Skitch

Doing some work over the holiday and replacing the water pump, thermostat, belt, idlers etc.. this weekend. Firstly the plastic radiator hose connectors with the metal clips are of the devil. Secondly after draining the fluid I thought someone had put the orange dex-cool stuff in, but after scooping it up in a clear container it looks like the proper pink coolant. Thoughts? Did the PO top it off with orange, or just an optical illusion?

Thanks
Tim

phatz

Go with never serviced and replace all

Skitch

Yup, probably the best plan. Just a curiosity really, no reason to not while I've got all of it taken apart.

Pillow

Yes, Pink death is accurate. (Same as VW/Audi)

Apparently there is a Purple death but IDK what it goes with.

FWIW my local Advance has Pink death by Zerex as a gallon premix 50/50 ~$20. If you want concentrated try eEuroparts or FCP Euro, usually $25-$30 a gallon.

Really if you are doing a full flush, put whatever you want in there. IIRC Zerex G05 and even DexCool meet the US phosphate free guidelines. Remember that Pink/Purple death is because Euro water sucks differently than US water... Which is further confusing because you should be mixing with distilled water anyway! IMO DexCool gets a bad wrap because garden hose top ups vs distilled water.

Wisconsin Joe

To actually answer the question you asked:

I think the color of the big pan is making it look orange.

The little white one makes it look the proper pink.
I'd guess that if you put the rest of it in a white or clear container, it would look pink.