Purple coolant

No you can't mix different colors of coolant, they are color coded for a reason, each one has different additives that are not compatible, it will speed up the corrosion, foam up, or cause other damage to the internal parts of the cooling system.

 

I would stick to using the detroit powercool (purple), if you have a sticker that says extended life, I would get a few gallons of powercool plus (also purple). No reason to try to save a couple dollars on a $25K engine... just my .02

 

red-extended life coolant can be mixed with Orange-Dex coolant, but you Mix Orange-Dex with green coolant and you have some serious problems, quickly, as Dex has high amunts of silicate in it.

From what I have read and found, cannot quote me on this but, Purple and green can be mixed without harm, but this shortens the purple coolants lifespan, and discolors it to a 'brown', fooling mechanics into thinking the coolant is no good. Thats why there are many manufacturers that say do not mix purple/green, although its not so bad to do. Purple coolant also has very little Silicate, making far less compatible with red or orange coolants, and acidic levels can rise easily when its mixed with these.

Just some junk I dug up on it once,...Rawze

 

If its conventional coolant you can absolutely mix it with regular green coolant, just make sure that whatever coolant you are using matches Detroit's specs for the Powercool. We made the switch to buying bulk coolant years a go because as a fleet, it is more convenient, not to mention cheap, to have a truck back in and deliver 250 gallons at a time. Like I said though, make sure whatever you are getting meets all of DDC's specs, and whatever you do don't mix conventional coolant with extended life coolant, because all that will do is neutralize the coolant, since the two are incompatible with one another.

 

I have 2014 Cascadia with DD13 motor. Truck came with purple antifreeze and it has recently had a flush and fill by Freightliner dealer that I have done business with for over 10yrs. Truck was refilled with red elc coolant as opposed to the original pink stuff. I asked Freightliner dealer if I can mix the red with my backup gallons of purple that is kept in the side box. Dealer said ELC ( extended life coolant) can be mixed regardless of color. I am still not convinced of that answer but that is my experience.