The coolant in my 2004 is blue in color. When I stopped by the Chrysler dealer to get a gallon of fluid for "topping off" the system, the color of this fluid is "orange." According to the Service Manual, the gallon I got has the correct product no. MS-9769. What's the deal? I don't think your supposed to mix the two correct?

 

I thought it didn't matter btu apparently it does since some coolants have different additives (varies by region) and by mixing them the life of the coolant is shortened.

Read this article, it explains a lot.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_...e/1272436.html

 

The majority of the OEM brake system for the car (calipers, pads, rotors, hydraulics, fluids) are manufactured by a company in Germany named "ATE". This company supplies the brake components to MB / Karmann to assemble into the car. ATE manufactures multi-level grades of brake fluids from OEM to Racing and each of these grades of brake fluids are provided in both yellow and blue. The reason they provide the same spec. brake fluids in two very different colors is so when you are flushing your entire hydraulic braking system, you will know when the old fluid has been removed and the new fluid has taken it's place.

In very simple terms, you could hypothetically get a Crossfire with yellow ATE brake fluid in the system from the factory. Then when you need to flush the entire hydraulic system and replace it with fresh fluid, you would use the ATE blue fluid so you know (visually) when the old stuff has been completely removed from the system when the old yellow fluid has been pushed out and now is completely blue. And vice versa.

So don't worry if you got the same product # of ATE brake fluid, being either yellow or blue. It just goes to show you that the mechanic is not smart enough to follow the procedure and has now turned your brake fluid to green.

Just follow this procedure. if you have yellow fluid, then when necessary to flush the entire system, use blue fluid and then when necessary to flush the system again, use the yellow... That way you will always know when the new fluid is purging through the bleeders at each wheel and replacing the old stuff in all the hydraulic lines.

Sorry, I just realized your were discussing coolant fluid... The same technical specs. apply to both systems.

 

Dealerships Dye there fluids...why? Dont know, thats just what they told me when I asked why is my Coolant Blue.

 

DOT requirement... for both coolant and brake fluid... If my previous post didn't give you the answer...

 

I think ethylene glycol is clear when you purchase from a chem. supply house. So they have to dye it otherwise how do you decipher from water.

 

For that matter, I believe gasoline starts out clear as well. I remember back a few years ago, filling-up my translucent gas cans with Sunoco 110 race gas and the stuff was blue. I asked the race shop owner what the dealio was and he said that each of the different race octane levels were dyed different colors for quick reference at the track.

But I know for sure that manufacturers dye their brake and cooling fluids different colors to aid in bleeding / flushing the systems.

 

Green and orange are the traditional "factory fill" coolant colors. However, in there are original equipment antifreeze colors exist, including various shades of green, yellow, pink, red and blue.
The likelihood of color confusion and unidentifiable mixtures has been my problem before. The dye color used in coolant traditionally used to signify the type of coolant. I lend my old car to my bro when I used my dad's then he got it with wrong coolant type, confused of its color. It had affected its Mercedes radiator's performance. So It's really important for vehicle owners to know what type of antifreeze is used in their cars' cooling system prior to having it serviced.

 

The coolant in my SRT is blue...

 

I stopped by my local MB dealer to ask about the coolant color issue. Told him that I had a XF with blue coolant. The guy in the parts department said that's the way the XF's and MB's come from the factory, with blue coolant. The gallon jugs that they have are all orange; that's the way they come (not blue) and that it's ok to mix the factory blue with the new orange. I asked him how much a gallon was and he said expensive. He looked it up and said $35 a gallon and that I would be better off buying a gallon from my Chrysler dealer ($18).