I am planning to change the coolant in my 2007 V70 2.5T. The current coolant is yellow with slight brown tint. I have owned the car since 2013 (48K - 80K miles), and have not changed coolant myself. Not sure why it doesn't look like blue Volvo coolant. Did Volvo always use the blue coolant?

What is the procedure? Is drain and refill okay, or is a "flush" better. This is curbside maintenance or perhaps in my sister's driveway, so less mess and fuss is better. 80K miles on car. I was not planning on changing the thermostat - let me know if you think that would be good at this point. Thank you
Steve

Distilled water has a neutral PH and no minerals - besides, almost all drugstores and supermarkets carry it, and it is cheap.

Considering what you pay for antifreeze (you should use Volvo's) distilled water is worth the trouble.

About 15 years ago I lost a dozen tropical fish, including an angel fish that was about 7 inches tall.

I had always aged and tested my water used for changes, but I got lazy after about 10 years of care.
I tested the ph of my tap water and it measured about 9!

I called the water department and they told me that their injection equipment had a failure - later when I asked around, some other fish owners had losses as well.

Minerals in the water weaken the solution's effectiveness. They cloud up.

A '05 Saab Dex-Cool job and my '02 V70 Volvo's G-05 are clear to this day because I use distilled.
A friend's '02 Saab Dex-Cool job and a '97 F-150 Ford truck's "old green" flush out looked cloudy within weeks due to very heavy ground well water.

There should never be any 'brown' fluid.

If you drain the radiator and the block (I pull off the bottom hose, to get it all), you will still have a pint from the heater core. You can ignore that if you want.

Use only distilled water to mix with antifreeze. Add the gallon of antifreeze first, then follow with water. Don't forget to 'burp' the top hose after the thermostat opens, it will have air in it. Top off the overflow bottle with the distilled water after everything cools off.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Klaus
Why distilled water?

Distilled water has NO impurities, unlike tap or filtered water that contain calcium, sodium, chlorine, and a bunch more.

If you get it in gallon jugs at a supermarket, less than a buck or so, they also let you have the plastic jug that you can use to recycle the old antifreeze.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new