and preventing rust and dirt in general from your cooling system. Different types of antifreeze are used for different cars, and they come in a variety of colors to make identification easier. Each color has its own meaning, components, and the specific vehicles that it can be applied to.
In this article, we would talk about the red and green antifreeze, and if it’s okay to mix them or not.
Green Antifreeze
The Inorganic Additive Technology (IAT) formula is used in the green antifreeze. It has been around for a long time. This means that this type of antifreeze is most suited to older cars from the pre-2000 generation, which were created around that time. Green antifreeze has about a two-year shelf life.
Red Antifreeze
Hybrid Organic Acid Technology is used to make the red antifreeze (HOAT). Dexcool is the brand name for most red antifreeze. The lifespan of this antifreeze type is significantly longer than that of green antifreeze. It lasts roughly four years on average. It improves the efficiency and durability of your water pump and other cooling systems in your car. The red antifreeze is utilized in more current cars than the green antifreeze. To be more specific, the green antifreeze can be used in Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda vehicles.
So can red antifreeze and green antifreeze be mixed?
Assume you are driving down the road and realize you’ve run out of antifreeze. You park your car on the side of the road and walk to the nearest auto repair business. You buy antifreeze there, pay for it, and drive back to where you parked your car. You open your car’s hood, and when you pour antifreeze into the coolant reservoir, you see that it’s green, but the antifreeze in your reservoir is red. Is it safe to pour it in? Is it okay to mix the red and green antifreeze? The answer is an unequivocal NO! It is not simply a bad idea; it’s a disastrous one.
Effects of Mixing Red and Green Antifreeze
The base of both red and green antifreeze is Ethylene glycol (EG), and they even share some of the same components. But that’s the extent of their resemblance. Their ingredients may conflict with one another. While merging them may not result in a world-record-breaking explosion — or any explosion for that matter – the effect on your car can be terrible.
It causes engine issues, further corrosion in the radiator, and/or a blown head gasket. It can also lead to a clogged water jacket, a damaged hose, water pump damage, and leave you fixing other problems in your car for a period of time.
You accidentally mixed red and green antifreeze-what can you do?
There is no denying that accidents happen. If in our earlier scenario you mix them up, what should you do?
The first thing you should do is to cease driving the car until the problem is resolved. How can you resolve the problem? Let’s call “a flush and replace principle.”
You flush out the wrong or mixed antifreeze and replace it with the right one.
While you can take your car to a mechanic to do this, you can also learn how to flush away the incorrect antifreeze combination from your vehicle with this simple step-by-step guide.
- Raise the hood/bonnet of the car.
- Place a draining pan underneath the vehicle. Disconnect the radiator hose and loosen the clamps, as well as the thermostat, to allow the antifreeze to drain.
- Take off the other radiator hose, and flush the engine block. To do this, attach a garden hose to the loose end and turn on the water tap. This will flush your engine block properly.
- Flush the radiator hoses from the opposite end also. Keep doing so until only clean water is coming out.
- Do the process on your radiator as well.
After flushing and putting everything back in its place, pour in a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water.
Conclusion
You know the saying, “anyone can do anything,”. While it is true, you should not mix red and green antifreeze. It is a completely bad idea, and if your car could think, it would cringe at the thought of you doing that. If the thought of a smooth running vehicle appeals to you, then never mix red and green antifreeze, in fact never mix any two colors of antifreeze. If you must mix the red antifreeze with anything, mix it with water, it turns into a shade of pink color, and it is safe to use in your car.