Does anti-freeze go bad?

teeroy

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While doing my pre season maintenance on my sled, I went to top up the anti freeze with a brand new bottle of pre mixed BRP coolant I've had for a few years. when I poured it out of the previously sealed jug I noticed the color was a very pale green, almost looked like water. still tastes like anti freeze, and is thicker than water but the coloring is almost gone. can it go bad, or lose effectiveness in the jug?
 

ferniesnow

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FYI and just a heads up, the 2014 Doos have orange/reddish anti-freeze in them. Don't mix with green, don't top up with green, keep them separate!

If they are mixed, apparently they gel. I haven't mixed any so I don't know for sure but that is the word on another forum. The new anti-freeze is supposed to be more friendly to all the aluminum in the cooling system.
 

butters

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I wouldn't be using taste to determine if something is coolant too often either....pretty sure that causes blindness at the least.
 

trhaus

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i have never seen one jell but i do know antifreeze looses its ability to cool effectively, but it takes a few years. its always best to use manufacturer recommended coolant.
 

pistoncontracting

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In days off old, mixed colors turned into a cottage cheese type substance. Today though, I think most are pretty universal and really a non issue. I had to in sort of a last resort situation and never had any issue.


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pistoncontracting

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In days off old, mixed colors turned into a cottage cheese type substance. Today though, I think most are pretty universal and really a non issue. I had to in sort of a last resort situation and never had any problem.


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Beels

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I agree with Ferniesnow. never mix colours.

Not completely true. Depends on the manufacturer of the coolant. In my slinging parts days, I carried a HD Diesel antifreeze that was purple but was backwards compatible with green. That being said, I wish they would have kept everything standardized, instead of every manufacturer going a different direction and making it so you need a chemical engineering degree to know which coolant should be used in which unit and which is compatible with it.
 

Bnorth

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Not completely true. Depends on the manufacturer of the coolant. In my slinging parts days, I carried a HD Diesel antifreeze that was purple but was backwards compatible with green. That being said, I wish they would have kept everything standardized, instead of every manufacturer going a different direction and making it so you need a chemical engineering degree to know which coolant should be used in which unit and which is compatible with it.

Agreed. Green, yellow, orange, purple, blue WTF!
 

whoDEANie

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i have never seen one jell but i do know antifreeze looses its ability to cool effectively, but it takes a few years. its always best to use manufacturer recommended coolant.

Ive seen it start to gel before after adding a little Liquid Ice to top up a machine. It started to happen immediately.
 
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