Am I hurting my engine/ cooling system?

[CharBaby]

This summer(2008), I decided to drain and refill the cooling system in my 04 Nissan Altima 2.5 S for the first time with, PEAK Long Life Coolant(Mixes with all make/models/ coolant/color). I bought 1 qal on sale($7.99) from PepBoys and 1 gal of distilled water from Wal*Mart(.79c) and made my own 50/50 mix, drained and refilled the system.

Although over the years, I've used just about any anti-freeze/coolant in any vehicle without any issues(keeping my vehicles well into their teens), Im only now becomming a bit concerned due to all of the reading that I've done here at BITOG. The only issues I've experienced with any vehicle(either myself or friends/family) over the years were with engines that had known head gasket or intake manifold gasket problems anyway!(GM 3.1/3.4 V6 and Mopar 2.2/2.5 I4). No issues thus far in the Nissan but it's only been about 5-6 months. My question is: Do I need to be concerned? Should I change out the coolant and go back to Nissan coolant from the dealership? Or am I becoming concerned over nothing?

Any infomation is welcome.

 

[sciphi]

Um, you're worrying about nothing. Maybe do another drain/fill if it makes you feel any better.

 

[kingrob]

And another one on top of that to start the worrying again.

 

[SZR48207]

You're fine. PEAK is good stuff.

 

[CharBaby]

Sciphi, kingrob & Rdddy45,

Thanks for your replys. Im not too concerned about doing another drain/refill just yet but, with all of the talk about using the proper coolant(vehicle specific from the dealership), I just didn't want to be adding BAD STUFF in my cooling system. From what I've been reading lately; using the wrong coolant in your system sounds like a bit like using the wrong ATF in your auto transmission. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't slowly destroying something that is working fine.

 

[CharBaby]

Sorry Reddy, I hate when I misspell someones screen name.

 

[SZR48207]

You're okay, Char Baby.

You aren't the first person whose head went into a spin after reading about X fluid here at BITOG.

Coolant is coolant is coolant. As long as you are routine on your flushes, whatever is on the shelf will work fine.

 

[CharBaby]

Great Reddy!
I've always been on top of things like this. I went 1 extra year longer than normal for my standards this time around. I will certainly keep the coolant changed on a regular basis. And as I mentioned earlier, I have used just about any coolant in any of my vehicles over the years.

 

[Cutehumor]

my dad's sentra came with nissan long life green coolant. I just threw in peak regular green stuff. this was two years ago. no flushing. just a drain/fill. no worries. it's a headgasket eater, so I have to replenish the coolant frequently