coolant question

RollingsFarms · Oct 24, 2008

the coolant that came in my tractor is blue. i had a small leak a few days after i got the tractor. i noticed my coolant was a bit low and traced the leak to this, so i just tightened up the screw some and its been fine ever since. i do have a few questions though. i wanted to top off my coolant, so i went to the dealer and purchased some. the problem is it's purple and i didnt really want to mix them. so, i added a little bit of water to the coolant tank. is this ok? does anyone know if the blue coolant in my tractor is summer or winter coolant? the reason i ask is because i have a bottle of JD summer coolant and its green but the JD winter coolant is purple.

Matt_Jr · Oct 24, 2008

Yikes! Blue now?

RollingsFarms · Oct 25, 2008

Matt_Jr said:
Yikes! Blue now?

it was blue from the factory. the tractor only has 12 hours on it. i didn't mix the summer or winter coolants i bought from JD because they were different colors so i just added a little bit of water to bring it back up to the "full mark".

Foothill Rancher · Oct 25, 2008

Could it have been watered down to make the purple turn blue? I've never seen or heard of a blue unless some kind of anti-rust or extended was added.

RollingsFarms · Oct 25, 2008

Foothill Rancher said:
Could it have been watered down to make the purple turn blue? I've never seen or heard of a blue unless some kind of anti-rust or extended was added.

could be. like i said, it was blue the day i bought the tractor as i went over and checked all the fluid levels when it was delivered. had a coolant leak, so i went to buy some winter coolant since all i had was summer coolant. got home and noticed the winter coolant was purple but the summer coolant i have is green. so i said the heck with it and just topped it off with water. would that be ok? i didnt want to mix coolants.

Foothill Rancher · Oct 25, 2008

If it wasn't alot of water it shouldn't hurt, better than putting in the wrong coolant.
You may ask your dealer what coolant was put in, he may know.
Purple,red,orange,yellow,green,amber, I've seen all these, who knows, maybe we need a blue.

If you contact your dealer let us know what his thoughts are, but you should be fine if you added a little water.

Doc_Bob · Oct 25, 2008

RollingsFarms said:
i does anyone know if the blue coolant in my tractor is summer or winter coolant?

Call the dealer.
Bob

3RRL · Oct 25, 2008

Man, I don't know about the different colors, but adding a little water is OK.
Did you use distilled water?
I've read where the normal 50/50 mixture should err on the water side. That is, as long as the mixture is enough for freezing and lubricating protection it's better to have slightly more water than anti-freeze. If there's too much anti-freeze, the engine could run a little hotter than normal.

RollingsFarms · Oct 25, 2008

3RRL said:
Man, I don't know about the different colors, but adding a little water is OK.
Did you use distilled water?
I've read where the normal 50/50 mixture should err on the water side. That is, as long as the mixture is enough for freezing and lubricating protection it's better to have slightly more water than anti-freeze. If there's too much anti-freeze, the engine could run a little hotter than normal.

i just used an old gallon milk jug that i use to carry water out to my dogs and got the water out of the sink. didnt fill up the jug, not even close, just put enough in it to bring the coolant level back up to the line. id say it was a little over halfway empty. i ran the tractor some today loading a box blade into a trailer but noticed the tractor never really warmed up.