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I don't expect that anyone on this forum is still running an aluminium radiator, but if you were, what kind of anti-freeze would you use?
The dealer antifreeze is a little pricy, but I have had three plastic/aluminum radiators (one Volvo, two BMWs) fail within two years of adding Prestone 5/50, so I am thinking of trying something different after I put a new radiator in wife's car today.
Failures are probably not anti-freeze related, but who knows?
Thanks!
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The best is fresh anti-freeze every two years mixed with distilled deionized water. I use regular old green Prestone. Dan
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"I use regular old green Prestone."
There is no such thing anymore. You can still buy the old style stuff under various private label brands and as Zerex Original Formula, but Prestone is out of the conventional technology coolant game.
John
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IMO, Xerex G-05 with HOAT and limited silicates offers the best solution for modern cooling systems. Green coolants are heavily laced with silicates: unless you change them every two years, they can precipitate out into deposits. G-05 has a different anti-corrosion package. See the FAQ.
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See the 700/900 FAQ under 'Select Link' button on the top right.
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I run Evans waterless coolant in everything now (after loosing a head to a stuck thermostat with regular antifreeze and spending 2grand to get the car home, www.evanscooling.com ) it's expensive to switch over, but I look at it as cheap insurance. It's already saved me one head since so it's all money in the bank.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually
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posted by
someone claiming to be tjts1
on
Sat Oct 28 08:07 CST 2006 [ RELATED]
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Any green coolant will do. All cars today use aluminum heads and aluminum radiators. Our volvos are not that special anymore. All coolants today are aliminum safe. The only variable is price. The cheaper the better. Don't forget to mix 50/50 with distilled water. Just change it out every couple of years. Don't under any circumstance use dexcool.
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" Any green coolant will do. All cars today use aluminum heads and aluminum radiators. Our volvos are not that special anymore. All coolants today are aliminum safe. The only variable is price. The cheaper the better. Don't forget to mix 50/50 with distilled water. Just change it out every couple of years. Don't under any circumstance use dexcool."
Not really. Modern Prestone all vehicle coolant is really just Dexcool in a different color. Prestone doesn't even make the traditional type anymore.
There are three different families of chemical anti-corrosion types being sold today and several variations on each. It is clearly not all the same.
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Are there any hard data that Prestone "Extended Life" is the same as their "Dex-Cool"? According to their website they are NOT the same product. They meet different standards. Of course it's *their* website, so anything goes.
I'd love to hear either way as I'm running out to get a few jugs of coolant tonight to flush the 240 and change the 740's water pump tomorrow...
Thanks,
-Ryan
--
--------------------------
Athens, Ohio
1990 245 DL 130k M47, E-codes
1991 745 GL 280k (Girlfriend-mobile)
Buckeye Volvo Club
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There is one chart showing the families of advanced coolants (note that all old style high silicate coolants are represented by the top line, not by brand):
http://www.eetcorp.com/antifreeze/Coolants_matrix.pdf
There is lots of discussion of coolants issues on the bobistheoilguy.com site under coolants. Have a look there if you want to dive into it more:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB37&page=0
It is also highly likely that the WalMart house brand universal coolant is the same as Prestone's universal coolant. If you really want to go that way you can save a few bucks.
Personally I stick with HOAT coolants for our Volvos because that is the type the factory used and is the type most often specified for European cars. Zerex G-05 for me mixed with distilled water.
John
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I'm curious about that too, as I have Prestone Extended Life (green liquid--yellow jug) in my 745 with original type aluminum/plastic radiator. I assumed this was more or less the same formula as it has been for many years.
The cooling system seems to be quite clean inside, but for some reason the thermostat outlet neck was fairly heavily corroded. I've seen this on a few other cars too. Maybe it contains zinc and is acting as a sacrificial anode.
Whatever coolant you use, ALWAYS USE DISTILLED WATER ONLY. If you have to add more than a few ounces of tap water in an emergency, flush the system as soon as possible and refill with new coolant and distilled water.
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" I'm curious about that too, as I have Prestone Extended Life (green liquid--yellow jug) in my 745 with original type aluminum/plastic radiator. I assumed this was more or less the same formula as it has been for many years."
It isn't the same at all. Most of us grew up thinking of standard Prestone as the benchmark conventional technology green coolant. Well, a few years ago Prestone stopped making the old stuff and switched to the entirely different formula one now sees as Prestone Extended Life. Personally I am convinced that this is the same as the Prestone branded Dexcool product with a different color and slightly lower price. No, I'm not going to try and convince others of this, you can check it out for yourself. I do know that you will probably never get a really straight answer one way or the other from Prestone.
John
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posted by
someone claiming to be Sumerduckman
on
Sun Nov 5 03:18 CST 2006 [ RELATED]
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Going by the info on the back of the Prestone green liquid yellow jugs, and the info on their website plus their msds sheets, then it is an OAT type coolant with some phosphate added. Dex-Cool is an OAT type that is silicate and phosphate free.
I would image that they added the phosphate to the mix to be compatable with all of the Japanese vehicles that prefer that mix. Toyota OEM pink is an OAT type with phosphate.
OEM Volvo Type C ,and Zerex G-05,are HOAT types with low silicate.
quotes below from Prestone website:
"The new Prestone® All Makes All Models Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant is a patented Organic Acid Technology formula that offers up to five years or 150,000 miles of protection when it is added to any extended life antifreeze/coolant. When added to a vehicle’s current formula, it is designed to provide the properties and change over intervals of that formula, be it one that offers 30,000-miles of protection, 100,000-miles of protection or 150,000-miles"
"Q: Does Prestone® Antifreeze/Coolant contain phosphates?
