Worried about my engine coolant.

[KansasKid]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't contributed for a while. I've been out for a while trying to get married and what not. Finally got that taken care of, but now I might have gotten myself into a bit of a conundrum with my coolant system.

Like I said previously, wifey and I got married and of course we went on a honeymoon. We decided we were going to take a trip to the mountains of Colorado and we were going to drive there in Azumi (my 2011 Kizashi SE AWD). Because I'm really bad at having my act together most times, and with all the craziness of trying to make sure my wedding came together, I forgot to do a proper pre-trip inspection of my Kizashi.

So at 0700 (7 AM) the morning that we're supposed to leave for Colorado, I finally get around to doing said inspection. Everything looked good, except the wiper fluid didn't seem to be near the top, and the engine coolant reservoir was BELOW the "Low" level. I could see that there was still some fluid in the reservoir, but it was basically at the bottom. In my groggy, half-awake state I was in at the time, I assumed that the reservoir being so close to empty was a serious problem, and that I had to fill it back up or the car would overheat, which I didn't want to happen on this huge trip I was supposed to embark on in like 30 min.

I proceed to go into panic mode, and start thumbing through the manual to try and figure out what I'm supposed to do. Of course, the only help that the manual provides is repeating "only use Suzuki Super Blue (Longer Life) coolant in your Kizashi" about a dozen times. My Kizashi only had about 17400-ish miles on it at the time and messing with the coolant hasn't been high on my priority list, so of course I don't have any "Suzuki Super Blue (Longer Life)" coolant on hand.

While I don't have any of the super blue coolant, I did happen to have some Peak 50/50 Long Life antifreeze/coolant sitting in the trunk of my Kia though. So, I hastily grab up the jug of Peak, a jug of wiper fluid I have lying around, and my trusty funnel, fill up the reservoirs with their respective fluids, and (throwing caution to the wind) proceed to launch on my honeymoon.

We made it all the way to our destination in one piece, and a couple of days after our arrival, I decide to check on the engine coolant. Apparently, I was in such a hurry to get on the road, I found the coolant reservoir cap in front of an intake like so:

EngineCoolantCover.jpg (70.55 KiB) Viewed 10666 times

Somehow, the cap made it the entire trip without falling out of the engine compartment, which was awesome I suppose. The reservoir was also about half full now, still well above the "Low" line. I put the cap back on figure it'll be alright until I get home.

Fast forward to the end of my honeymoon, I get all the way home and start poking around the forums. After reading through a couple of the other posts about engine coolant, (namely, the post about Zerex 50/50 for Asian cars), I'm starting to freak out about my coolant system. I'm really worried I'm going to cause significant damage to my car.

Getting to the point of my novel, I'm looking for some advice with the following questions:

• Am I freaking out over nothing?
• What warning signs should I be looking for in trying to determine if I've caused any harm to the coolant system?
• I haven't taken my Kizashi to my area's Suzuki authorized service provider to fix the "spiders in the fuel system" issue yet. Should I just have them inspect/flush the coolant system while I'm having them install the vent tube filter? (I'm hesitant because I'm not entirely confident/trusting of my local Suzuki service provider)

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
And it's good to be back.

[KuroNekko]

Nothing to freak out about. I doubt any damage was done at all. However, you can't mix the 50/50 Zerex coolant with the "Super Long-life Blue" coolant used recently by Asian car makers. You need to only use this blue coolant with the existing coolant.
From the sound of things, it appears that the 50/50 Zerex coolant did not circulate the cooling system. When the engine is cold, open the actual radiator cap and see what the coolant looks like. It should be blue. If it looks mixed with the 50/50 Zerex coolant and the color now off from blue, then you should get the cooling system flushed at the dealership and replaced exclusively with the blue coolant.

If it's not mixed in the radiator, then you can either siphon out the reservoir or remove the reservoir and pour the mixed coolant out of it. A siphon would be the easier method and these are sold in auto parts and hardware stores.

Also, congrats on your wedding.

[murcod]

I'd suggest getting it changed out and flushed. As part of the normal driving cycle you will get coolant overflowing into the reservoir, which is then sucked back into the engine cooling circuit as the engine cools. (Check your coolant reservoir level after a decent drive and you'll see the level will be higher than normal, it then drops back down when the engine cools down. So the two coolants will have mixed.)

