Wrong coolant causes problems?

[skid2964]

A frustrated friend of mine just asked me for advice about his car... a '95 Lumina. The car is in the shop for a coolant leak near the front of the engine (bad enough that he cannot drive it). The mechanic is saying that he used the wrong anti-freeze/coolant and this caused his leak. He said he should have used "Gold Seal" coolant instead of the regular "green" stuff ... the mechanic wants $500 to fix his car. I may be wrong, but this just doesnt sound right to me. Anyone ever heard of this?

[92RedZforSale]

Yes in fact using the wrong coolant can cause problems major problems due to the mixing of different coolants and different chemical makeups in coolants $500.00 sounds outrageous for an external coolant leak. The car will need a coolant flush Id reccomend letting the mechanic do this seeing as two different coolants were mixed. But the price should be no where near $500.00 for the repair and flush look for mid 3 hundreds on the most expensive end. Take your car else where!!! Alot of mechanics dislike the Lumina therefore will bid high on jobs!!!!!!

[cadgear]

We didn't know what to put in my cutlass, so we went with what the dealer recommended (which was dex-cool). Ruined my radiator and required a major $1200 fix.

Bottom line, don't mix coolants :P