Antifreeze preferences

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Ok, after reading Car and Driver about Dex-Cool and Zerex Extended Life antifreezes, I am thinking about moving over to one of them. Flushing the system out is key I know.

Question is what do you guys use? Dex Cool needs dilution. Zerex I read can go straight. Thoughts?

BTW: I think it is hilarious that you can buy stuff prediluted. Peak antifreeze straight was 5.26....prediluted was 4.50. What a rip.

 

[LaTechSHO]

just make sure you get ALL of the green stuff out of there......

i'd change over myself...but i'm uneasy about getting it all out...... everytime i've been involved in taking down a motor...there is always coolant hiding somewhere in the block... makes me nervous... and i've seen the gunk that happens when it mixes....

is the zerex extended life not the same thing as dex-cool?..... i wasn't aware there was a difference

Louis

 

[Tommy's SHO]

I have Toyota's "Red" antifreeze in my SHO. Why, because it was FREE! (use to work for toyota parts dept.) Anyway, I have had it in there for the past 40K miles and it has been great. Toyota has been using the red antifreeze since the mid '80's so they must know what there doing.
Dex-cool and zerex is good antifreeze too, but whichever one you choose make sure you drain the old green antifreeze out completely.

P/N: 00272-1LLAC Price $16.49/gal.

 

[LaTechSHO]

yeah..my mom used to drive an 87 saab 9000 ... it had the red stuff in it too..... its been overseas for a while...and actually... ford has used it in europe for a while...... almost 10 years i believe...someone correct me

Louis

 

[projectSHO89]

BTW: I think it is hilarious that you can buy stuff prediluted. Peak antifreeze straight was 5.26....prediluted was 4.50. What a rip.

About a dumb as buying bottled water when the stuff from the faucet costs so little.

I can only hope that they used distilled water in that 50/50 mix, not straight from the tap ot the well.

Steve
89

 

[SHOZ123]

i use the Dexcool but as soon as it's all used up I will go back to green. Too many potential problems with the Extended life stuff.

Use distilled water to cut the straight green stuff and change it every two years.

 

[sdpatt]

As stated before, the key to switching to the Dex-Cool formula is the removal of the old ethylene glycol (green) antifreeze. There is no straightforward way to simply drain the entire cooling system volume, so the answer involves multiple fills and drains to effectively purge the old inventory.

You can only remove about half of the cooling system volume through the radiator petcock on a single drain. In the nuclear power business, we considered 8 half lifes a long enough period of time to allow all of a radioactive isotope to effectively decay. That is (1/2)**8 or 1/256 of the original quantity. Eight fills and drains should be sufficient to effectively remove all of the old ccolant. You will find that there is very little color to the water after about 5 drains.

Just remember that the final drain still leaves about half of the system's volume of straight water. The last couple of fills should be done with distilled or filtered water with the last fill at least a gallon of antifreeze or the proper quantity to get the desired mix.

I have had good service from the Dex-Cool for the last 100,000 miles. The water pumps last longer (knock on wood) and the requirement to change the coolant every 30,000 miles is no longer. Once you have the system filled with the orange coolant, Why would you want to go back to the green stuff? You water pump seals will wonder why too.

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Radioactive isotopes eh? Sounds like your car has one of those engines from the old urban legends we hear about where a nuclear prototype motor was accidentally put into a consumer vehicle. No wonder you have so many miles......probably get 120 mpg too!

Just thought there was something else available that was referred to in Beddard's column in C&D. Something added at 100% to your radiator. Since the PATT-Man uses Dex cool, I will opt for it too. Its available at the local Meijer's for 5.20 a gallon. For those non Michigander's, Meijer's = buy your Milk, Antifreeze, ammo, a fish, and a shirt....all in one stop and you can get pictures developed in 1 hour.

