So a customer with a 2001 Accord was in my shop the other day getting a coolant leak checked. My tech found a leaking heater hose. He noticed the antifreeze in the reservoir was a blue color, the exact color of the windshield washer fluid we use.

I asked the customer where he had his car serviced last. He said the dealer. I told him they must have accidently added washer fluid to his reservoir and the system would have to be flushed out and new antifreeze installed after the hose was replaced. He said okay.

After the job was done, but before I billed the customer out, I decided to call Honda to see if they had changed the color of their anitfreeze. Guess what? They changed the color of their antifreeze!

Needless to say, I didn't charge him for the radiator flush.

Good on you for not charging the customer on the flush.  If more shops took your approach, us mechanics would not be held in the same disdain as LEO's.

What color is it supposed to be?  Every jug of collant I've every bought was sortof a blue green color.  Cept for the red Water Wetter in my bike.

Quoted: Good on you for not charging the customer on the flush.

+1

A simple honest mistake that a thousand other guys would have made. The difference is, you didn't make the customer pay for it.

Quoted: What color is it supposed to be?  Every just I've every bought was sortof a blue green color.  Cept for the red Water Wetter in my bike.

Noooo.. Some manufacturers use special Red stuff...  and they aren't mixable....

When I took my truck into service the wierd colors of the coolant and all the other fluids was wierd.  The coolant was bright orange.  I guess they do it to set themselves off from the non-OEM vendors.

Quoted: Quoted: What color is it supposed to be?  Every just I've every bought was sortof a blue green color.  Cept for the red Water Wetter in my bike. Noooo.. Some manufacturers use special Red stuff...  and they aren't mixable....

Ah.  I'd have freaked and thought the new guy put transmission fluid in my radiator.

Quoted: My wifes Honda has Blue antifreeze, my Mercedes has a flourescent green coloured stuff in it… ANdy

Mercedes, depending on model year should be yellow.  It looks a lot like urine.  Around 2001-2002 MOST models went to a blue color, but some stayed with yellow.  Blue is not available for replacement, you have to just put yellow in its place.  Yellow has a service life of 3 years, blue is 15 years.  We have experienced no problems mixing the two.

Quoted: What color is it supposed to be?  Every jug of collant I've every bought was sortof a blue green color.  Cept for the red Water Wetter in my bike.

Conventional glycol-based antifreeze has been green for as long as I can remember (I've been in this business for over 25 years).

From mid to late eighties, GM has used an orange-yellow dye in their exended life "Dexcool" 5year/100k mile antifreeze to set it apart from conventional green anti-freeze. If you mix the two a paste forms in the cooling system which clogs passages and creates overheating problems which typically result in leaking headgaskets.

Like I said, I'd never seen blue antifreeze till that day.

Quoted: You should have tasted it first

I actually had my guy save a quart of the stuff to show the customer. The only container he could find was a clear beverage jug with a plastic lid. It looked for all the world like a bottle of kool-aid!

I had him pour it out immediately after we showed the customer.