Saturn Coolant Supplement Pellets?

Actually, in the beginning, they used conventional antifreeze. They
switched to Dexcool in midyear 96, I think. The ones with Dexcool have
an orange dot on the coolant reservoir cap. The others have a green dot
on that cap. And it is indeed a bad idea to mix them.

 

What is the "bad" of mixing the two types of antifreeze?

 

Texaco makes a green-colored ethylene glycol antifreeze that's phosphate
free that I try to use. But recently I bought "turbo power" coolant that
looks appropriate.

 

Thanks to all for the follow ups.

Mixing won't be an issue since I will be flushing the Peak completely if
that is what is called for. Our Saturn had no dot so its not clear what
coolant was used or when this was done last by the previous owner.

I guess from your response that Dexcool would work? I'll have to do some
research to see what is listed as being in that brand/type. The owner's
manual specifically said Ethylene Glycol and I knew that Peak and Prestone
were both EG based coolants so I used Peak. I didn't think that Dexcool was
EG since it was a 5 year life coolant.

Bob

 

The manual only indicated they needed to be added in the event of a change
of the coolant (and not every year). I would be reluctant to add that much
powder to the system out of fear that it would cause problems.

Bob

 

Dexcool is ethleye glycol based just like standard Peak. The only difference is
the anti-corrosion additives. If the car didn't come with Dexcool (the
red/orange stuff), I would not switch now.

See http://www.penray.com/bulletins/dexcool.htm

Regards,

Ed White

 

Ed,

Thanks for the URL and other input. I learned a good deal about Dexcool (I
never had a vehicle that used long life coolant so have never used it
before).

The 1996 Saturn definitely had the traditional yellow (was not orange)
antifreeze in it so it agrees with the info on the web site that Saturn did
not convert to Dexcool till 1997 model year. Based on the previous owner's
records, this vehicle experienced the common single overhead cam head defect
(blown head gasket). As a result, the head itself, all of the hoses, the
coolant recovery bottle, thermostat, and coolant were all replaced under
warranty about 3 years back. I figure that the yellow stuff is what got put
in at the dealer, so it appears they followed the advice given not to
convert as the new fluid would be permanently "contaminated."

Looks like I need to check out some of the generic traditional yellow
coolant to find one that is Phosphate free and then flush and refill.
Thanks to Jeff McDonald for the suggestion to look for the Texaco product.
Unfortunately, I doubt I will find this where I live since there are not any
local Texaco stations that I am aware of.

Bob

 

I suggest you look for antifreeze that meets the requirments specified
in your owner's guide. Not all manufacturer's agree that phosphate free
antifreeze is needed.

See:

http://www.peakantifreeze.com/faq.html#C

Other manufacturer's offer phosphate free formulas:

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/product_detail.asp?product=10
http://library.cbest.chevron.com/lubes/compprd9.nsf/0/2f341cfc5662164f88256ccd00619887?OpenDocument
http://www.shell-lubricants.com/products/products.php?c=12

Ed