Antifreeze

[DaveK]

Hi everyone

I got my nice new Samco hoses last week and am now I'm looking at doing a flush and refill in combination with the hose install. I did a search on here for the proper antifreeze details (GM1825M ethylene glycol silicated) and headed to the local Crappy Tire. When I got there, none of the stuff they had in mentions the GM number and none seem to be 'silicated'.

Here's the rundown on what they have available.

Havoline Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant
DexCool approved
GM6277M/ASTM D4656/D5345 compliant. GM DC-001 approved.
"Free of silicate/phosphate/Nitrate & Borate"

Prestone LongLife Antifreeze/Coolant
DexCool Approved
Silicate and Phosphate free
GM6277M/ASTM compliant

Prestone LowTox Antifreeze/Coolant
Propylene Glycol based
Doesn't harm kids, puppies, insects, fluffy clouds or people's consciences - but not much info on what is actually in it.

There are a couple of other 'own-brand' cheapy ones but they seem to have the same contents as the Havoline and Prestone ones

Are any of these okay or do I need to search further?

Thanks

Dave

[Aurora40]

I would not use any of those.

The DexCool is not designed for our cars, and seems to be corrosive to them.

Low-Tox would be an ok choice, in that it shouldn't harm anything. It's a silicated coolant just like the green stuff, except with propylene glycol as the base. However, it will perform less cooling function than ethylene glycol. Maybe you'd never notice a difference, though. But if you need the factory level of cooling, you need to get some silicated ethylene glycol coolant.

I have used low-tox in daily driver cars where max cooling really wasn't a necessity. It worked just fine and is perfectly safe for the car. It just doesn't have as much cooling capability as ethylene glycol. It is much less toxic, though (though still toxic)

[BBBAD94ZR1]

dexacool [-X [-X

[DaveK]

Thanks for the info and warnings - I have found a Napa store locally and they say they have something compatible with the GM1825M standard so I'll check that out.

[jonszr1]

I use the napa brand. they have ot 2 ways 50/50 or you mix. i run 30% anti freeze 2 bottles of water wetter and distilled water.

[gbrtng]

take a look at

http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB37

for about 50 pages of opinion - and some realistic arguments too.
I've heard that Dex-Cool causes less erosion of the water pump
impeller and seal. I've been using the Havoline stuff after flushing
with "distilled" water from Wal-Mart for 10 years. No problems yet.

[jonszr1]

you have been using this in your zr1 for 10 years>?

[TommyL]

Your in Canada...Go to TSC they have the proper non DEX prestone green antifreeze in 10 liter jugs. It is still used for farm equipment. :thumbsup:

[DaveK]

Your in Canada...Go to TSC they have the proper non DEX prestone green antifreeze in 10 liter jugs. It is still used for farm equipment. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the info - I've not heard of TSC before. Just looked them up on the web and the nearest store is in North Bay which is 2 hours east of me. I'll try them if the Napa stuff isn't right.

[gbrtng]

you have been using this in your zr1 for 10 years>?

yup - I flushed the green factory fill in 1997 and filled with Havoline extended (?) life dex-cool. That's been replaced once with the same stuff. I think part
of the success is to completely purge air from the system which is a bit
time consuming for a shop to do - you need to temp cycle the system
several times to get all the air out, plus you need to have a working pressure cap to pull coolant from the fill tank when it cools off.

Glenn
91-1341

[DaveK]

The Napa store had the right stuff, so I'm all set now. Thanks to everyone. :thumbsup: