Peak Lifetime Antifreeze

[Bill D]

You may have seen this on TV. Suppose to be for use on any vehicle, just flush and refill with this stuff and forget about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of us are highly skeptical of a coolant's ability to be compatible with any cooling system and,particularly, last indefinitely. For instance, what effect would this stuff have on the water pump?

What do you think? Revolutionary product or snake oil to stay away from?

 

[larrymoencurly]

If you've been using regular green antifreeze in your car for years and you switch to this new Prestone universal coolant, will you end up with a radiator full of sludge after a few months? That happened with me when I switched my Ford to Dex-cool the first time, even though I had the strong version of Prestone liquid radiator flush beforehand, and the ads for this new Prestone coolant say it uses "organic acid technology", just as Dex-cool does.

[ November 11, 2004, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: larrymoencurly ]

 

[Ray H]

That Peak Global Lifetime Antifreeze/Coolant isn't snake oil, but I'd go cautious believing that "lifetime" claim, too. In some ways it's similar to G-05. Like G-05, it uses sodium benzoate* as its organic acid corrosion inhibitor, and has NO phosphate content. Unlike G-05, though, Peak "Lifetime" has NO silicate content. Peak "Lifetime" is a competitive product, but it's not magic. G-05 makes no "lifetime" claims, so if you throttle back and treat Peak "Lifetime" as an extended life product, it'll probably treat you well in return.

*Contrary to what Peak implies, sodium benzoate, a carboxylate, is just as much a reagent to synthesize plasticizers as 2-EHA (sodium 2-ethyl hexanoate) is. Both can be used in synthesizing pharmaceuticals, too. The point is that neither product -is- the dreaded or divine end products they can be used to produce anymore than steel is "evil" just because a weapon can be fabricated from that metal.

 

[brad_d]

My opinion is that "lifetime" with respect to a cooling system really means "until a hose fails."

If PEAK is confident that their coolant will outlast the hoses, they can boldly claim that it's a lifetime fluid and probably get away with it.

Whenever hoses fail, or are replaced as routine maintenance, most of the coolant gets replaced at the same time. If somebody tries to go 10 years on the same hoses, odds are good that one of 'em will fail in that time - and that wouldn't be PEAK's fault.

Kinda convenient for PEAK, I'd say.

 

[tblazed]

Saw the ad on TV for that myself, thinking what different if anything to replace the factory Dexcool in my 3 year old Trailblazer. "Lifetime"? There must be a catch and there is. Reading the details of the warranty - "4. Follow all scheduled engine maintenance recommendations by the vehicle manufacturer, including specified coolant maintenance after initial flush and fill with PEAK Global LifeTime is performed."

You have to follow the recommended maintenance. Flush and fill every 5 years as per GM. The Peak Lifetime guarantee applies to parts damaged or fail if you follow the maintenance schedule and save all the receipts.

 

[Ray H]

And, even at that, I'd be skeptical that Peak would pop for repairs without a fight. I suspect they'd do everything they could to wiggle out of paying with excuses about "pre-existing conditions", "normal wear and tear", etc. A "pie-crust promise" - easily made, easily broken.

 

[oilcan]

I went into my local Wal-mart yesterday to see if I could spot any old school anti-freeze. Well, a guy came up asked if he could help me and I explained what I was looking for, well behind him was standing a manager and he stepped in a said he thought he had some in back the old Super Tech and he went and got it for me. The price had come down to $6.94 per gal, when we got to the register it rang up $7.54 I said something to the lady she called back and I was right, then what she said about blew me over. she told me since I caught it at the check stand I would be given a $3.00 refund. Wal-Mart does put the customer first.
Any way the reason I bring this up is exactly what this board is about, I'm not willing to put in extended life anti-freeze until there is no other chose, but will it be like R-12 it went out now it is back? So if you feel as I do ask in Wal-Mart there maybe good old green still in their stockrooms.