Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

Citroen Jumpy (Dispatch) · 2023-07-10 15:38:25

Hello!

I'm having a little trouble when it comes to changing the coolant in my 2001 Citroen Jumpy/Dispatch with the 1.9D engine.

There is currently orange coolant in the engine, but according to everything I found online orange coolant is only used is really new Vauxhall cars. So it's not supposed to be in there. Not problem I thought! I'll just buy a different coolant that is supposed to work according to the internet and I will just replace all off it. So I bought blue antifreeze from Kroon-Oil. According to the Kroon-Oil website and autodoc registration plate checker it should work just fine in my van.

Now that I want to start im doubting if this is a good idea. I probably won't be able to remove all the coolant, I can't even find an engine block drain bolt. So what I would have to do is remove the bottom hose from the radiator, not get all the orange coolant out, and the fill it up with the blue stuff I bought.

Will this be fine or is this a terrible idea? Should I use a different coolant? Kroon-Oil also recommended a yellow coolant, perhaps I should use that since the colour is closer. What is currently in the car certainly is not yellow, but orange.

Curious about what experiences you have with this! Many thanks.

JohnDragonMan · 2023-07-10 19:24:00

colours mean nothing with coolants, you need to see what the coolant is made of.

the most common types Glycol OAT (most common coolant in 90s-2010s vehicles) and Silicate (used in old stuff) based coolants must never be mixed. theres other types of coolant too like G05, G13, G30, G48.. loads.

the main thing with coolant is that if you are unsure, you MUST get all traces of old coolant out of the system before filling with new. thankfully its the summer and no risk of freezing.
what i would do is flush the system as many times as you want to. till clear. for me what i do to clean a system is to use 2 ground up dish washer tablets with the red (rinse aid) ball removed from them (or just get the cheap ones that do not have that). run that in the system for a day or 2 then drain and flush many times again. full fills with pipes connected and engine running to temp then drain again. then fill up with the coolant of your choice and replace next year, after that it should be fine.

see any engine can take any coolant. the thing is removing all of the old coolant as it all reacts.

for your van the coolant it came from the factory with would have been clear Glycol based OAT (organic acid technology) coolant. Red/orange/blue coolant is usually Glycol based OAT coolant.. the colours usually indicate life expectancy of the coolant. red/orange is normally 5 years and blue is normally 2 years. the colant will last a lot longer however its the corrosion inhibitors that slowly break down.

like i say however, colour is NOT a good method of identification with coolant.

if you have ever worked on old 70's stuff and changed a water pump you somtimes notice strange clear jelly like blobs stuck to the components. this is where it originally would have been using silicate coolant however someone over the years topped up or changed the coolant out with the newer glycol coolant but did not flush correctly. wink dish washer tablets usually remove the build up.

a little crazy thing i did once for 6 years was run a vehicle with a very low viscosity synthetic oil as coolant (which gels up at -30) the car never once over heated and you could take the coolant cap off at maximum temperature and the system had no pressurisation. when i replaced the cam belt and water pump it looked identical to the day i fitted it. no decolourisation and not one bit of corrosion.
this is never done on vehicles because of cost and i guess risk of fire in the event of a collision... but you are talking to someone who refilled an old R12 aircon system with propane to get the AC working again.

i hope this has helped smile

AlvyLad · 2023-07-11 14:37:50

JohnDragonMan wrote:

colours mean nothing with coolants, you need to see what the coolant is made of.
the most common types Glycol OAT (most common coolant in 90s-2010s vehicles) and Silicate (used in old stuff) based coolants must never be mixed. theres other types of coolant too like G05, G13, G30, G48.. loads.
the main thing with coolant is that if you are unsure, you MUST get all traces of old coolant out of the system before filling with new. thankfully its the summer and no risk of freezing.
what i would do is flush the system as many times as you want to. till clear. for me what i do to clean a system is to use 2 ground up dish washer tablets with the red (rinse aid) ball removed from them (or just get the cheap ones that do not have that). run that in the system for a day or 2 then drain and flush many times again. full fills with pipes connected and engine running to temp then drain again. then fill up with the coolant of your choice and replace next year, after that it should be fine.
see any engine can take any coolant. the thing is removing all of the old coolant as it all reacts.
for your van the coolant it came from the factory with would have been clear Glycol based OAT (organic acid technology) coolant. Red/orange/blue coolant is usually Glycol based OAT coolant.. the colours usually indicate life expectancy of the coolant. red/orange is normally 5 years and blue is normally 2 years. the colant will last a lot longer however its the corrosion inhibitors that slowly break down.
like i say however, colour is NOT a good method of identification with coolant.
if you have ever worked on old 70's stuff and changed a water pump you somtimes notice strange clear jelly like blobs stuck to the components. this is where it originally would have been using silicate coolant however someone over the years topped up or changed the coolant out with the newer glycol coolant but did not flush correctly. dish washer tablets usually remove the build up.
a little crazy thing i did once for 6 years was run a vehicle with a very low viscosity synthetic oil as coolant (which gels up at -30) the car never once over heated and you could take the coolant cap off at maximum temperature and the system had no pressurisation. when i replaced the cam belt and water pump it looked identical to the day i fitted it. no decolourisation and not one bit of corrosion.
this is never done on vehicles because of cost and i guess risk of fire in the event of a collision... but you are talking to someone who refilled an old R12 aircon system with propane to get the AC working again.
i hope this has helped

Should/could maybe? made Sticky thread or post or some sort of basic (not at all) guide?
Thanks!

Last edited by AlvyLad (2023-07-11 14:38:15)

Citroen Jumpy (Dispatch) · 2023-07-17 18:27:21

I thank you for the help and apologize for my late response.

Ended up flushing the cooling system multiple times like you said and put the blue coolant that I bought in. Everything seems fine.

Using oil in a cooling system and having propane run through in the AC is wild! Never thought that would work.

JohnDragonMan · 2023-07-17 22:44:39

makes finding a leaky seal or pipe easy.. so long as you dont hear it gushing out you can have a fan blow into the engine bay lightly to stop any gas building up then just go over all the AC lines with a lighter.. when you find the flame jetting out of the pipe (literally like a lighter) you have found the leak. for AC lines you can cut the pipe where the hole is, jam a bit of copper pipe in covered in super glue then use 2 hose clamps each side of the cut and it wont leak again.
well thats what i did on my old £50 scrap car (306 estate xud turbo) that i managed to keep running for another 5 years then sold on for £500.. i dont think i ever filled it with diesel in the whole time i had it. i always end up fixing cars to the max then selling them hmm sigh.

kenbw2 · 2023-07-19 01:04:46

JohnDragonMan wrote:

well thats what i did on my old £50 scrap car (306 estate xud turbo) that i managed to keep running for another 5 years then sold on for £500.. i dont think i ever filled it with diesel in the whole time i had it. i always end up fixing cars to the max then selling them sigh.

I've had the same experience with my spares/repairs Dispatch for the last... 4 years. And faced with another big welding bill I'm once again gonna end up putting more into it than it's worth roll

The van lives on!

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#1 2023-07-10 15:38:25

Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

#2 2023-07-10 19:24:00

Re: Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

#3 2023-07-11 14:37:50

Re: Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

#4 2023-07-17 18:27:21

Re: Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

#5 2023-07-17 22:44:39

Re: Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

#6 2023-07-19 01:04:46

Re: Coolant colour 2001 Dispatch 1.9D

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