Michael

 

[shojuan]

The other extended life stuff you're referring too is a red juice that's used full strength (it's already a 50/50 ethylene glycol/water concentration). It's good for 300,000 miles and then you add a special SCA kicker and then go another 300,000 miles. You can get it at walmart for about $7.83 a gallon (Shell Rotella extended life). This stuff is used in big rigs to cut down on cooling system maintenance. Fill and forget. I was very interested in running this stuff but I don't want to run 50% ethylene glycol and if you don't run it full strength or if you mix it with another type of coolant, the corrosion inhibitors won't last 300,000 miles anyways (I think they recommend standard change intervals if you mix it).

If you want to give it a try, you'll want to flush your system out good and then get as much water out of your system as possible. Removing a heater hose, the water pump, and the two drain plugs lets you get quite a bit out. Then you could do progressive dilutions (expensive) or find the SCA adjuster to get the corrosion inhibitors up to the proper balance if you're not starting out with 100% red juice. Yes, I know I could have just bought some of the SCA adjuster so I could run 35% red juice. At that point I just caved in to laziness and went with Havoline Dexcool at 30% and a bottle of water wetter for additional SCAs and better heat transfer / reduced cavitation. I don't need freeze protection below 0F (or below 15F for that matter).

Rick

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Hey I knew somebody would know what that stuff is. I agree, you need to get the old stuff out, which is what I am doing, but I dont think I'm gonna take off my water pump to squeak out any remaining 8 x diluted wated out of the system....for those of you who have replaced an SHO water pump, you know what I mean. BPITA

Im gonna go with DexCool and pick it up along with some Dist H20 tonight.

 

[ThrillSHO]

If you were reading the same C&D article I was, it went on to say ... "If it came with green, leave it green. The benefits don't outweigh the risks."

I switched a car from green to red two years ago using the multiple drain method ... 2 weeks ago I put a new radiator in it after a flow test showed the lower half was plugged.

If you simply must switch, get a prestone flush kit ... the kind that you cut into the heater hose. Drain the green, fill with water, hook up the hose, start the car, set the heater to max and let is run with the hose connected for at least 10 minutes. IMHO, this is the only way short of disassembly to get it all out.

 

[shojuan]

Heh, I just mentioned it because when I did my water pump a couple quarts came out. Made me think that during a water pump change would be a good time to do a coolant change . Another option would be to remove the thermostat or a heater or bypass hose and crank the engine for 15-20 seconds (either start her up or disconnect DIS and disable fuel pump and just use the starter) and let the water pump replace some coolant with air. A few moments running without coolant shouldn't hurt a cold engine.

Rick

 

[SHOZ123]

sdpatt:
Why would you want to go back to the green stuff? You water pump seals will wonder why too.

Because I've used green stuff for 30 years with no problem.

 

[sdpatt]

SHOZ123:

sdpatt:
Why would you want to go back to the green stuff? You water pump seals will wonder why too.

Because I've used green stuff for 30 years with no problem.

That statement was regarding switching back to the green coolant after flushing and filling with the orange. You have done all of the hard work to get to orange in there, now you have to undo it with the same effort. I didn't see the point. My "orange" system has had no radiator plugging tendencies and is allowing things to work very well (again, knocking on wood).

 

[SHOZ123]

I think the major problem with DexCool is not so much the mixing of the two types as it is running the system low and allowing oxygen to come in contact with the DexCool. True, mixing the two types will reduce the protection packages of each type of coolant as they use completely different corrosion inhibitors. But if the system is to get low and air enters, look out for the rusty sludge problem.

I don't have any problem with getting all the old stuff out. I know how to thoughly flush the system. On my '97 it isn't such an issue as it does not loose coolant. My '93 on the other hand will continually leak small amounts and slowly the coolant level drops (new POS Modine radiator). I don't want to risk the sludging up due to a reduction chemical reaction.

So instead of using two different types I will go back to the green which is much cheaper, universaly availiable, and I don't have to worry about some nitwit adding the wrong type of coolant to my car.