Green Coolant vs Green Coolant

rslifkin wrote: And of course, make sure that any coolant you put in isn't incompatible with any metals, seals or gaskets in the system.

This is my primary concern, and saving 10-20 bucks or the 70-ish mile round trip to the dealer (because I'm not really "local" to anything) isn't worth the time it would take me to do the research to find out what I could "make work" assuming that information is is even available. (Which, the FSM isn't any help as it only specifies a part number.)

The only way I know they take a nonsilicated ethylene glycol is because it says so on the bottle.

Water actually cools better than anti freeze. Just add water pump lube, it has anti rust stuff in it. Did that with my Zetec for 10years. When it got below freezing I filled with 50/50 mixture of anti freeze.

I REALLY don't want to flush the system right now. (It's one of the few things I'd rather pay someone else to do and would prefer wasting fluid topping it off now than having to pull the block drains myself.)

I just did a chain driven water pump on an Xterra and i had to drain the block because the pump was below the lower rad hose and it would have dumped coolant into the timing case. I pulled the block drain directly below the water pump and found it totally painless. It's a small NPT plug (which are pretty stupidproof to seal up as long as you know when to stop tightening) not a giant pita hex plug like the ones on the sides (iirc?), so it's easy to get out. You can't see it without a mirror but theres an empty hole all the way through the timing cover to it, right below the water pump.

All I know it, the new antifreeze doesn't have that tasty sugary-goodness that the old stuff had.

The new stuff has some sort of bittering agent in it - nasty!

SkinnyG wrote: All I know it, the new antifreeze doesn't have that tasty sugary-goodness that the old stuff had. The new stuff has some sort of bittering agent in it - nasty!

And you know this how?

dean1484 wrote:

SkinnyG wrote: All I know it, the new antifreeze doesn't have that tasty sugary-goodness that the old stuff had. The new stuff has some sort of bittering agent in it - nasty!

And you know this how?

Oh the joys of draining a cooling system when the radiator doesn't have a drain cock. If you've managed to pull off the lower hose without some coolant slashing on you, you are more talented than I.

Vigo wrote:

I REALLY don't want to flush the system right now. (It's one of the few things I'd rather pay someone else to do and would prefer wasting fluid topping it off now than having to pull the block drains myself.)

I just did a chain driven water pump on an Xterra and i had to drain the block because the pump was below the lower rad hose and it would have dumped coolant into the timing case. I pulled the block drain directly below the water pump and found it totally painless. It's a small NPT plug (which are pretty stupidproof to seal up as long as you know when to stop tightening) not a giant pita hex plug like the ones on the sides (iirc?), so it's easy to get out. You can't see it without a mirror but theres an empty hole all the way through the timing cover to it, right below the water pump.

According to the FSM, to properly flush the system the plugs on the sides have to come out. But that's not the issue.

The thing is, I HATE COOLANT! I hate the smell, I hate the taste, and I hate the feel of the stuff on my skin, I hate how hard it is to clean up and I hate how it makes my skin feel after I get it off me.

I just can't stand the stuff. I'd literally prefer being covered in dog E36 M3.

Pulling block drains is ALWAYS messy, and I'd prefer not to deal with it. So while I'm more than capable of doing it, I'd much rather pay someone else to avoid doing it myself.

Of course it would be a very different story if I had a lift and the appropriate complimentary equipment, or was being well compensated. But on my back in my driveway just ain't happening if I have pretty much any other options.

BrokenYugo wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: The whole antifreeze situation now is all berkeleyed up. Every car I own is pre-1993, so I just want basic, no bull-E36 M3 green antifreeze. But all that can be found in the stores, seemingly, is "100,000 mile" stuff that's either green or yellow, depending on the brand. Is that stuff compatible with the old stuff- which is never 100% flushed out of a system, no matter how hard one tries?

As I understand it, yes, it just won't be happy mingling in there for 100k/10 years (I.E. service it as you normally would). The "universal" light green/yellow stuff is related to DexCool but the chemistry is tweaked to prevent the whole death cool thing from happening.

Thanks. That has been the assumption I've been working under, but the different colors throw me off. Is the yellow "generic long life" antifreeze compatible with the green "generic long life antifreeze?

And I still have Dexcool nightmares, so anything labeled "OAT" gives me the heebie jeebies.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

Color doesn't inherently mean much. To know what is / isn't compatible, you've gotta do some research on what the stuff actually is. The majority of cheap "universal" antifreeze is pretty similar though.

Relevant question: I need to fill the cooling system in the LS swapped RX7 this weekend. The engine was previously filled with Deathcool and I am NOT putting that E36 M3 back in. I am also less than certain that there isn't at least a little bit of it hiding somewhere in the block.

Is there anything I can fill it with that would be safe with the little bit of Dexcool that may be hiding somewhere in there? Should I run straight water for a couple months to flush/dilute any remaining Dexcool, then switch it over before the cold months? Am I just being paranoid?

In reply to Furious_E:

I'd fill with water, run for a bit, drain. Repeat a few times until you seem to be getting just water out. Then pick what coolant you want to use and fill with that. Keep in mind, you'll still have some water hiding in there after the last drain, so a good way to fill is to add 1/2 the total system capacity of straight coolant and then add water until full and let it mix in the system.

rslifkin wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: Color doesn't inherently mean much. To know what is / isn't compatible, you've gotta do some research on what the stuff actually is. The majority of cheap "universal" antifreeze is pretty similar though.

This. I can tell you that color means nothing other than color. There was a push in the industry back in the mid-2000's to standardize color to specific products. The product manufacturers pushed back because they couldn't change the color, claim it was a new product and sell it as an "Extended Life Coolant" when it really was nothing more than a color change.

I hate coolants. I hate them so much. So much disinformation, ignorance and intentional shadyness on the parts of the manufacturers it makes me boil with rage. Then trying to explain to the customer that they were tricked with a marketing pitch and their "new" product is just like the "old product" and adding the letters "ELC" don't make it different.

Bobzilla wrote:

rslifkin wrote:

So much disinformation, ignorance and intentional shadyness on the parts of the manufacturers it makes me boil with rage.

Pun intended?

In reply to Furious_E:

I've heard recommendations of adding some Purple Power or similar to a batch of straight water, running it up to operating temp, and then flushing out with pure water before doing the 50/50 coolant fill.

Not sure if Purple Power would cause any harm to any rubber bits, at least for the hour or so it will be running around inside the engine.

dean1484 wrote:

SkinnyG wrote: All I know it, the new antifreeze doesn't have that tasty sugary-goodness that the old stuff had. The new stuff has some sort of bittering agent in it - nasty!

And you know this how?

One quick and easy way of telling what a leaking fluid is, is by taste. All the fluids in the car have a unique taste. I've been doing this for years. I hardly twitch at all.

Not sure if Purple Power would cause any harm to any rubber bits, at least for the hour or so it will be running around inside the engine.

I'm not sure at what point Purple Power reduced with water stops doing ANY damage to aluminum, but given that it etches the crap out of it in undiluted form, I wouldn't be willing to let it contact my aluminum radiator tubes for too long without getting nervous. Maybe it becomes totally safe at some level of dilution.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse: IAT...HOAT...OAT... WTF???

Tell me about it. Those poor early 911s used something called AIR!??

rustybugkiller wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: IAT...HOAT...OAT... WTF??? Tell me about it. Those poor early 911s used something called AIR!??

Hey, I got a car that uses that stuff, too!