[Ronzuki]

I'd suggest getting it changed out and flushed. As part of the normal driving cycle you will get coolant overflowing into the reservoir, which is then sucked back into the engine cooling circuit as the engine cools. (Check your coolant reservoir level after a decent drive and you'll see the level will be higher than normal, it then drops back down when the engine cools down. So the two coolants will have mixed.)

X2

[KansasKid]

Alrighty, so I got in touch with my local dealership, and they said that the flush is going to be $140-ish dollars. Which I'm assuming is going to be better than replacing the entire cooling system. Some other posts said that you should try to avoid flushing the system. I'm assuming that's only a bad idea if you replace the coolant that you flushed with something other than Suzuki Super Blue?

Fun facts for anyone in the KC area, the local dealership has Suzuki Super Blue coolant for $8/quart or $23/gallon.

[murcod]

Are you able to buy the required coolant in concentrated form? That's the best way to go, because it's highly unlikely you'll be able to drain all the water you've used to flush out the engine. So, with the concentrate it doesn't matter as you just top it up with the required 50% qty and it will mix in the engine.

As an example, I did my XL-7 last weekend and was only able to drain just over 50% of the coolant system capacity (4 litres drained) with each flush. If I'd used premixed coolant I wouldn't have been able to achieve the 50% mix ratio.

[bdleonard]

Nothing to get too worried about, especially if you only added enough to top off the reservoir. You added a relatively small amount of a silicate free, phosphate free OAT coolant (Peak Long Life 50/50). To a Phosphated hybrid OAT coolant (Suzuki Super Blue).

In the worst case, if you're feeling nervous, you can just switch yourself to the standard life "green coolant" service interval listed in the owners manual of every 30,000 miles. If you are concerned, I would do that instead of draining your current mix.

I would be more worried about dust, dirt, road spray, and other crud that may have gotten into the coolant reservoir while it was uncapped for an extended period of time. I'd say it is worth taking a close look in the reservoir with a flashlight to make sure its clean.

[KansasKid]

Nothing to get too worried about, especially if you only added enough to top off the reservoir. You added a relatively small amount of a silicate free, phosphate free OAT coolant (Peak Long Life 50/50). To a Phosphated hybrid OAT coolant (Suzuki Super Blue).

In the worst case, if you're feeling nervous, you can just switch yourself to the standard life "green coolant" service interval listed in the owners manual of every 30,000 miles. If you are concerned, I would do that instead of draining your current mix.

I would be more worried about dust, dirt, road spray, and other crud that may have gotten into the coolant reservoir while it was uncapped for an extended period of time. I'd say it is worth taking a close look in the reservoir with a flashlight to make sure its clean.

Thanks, bdleonard. I'll look into that. I just scheduled my Kizashi to get the fuel vapor vapor vent line fixed, as well as get the coolant system flushed, but I'm not supposed to take it in until Wednesday.

On a side note, does anyone know how much coolant the reservoir holds compared to the entire coolant system?

[bdleonard]

On a side note, does anyone know how much coolant the reservoir holds compared to the entire coolant system?

From the owners manual: "Coolant (including reserve tank) - 6.6L (13.9pt)" Generally the overflow reservoir will be marked at around a quart, but I've never measured it on the Kizashi.

Also, make sure that they are really doing a cooling system flush, if that is what you feel you need. There is a distinct possibility that they will just drain and refill the radiator, which will leave some of the old coolant in the reservoir and the engine. If they do flush the system with water, ask them how they got the system back to a 50/50 mix, since they blue coolant is only sold diluted 50/50 (except by Nissan which has quarts of concentrate available for about the cost of a gallon of 50/50)

You could pick up three gallons of the proper 50/50 blue coolant (from Nissan, Honda, Suzuki, Beck/Arnley, etc) and do 2 drain and fills a few hundred miles apart for under $75. That would leave mostly new fluid in the system, and the percentage of the "wrong" fluid left would go from small to miniscule. Amazon sells the Honda labeled version for $22/gal at the moment.

[SamirD]

Some great advice in this thread. Congrats on the marriage!

I'd get the original Suzuki coolant and just drain and fill the radiator if you see only a mix of colors in the overflow tank or radiator cap. Then I'd check it again after a while. If it's still not blue, do another change.

Be sure to follow proper air bleeding procedures for the car! Nothing will kill the engine like a hot spot because of stuck air bubble.