I thought this would be the best section to make this post. I recently put regular 50/50 coolant in my radiator reservoir cause it was low, except the manual says you should only use Honda coolant, is there really a difference? It also goes on to say if you dont flush your system and replace with Honda coolant that corrosion is likely to occur.

Is there something special about this Honda coolant?

Thanks,

Matt

 

Yes & no...
What kind exactly?
Honda wants no silicates in the coolant. But there's other brands that are free of silicates.

All antifreeze is ethene glycol. What's different is the anti-corrosion packages. My personal feeling is if you mix types then just don't trust the mixture to go more than about 2 years. Anything that says "Dex-Cool" anywhere on the label is probably the one type that doesn't play nicely with the other types.

Your owner's manual probably says that the factory-fill antifreeze should last 10 years of something silly like that. Now that it's mixed with something else, I'd plan to drain/flush/refill maybe next summer or something. Unless you used DexCool, then you might want to do it sometime this summer.

 

I'm out of town at the moment, so I am going to have to get back to you on what kind of coolant it is exactly. Thanks for the reponse, thats all news to me

 

When you get a chance to read the bottle, look for something that says "Hybrid OAT". I think that's one kind that's pretty friendly about mixing with others. Still, since you have mixed types, I wouldn't wait 5 years like the owner's manual says.

Honda (Ford & Chevy too) get some attaboys from the EPA when they say "your antifreeze will last forever". Sure that's probably good for the planet, but not so good for the lifespan of your car. Be skeptical about really really long lifespan of working fluids.