Zerex 50/50 for Asian cars

Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:15 pm

What color is your coolant? If it's blue then it's the Suzuki long life stuff. The only exception that I know of is green (?), which isn't long life.

bdleonard · Thu Oct 30, 2014 10:25 pm

As far as I know Suzuki only used "Green" or "Blue". If you have blue in the reservoir, the blue is what you need. I take aftermarket catalog part/fluid listing with a grain of salt generally, and always double check that I'm buying the right thing. For the Suzuki I would suggest that any of the Blue coolants listed on the Beck/Arnley aftermarket version should be interchangeable.

I find that the Honda packaged version of "Blue" is the most reasonably priced that I can find online with good availability. Direct from Amazon it is currently just over $23/gal for the standard 50/50 mix:
http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Honda-Par ... B0089LSFJ0

Nissan is the only source I've found that offers a concentrate (for increasing the ratio beyond 50/50 or for topping up a diluted mixture), but the price is crazy at about $20/Quart.
http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Nissan-99 ... B00AKYORSM

SamirD · Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:18 pm

I'd go with the genuine Suzuki stuff and not worry. It's going to be a small difference in price to pay for knowing it's the exact right part. Japanese cars are pretty precise and won't have as much 'wiggle' room on the specs. Aftermarket parts ALWAYS cut corners on specs. I know this from selling aftermarket parts as a distributor. I always get dealer stuff--even spark plugs.

bdleonard · Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:15 am

SamirD wrote:I'd go with the genuine Suzuki stuff and not worry. It's going to be a small difference in price to pay for knowing it's the exact right part. Japanese cars are pretty precise and won't have as much 'wiggle' room on the specs. Aftermarket parts ALWAYS cut corners on specs. I know this from selling aftermarket parts as a distributor. I always get dealer stuff--even spark plugs.

That is a completely reasonable (if pricey) way to go. The problem there is, what do you do if the OEM goes NLA? Or what if they don't offer the product you need? (For example, concentrated coolant to anybody who has ever added straight water to their cooling system. Adding 50/50 coolant can never get you back to 50%) Or what if the dealer is too far away to be a reasonable choice? I like to know what the viable options are.

redmed · Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:41 pm

redmed wrote:My 2010 radiator cap is marked 12L.
What are the 2011-2013 radiator cap's marked with?
Can someone check? The mark is stamped on the outside rim of the cap.
Is it Fl22, 12L or something else?

Could someone check their 2011-2013 Kizashi so I know if the 2010's are different?

Fri Oct 31, 2014 11:36 pm

redmed wrote:
redmed wrote:My 2010 radiator cap is marked 12L.
What are the 2011-2013 radiator cap's marked with?
Can someone check? The mark is stamped on the outside rim of the cap.
Is it Fl22, 12L or something else?
Could someone check their 2011-2013 Kizashi so I know if the 2010's are different?

Mine is 10M. I wonder what these really represent.

Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:54 am

12N here with blue coolant. Don't think the code means anything considering it's quite obscure.

My overflow is also leaking at the cap

redmed · Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:41 am

Thanks guys.
12L 12n & 10M not what I expected. Now I wonder myself.

bdleonard · Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:49 pm

redmed wrote:Thanks guys.
12L 12n & 10M not what I expected. Now I wonder myself.

My 2013 has 7P on the cap. Looks like a date code to me. My guess is that the number is either the week or month of manufacture, and the letter is the year. Probably L=2009, M=2010, N=2011, P=2012. 'O' is often skipped because it is too easily confused with zero. (The same goes for 'I', but that is irrelevant here.)

Mon Nov 03, 2014 3:21 am

I also think it's more like a manufacturing code.

I think the Suzuki-branded coolant is best, but it's just not easy to get your hands on. I think using a generic Super Long Life blue coolant like the Beck/Arnley stuff will be suitable. If I recall correctly, the owner's manual even states that one can use the traditional green coolant if need be, but will have to adhere to a more frequent change interval than the long life blue coolant. It goes to show that the cooling system isn't nearly as sensitive to the type of coolant as one may think.