Anti-Freeze..... tell me what you know...

[Junkman]

Since anti-freeze lubricates the water pump, this is the right forum for this question. Seems that we have beat the Synthetic vs. Dino oil question to death, so here is another topic to drive to 35+ pages... What is the difference between the various types of anti-freeze? Are they all about the same or is one better than another? Can I purchase the best anti-freeze locally, or does it have to be mail ordered. This is what I have found about Rotella (a familiar name around here) Anti-Freeze. Is there such a thing as "fill for life" anti-freeze? Do you really need to use deionized water? Wouldn't tap water be OK? The only thing that I know about anti-freeze is that if you take her flannel pajama's away, she will freeze.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Shell ROTELLA® ELC Extended Life Coolant/Anti-Freeze
ROTELLA® ELC Extended Life Coolant/Anti-Freeze is a "fill for life" ethylene glycol based coolant for heavy-duty diesel, gasoline and natural gas powered engines. Rotella ELC contains a unique extended life carboxylate inhibitor system and nitrite / molybdate as secondary inhibitors. This product contains no silicate, borate, nitrate or phosphate and requires no traditional SCA additions. Rotella ELC Extended Life Coolants meets all the requirements of CAT EC-1, TMC RP 329 and TMC RP 338. Rotella ELC is available as a concentrate and as 50/50 and 60/40 volume mixtures of Rotella ELC with deionized water. )</font>

 

[gsxr1100]

Well I will bite!

All I know that Prestone (yellow kind) is well, poor. It is high in Silicates big time and does not conform to the GM spec, 6038M or 1899, ASTM D-4985 & ASTM D-6210. Bing high in silicates will be abrasive to the water pump seal and borates can pit aluminum. Also having these items in the coolant, your coolant might get some dropout and then get the wonderful sludge in the rad or fins.

I use Fleetrite antifreeze with RO/Di water. There are other antifreezes that are also just has good. John Deere is one, Prestone Heavy Duty (black bottle), and some others. Also they should be EG coolant. I would not use PG since the cooling ability is not up to snuff with EG yet.

DI water good since it has zero TDS (salts, minerals, metals) in it and will have no phosphate (PO4-P) , silicate (si) chlorine, pesticides, fluorides, etc. If you use tap water the coolant properties might act a little weird since there are materials in the alter that effect things. Look at this.
chart.

I would not use tap water since have distilled water for like $0.50 at your favortite shop, walmart. But this is just one level up from tap since you do not know how they distilled it. So DI water is about the best you will get unless you Ro/DI the water.

There really is no one best antifreeze since there is like a dozen nice diesel coolant out there. I also do not need SCA in my Bx since it does not have the wet sleeves.

It would be nice to know these properites in coolants:

% Ethylene Glycol
% Diethylene Glycol
any hydrated inorganic acids and organic acid salts
% water

To close, you can not mix regular coolant (EG) and ELC (aka dex-cool) either. The two are differant too and will caue problems if you do. Also there are many colors of coolants so the color means zero. My lexus has normal EG coolant but Lexus puts a red dye in the coolant. Nice ha. And no there is not fill of life antifreeze.

 

[milkman]

I know a guy that likes the Evans, and uses it in a P/S, do you know anything about this?

 

[gsxr1100]

I do not know much about it but I was looking at it for my motorcycle a few months ago.

It is a PG coolant (with special additives) which I feel does not cool as good as EG; but, that is me. I also read it is a little thicker then the normal coolant viscosity. Price is about $20+ per gallon when I get Fleetrite for about $6.The viscosity concerned me for my bike since the thicker fluid would put more stress on my little water pump.

The good part is that it has a zero, none psi on the cap and a very high boiling point of like 360 compared to the normal 265 F. It should be fine in a powerstroke or Cummins provided the Ford adds his SCA.

 

[Zork]

Some of the antifreeze is rated for 100k miles (I think red type) and green about 30K miles. Color doesnt mean much if youve reclaimed and filtered it, the color gets filtered too. Most of the antifreezes ph changes over time and become acidic and will start to pit metal and eat gaskets over time (head gaskets too) I would agree with the distilled water since it will swing either way and not add any impurities in your system. Same with a battery, wont contaminate your plates. Just a side note guys, change your brake fliud in the vehicles every 60k. Since break fluid is (hygro (I think?) scopic) it will ABSORB moisture and eventually cause rusting of brake lines. Usually, the brake fluid is bad when it gets dark. Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RalphVa]

I siphon out (e.g. suck out with a vacuum pump) the brake fluid from master cylinders about every 6 months and replace with new. If I find any one brake pad wearing more than others, I do a flush of the brake lines (e.g. bleed old fluid at the wheels). Mercedes used to recommend flushing the brake lines once/year. Used to do this but now do what I just described.

You can actually get vapor lock in your brake lines due to moisture accumulation, because the water will lower the boiling point of the fluid. It'll actually start to boil. Long before this, you may experience some corrosion and sticking of the wheel cylinders, causing them not to retract and causing extra pad wear.

Brake fluid is more or less a higher boiling version of anti freeze.

Ralph

 

[Zork]

Well said Ralph, I'll do my whole system at about 40k. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif