Coolant for older Mazdas?

[Number_35]

I've been using old-style green coolant in my '97 MPV (3.0 l) and my son's '01 Protege (1.6 l).

I'm planning a coolant change for the Protege. Would there be any advantages in switching to something like Xerex Asian formula? Both owners' manuals are frustrating in that they simply specify 'ethylene glycol'.

(I'm using Mazda FL-22 in the '09 Mazda 5 as specified in the manual, but don't know whether it's backwards-compatible with older vehicles.)

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

 

[tinmanSC]

Zerex Asian Vehicle Coolant would be a great choice. 1996 was the transition year for Mazda. Cars before that would use phosphate-free HOAT (G-05), cars after that would use phosphate HOAT (Asian Vehicle Coolant). It's what I used in my 1995 and 2000 Lexus vehicles. Be sure to flush out all the green stuff. FYI, Zerex Asian is a 50/50 mix already, no water needs to be added. It does not come in concentrate.

 

[Number_35]

Thanks Tinman, this is exactly what I was looking for!

 

[Garak]

Now, I take it you know the potential pitfalls of using a 50/50 premixed product after a water flush in a Winnipeg winter. There's a reason Nissan/Infiniti dealers in Canada, for instance, offer concentrate of their long life antifreeze, which is normally only sold in premixed jugs.

 

[Lapham3]

Good point-Does this stuff do the -34 at 50-50 ratio? Then a bit less as some remaining H2O will further dulute. I'd also want it a bit better.

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Now, I take it you know the potential pitfalls of using a 50/50 premixed product after a water flush in a Winnipeg winter. There's a reason Nissan/Infiniti dealers in Canada, for instance, offer concentrate of their long life antifreeze, which is normally only sold in premixed jugs.


Indeed, adding 50/50 without getting all of the residual H2O out could leave me with a 30/70! Might have to waste some coolant re-draining to get the strength up to par. This is not the place to have a weak antifreeze concentration.

 

[Garak]

The 50/50 will probably be fine on its own, aside from a few possible weather outliers. But, you're never going to get all the water out of the engine. Stay the heck out of Canadian Tire and Walmart and find an appropriate concentrate.

Zerex has traditionally been very unhelpful to us up here. They prefer having their premix over their concentrates on our shelves. In fairness to CT, at least they're starting to scale back their push of premixes, and they were early adopters.

There are lots of guys here on BITOG, including tinmanSC, who know much more about coolant choices than I do. So, we need to find something with the chemistry he quoted, or close enough, without it being diluted. And your manual quote of ethylene glycol (as many manuals seem to list) isn't helpful, for obvious reasons.

We need someone here to let us know how close some of these Asian coolants are. How close is Nissan/Infiniti stuff to what he needs? I know he can get the green (not conventional green, proprietary green) Nissan/Infiniti concentrate in a gallon jug from his local dealer. He can also get their new blue concentrate from his dealer, but that's one liter at a time, and I'd be afraid to ask the price.

We don't get the really good Peak stuff up here; we get the dexclone, and I'm not sure any dexclones would be a suitable option. My online source shows Pentofrost A2 as the proper choice, but I'm skeptical of that, and I know that's going to be expensive.

Another alternative would be to contact your Mazda dealer and see what they'd use. Of course, they could come up with something strange or simply be confused. Their system should show an appropriate part number.

So, hopefully someone will give some ideas, knowing what we face with weather and what we face with retail availability.

 

[Greasymechtech]

I would use the Ford/Mazda VC10/FL22 in all three vehicles.

Zerex Asian premix, Peak Global, and Prestone are some options.

 

[Garak]

The premix is the real problem up here, and Peak Global doesn't exist up here. The Ford/Mazda stuff you mention would probably be the path of least resistance.

Premixed antifreeze shouldn't be sold up here for anything except top up. Anything else is a recipe for disaster.

Canadian Tire does have something they call Long Life Asian antifreeze, in a concentrate, that they claim is good for all the Japanese and Korean cars, including Mazda.

According to Canadian Tire, it is a phosphated HOAT coolant. So, it may be a suitable coolant, and it's not outrageously expensive.

 

[Garak]

Pentosin also lists their A2 concentrate for your vehicle, which is available in a concentrate from Autopartsway's Canadian site. The price is atrocious, though.