The brand name is Kool-Aide, as it looks pretty much like a florescent Pink, like the punch. I run it in my motorcycles, etc and have had no issues with it at all. Other than the concern that it has no "Anti-Freeze" abilities.
Unrelated, I had a odd puncture my Radiator a year or ago and swapped back to traditional Anti-Freeze at the time of that repair as I was getting out of Open Tracking so heavily, and the thought of an hard freeze doing damage really ate at me should the car be out over night for some strange reason. The Kool-Aide remained in the Intercooler system, as I was lazy and never got around to swapping it out as planned.
Two years and about 43k miles later, all was going well. No fluid loss, no cooling issues, etc. The color remained it's bright Pink as new. So, I went to perform a routine fluid check just the other day, and much to my surprise, the Intercooler fluid had turned Brown. It was not low, appeared to have no contaminants in it, and showed no evidence of being boiled out. Very strange.
Thinking about this, the only way I can see something externally affecting the fluid would be a leak in the system. In that case, it would either leak out on an "external" component and the level would be low, or the complete opposite, should it develop a leak Internally (perhaps inside the upper manifold ?) it would be subjected to even greater stress (low fluid, as it would be sucked out), or it would be pressurized from boost (and thus push fuel and some oil into the system, but that would over pressure the system and cause it to rupture or at least blow off fluid at the reservoir IMHO).
I suppose it simply could have suddenly aged and changed color. The Intercooler system as a whole seems otherwise healthy, and the engine is running perfectly with no traces of contamination in the motor oil or evidenced in exhaust blowby in either liquid or colored vapor form.
As I mentioned, I use the same stuff in my DRZ and had used it in the KTM. They are of the same batch, and show no changes in color, despite what I assume has been more radical exposure in terms of temp and heat cycles.
I guess it is time to swap it out for cold winter weather survival once and for all as temps are just starting to dip into the low 30s over night, but simply swapping new Anti Freeze into a compromised system does little for my peace of mind.
Any thoughts?