A: Some European automobile manufacturers request that a phosphate-free antifreeze be used in their vehicles. This issue is related to the extremely high mineral content of the water in Europe. If you were to mix an antifreeze that contained phosphates with the type of water they have in Europe, it may produce deposits that can settle in the cooling system and promote corrosion. However, in North America we do not have this type of water problem. Typical North American coolants have contained phosphates (which is part of the corrosion inhibitor package) for many years. Therefore, the question of phosphates is a non-issue here in North America. Prestone® Antifreeze/Coolant is completely safe for use in both foreign and domestic vehicles. For those consumers who would feel more comfortable using a phosphate-free antifreeze, our Prestone® Extended Life 5/150 Antifreeze/Coolant is phosphate, silicate, and borate free. This coolant uses a special chemistry and technology that extends the life of the corrosion inhibitor package so that it lasts for five years or 150,000 miles (whichever comes first), and is safe for all cars and light trucks (old or new). Prestone® Extended Life 5/150 Antifreeze/Coolant has been approved by General Motors under their DEX-COOL® specifications "
The 5/150 stuff they refer to is in the silver jug, Dex-Cool orange coolant.
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I like the aluminum radiators better than brass/copper/solder jobs myself.
I use the Zerex G-05 formula in our Volvos. It is a european style formulation HOAT and is approved by Mercedes. I believe it's formulation is very similar to the Volvo factory stuff.
The Prestone all-cars 5/50 stuff seems to be a clone of Dexcool without the red dye and is an OAT only type. Even in GM cars there is considerable controversy about the use of the Dexcool type chemistry.
John
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I have two cars with aluminum radiators, a 940 and an MBZ. I use the Xerex GL05 antifreeze. This is the same as the MBZ antifreeze. It has a different additive package than in the Prestone. GL05 is a bit hard to find so I just grab it whenever I see it. I have read that this antifreeze is kinder to the plastic parts of the radiator as well. One of the most important functions of the antifreeze is to chemically put a protective layer on the surface of the aluminum which would otherwise corrode quickly. In older antifreezes silicon did this job but silicate deposits were a problem hence the two year life cycle of these antifreezes. The 5-yrar antifreezes use a non- or low-silicon formula.
Another problem you might have is electrolytic corrosion. This can ruin a radiator pretty quickly. It is caused by different metals connected by an electrolyte (the antifreeze mixture). If the water used in your antifreeze has dissolved minerals, it could be the problem. You may use distilled water to avoid this. I live in a very soft water area so this isn't a big problem here.
Another possibility is electrolytic corrosion due to poor grounds in your car's electrical system. If you take a digital voltmeter and connect one probe to the engine block and then dip the other into the antifreeze in your overflow tank, you should read only a few millivolts. As I recall less than 3 mv. Do this several times with different accessories turned on: ignition, heater, lights, radio. If anytime the reading jumps up, trace out the grounds for that accessory and clean/retighten that ground.
If you want to get lots of information on all this, just Google 'radiator corrosion', 'antifreeze', GL05, Xerex, etc. and you can read for hours.
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Maybe I am missing something here but why would no one be running a stock plastic aluminum radiator on this forum? Have you tried to buy something other that aluminum lately, like copper? Anyhow, just run the factory stuff, sure it is a little pricey but how much money have you saved so far by running prestone? Buy an off brand and save maybe $10.00-$15.00 on coolant and change out your radiators every other year. Seems kind of foolish.
Mark
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When my original aluminum/plastic radiator failed spectacularly without warning on my way to the airport one day, I checked with the forum and was advised to replace it with a traditional radiator. Probably weighs a little more, but lasts longer and failure starts with a slow drip on your garage floor, rather than a sudden blast of water and steam when the top nipple blows off. The Volvo red engine cooling system does not seem to care what kind of radiator you put on it. Both my bricks have metal radiators.
I am sticking with aluminum/plastic radiators in my BMWs, however, because I have not heard that they will tolerate other metals in their cooling systems, and aluminum/plastic or pure aluminum are the only radiators available for those cars.
Not gonna buy any more Nissan radiators, though. I had to drill holes for my transmission cooler because they assembled it incorrectly, and it failed after two years. It has a slow seep between the core and end-cap that drips about a tablespoonfull of water each day.
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Too bad about your trouble with the Nissens radiator. I put a Nissens in my 940 and it was a perfect fit. Much better than the previous all-metal one which fit poorly and had weak soldered seams which sprang leaks twice before I dumped it.
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There is a LOT of contradictory information on the web regarding antifreeze, but it seems that the Prestone 5/50 in the silver bottle (aka DexCool) is not as universally safe for cooling systems as was thought when it first came out. In fact, some say that it is quite destructive to some gasket materials.
Although Nissens did assemble the bottom rail on my radiator backwards, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was the Prestone 5/50 antifreeze that killed the 2-yr-old seals between the aluminum and the plastic. Both sides were dripping by the time I got a new radiator and pulled the Nissens.
I put in a Behr radiator (which fit perfectly), flushed with distilled water, and used Dealer coolant ($$!) and distilled water at 50/50 mix. No problems so far.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Farm Boy (Manolo)
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Agreed. this is one that doesn't cost that much more and is well worth it in the end.
--
Simon 1980 240 320k 19 years. 'White Lightning' 1986 240 (recently adopted)
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