I was recently doing some work that involved flushing all my coolant out, and during the refill I had to mix two different brands of Coolant together. Quicktrip gas station generic coolant, and PEAK brand coolant.
Is doing this alright for our engines? I heard that mixing coolants is generally not a good idea, as the mixtures might cause buildup.
If this isn't a good idea, how imperative would ya'll say it be that I fix this? Can I get away with a few more weeks of daily driving, or should I do another flush this weekend?

 

You should be using a Type II Honda blue coolant, it's not that expensive. I'd flush it all out.

 

The KEY thing is to make sure your coolant is "Silicate and phosphate FREE", Since your radiator and engine block is aluminium, it has to be coolant that doesnt have silicates and phosphates.

 

Probably could have gotten away with topping it off with Distilled or de-ionized water...

 

Sounds like a resounding "no that is not okay" haha. I'll take care of it either tomorrow or next week. Thanks fellas!
Justnspace, is that due to concerns of the aluminum being "sanded" away from the inside by the silicates?

 

The issue is that the old style green coolant uses silicates and phosphates as a corrosion inhibitor. The phosphates are alkaline and hold the silicates in solution. The new style long life antifreeze uses organic acids as a corrosion inhibitor. When these two types are mixed the acid neutralizes the phosphates and the silicates precipitate creating green jello. This blocks flow of coolant and overheats and destroys the engine.

I am currently rebuilding a BMW that had green antifreeze mixed with BMW coolant. The coolant all turned into green jello. The fix is to totally disassemble the engine and clean it out and rebuild it
and install a completely new cooling system. I plan to use the BMW coolant in it which is safe because all traces of other coolant have been removed.

The green antifreeze by its self is a perfectly good coolant and I have used it in all my Honda cars with no problems what so ever.

The worst thing that can be done is to install dexcool (GM) coolant. It gells if mixed with green coolant and even if used by its self produces brown sludge that cruds up the cooling system. It also has a reputation for dissolving intake manifold gaskets which allows oil and coolant to mix and major engine damage.

 

Clear explanation! Thanks to you I just learned something new hahaha. Good luck on the BMW build!