Yamaha WR250R Coolant

[JettyLife]

So I had a little crash the other day and now I'm replacing the radiator on my 2016 WR250R. I'm not sure what the previous owner put in there, old stuff came out blue, so it could be engine ice which is a common thing in the WRR community.

Long story short, I use Zerex Asian Blue in my Nissan Frontier, and I'd like to use it in the WRR as well to keep things simple in the garage. The manual calls for an ethylene glycol based coolant (which asian blue is) but it also says to use one that's safe for aluminium engines.

Does anyone know of any reason why I should not do a flush with distilled water and then run the Asian Blue in my WR250R? Anyone know if the Asian Blue formula has any issues with aluminium radiators or engines? The rep at Valvoline just said, "yeah it'll work for some aluminium engines." This wasn't the strong and direct answer I was hoping for lol.

 

[Overfill]

Yamaha is going to call for a coolant that is an OAT coolant containing conventional, inorganic phosphate corrosion inhibitors in it. Such a coolant is called a hybrid-OAT coolant or HOAT. Zerex Asian Blue is a phosphate HOAT. Prestone with Cor-Guard is a phosphate HOAT. They are not all of the exact same mixture, obviously. They will all be good.
Also, yes, do the flush.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

In my YZ I used BMW blue, because it is blue and on the shelf....

 

[FowVay]

The Asian blue should be perfect for your bike. Motorcycle mfgrs like to specify no silicates and the Asian blue (or red) meets that needs. I also used BMW blue (G-11) coolant for one interval in my ZX14R motorcycle but only recently changed it using Volkswagen G-13. I have Zerex Asian blue on my shelf and I probably should have used it. I'll drain it out in three years and hopefully the silicates in the G-13 won't cause any harm to my water pump.

 

[JettyLife]

I knew this was the right place to come. You guys always give good explanations and easy to understand answers. Coolant is confusing and on so many forums they'll argue about color for hours without even mentioned the make-up of the actual chemicals in the stuff.

Thanks!

 

[jeff78]

Zerex Asian will be fine. I've been running Zerex Asian red in my Yamaha street bike (aluminum cooling system, as pretty much most modern bikes are these days I reckon) for the past 5 years and ~60K miles with no issues. Coolant and radiator internals looked brand new the two or three times I've had to drain the system. Red is the same as blue except for color.