New PEAK Long-Life really just DEX-COOL?

[Chuck1986]

http://www.peakantifreeze.com/peak_longlife.html

I see this stuff is phosphate and silicate free- but isn't Dex-Cool also phosphate and silicate free? Is this stuff just Dex-Cool disguised as long-life antifreeze? Trying to decide to use this stuff or that famous Prestone long-life in the yellow jug. (FWIW car is a 2001 Mitsu Eclipse GT.)

 

[Ray H]

Yep - it's a "dexclone". (DEX-COOL(tm) and its unlicensed clones are long-life antifreeze formulations, by the way.) I'm using another dexclone in my car - blue-ish green SuperTech Extended-Life (5 yrs./150,000 miles) All Makes. It's made for WalMart by Prestone division of Honeywell. Today marks the 20th trouble-free month in service. When September 3 rolls around I'll have to decide whether to run it another year, or go ahead and change it out. At $6.88/gallon, neither decision's gonna cause me any angst.

 

[Chuck1986]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ray H:
Yep - it's a "dexclone". (DEX-COOL(tm) and its unlicensed clones are long-life antifreeze formulations, by the way.) I'm using another dexclone in my car - blue-ish green SuperTech Extended-Life (5 yrs./150,000 miles) All Makes. It's made for WalMart by Prestone division of Honeywell. Today marks the 20th trouble-free month in service. When September 3 rolls around I'll have to decide whether to run it another year, or go ahead and change it out. At $6.88/gallon, neither decision's gonna cause me any angst.

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I'd like to run this interval for 36 months- I'll only be putting about 10-15,000 miles on the car though. Also, ya think adding say, half a bottle of Zerex anti-rust treatment would help at all, seeing as how Dex-Cool is known for its lack of anti-rust additives? Can't really go wrong with it, as it costs $2 a bottle.

 

[eljefino]

I would be careful about mixing chemistries by adding that additive. Dex-cool has different anti-rust properties that might be slight one specific chemical but will make up for it with another.

Keep the air out of your system and you'll be fine.

 

[Chuck1986]

quote:

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Originally posted by eljefino:
I would be careful about mixing chemistries by adding that additive. Dex-cool has different anti-rust properties that might be slight one specific chemical but will make up for it with another.

Keep the air out of your system and you'll be fine.

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Yeah, keeping the air out of my system is a concern. How exactly does it get there and what can I do to keep it out when I flush the radiator? Also, my coolant reservoir is vented...would that mean that eventually the air bubbles would escape as the coolant circulates to the reservoir?? Not too familiar with this subject...

 

[Big Jim]

It's keeping the air away from the metals in the engine portion of the cooling system that matters. It doesn't harm anything in the resevoir, and an air head there is normal. I't allowing the coolant to get low enough to expose things in the engine for an extended time that does the damage.

 

[GT Mike]

This isn't good news to me. I thought that the Peak was a better formulation than Dex. Lots of shops around the area are running it now instead of OEM Dex-Cool because they claim it doesn't sludge up like Dex does.

Maybe I'll stick to OEM Mopar coolant from the Dodge dealer when it comes time to flush & fill my Durango. I've never heard of a Chrysler product sludging up with their version of extended life coolant. I also like the funky orange-pink color too. I'd feel funny running a coolant of a radically different color. Probably a little automotive OCD, but I know it would bother me to some extent if it didn't look like what was in there from the factory.