What coolant are you running?

[The Critic]

1. Year/Make/Model
2. Recommended coolant by vehicle manufacturer
3. What coolant you are currently running.
4. Any cleaning chemicals used during the installation process.

I'll go first:

1. 96 Saturn SL2
2. Ethylene Glycol, phosphate-free 50/50
3. Prestone All Makes All Models
4. Nope, and should have. I only drained the block and radiator at the time of install and refilled/idled with water once prior to refilling.

1. 92 Toyota Previa
2. Ethylene glycol 50/50
3. Prestone All Makes All Models
4. Used Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner. Seemed to do its job. Flushed with 8 gallons of water before using the cleaner, and 5+ gallons after the cleaner before draining the radiator and adding concentrate.

 

[mazduh30]

1. 94 Saturn SL1, 1.9 sohc
2. Propylene glycol (OAT) 50/50, -34c
3. Prestone Dex-cool Quick Fill 5/150
4. No.

1. 00 Mazda B3000, 3.0L
2. Prestone Ethylene Glycol (IRT), 50/50. -34c
3. Prestone
4. No

I have excess to a rad flush machine. Every 2 years I flush the Mazda. Maybe will try a HOAT G-05 type for Mazda on next flush. No problems so far(knock on wood) with the Saturn running on Dex-cool...usually flush 4 years. Usually check the Ph every 3-4 months.

 

[wavinwayne]

1. '00 VW GTI
2. VW G12 50/50
3. VW G12 50/50
4. Never

1. 97 Ford Expedition XLT 4.6L
2. Motorcraft something-or-other 50/50
3. Texaco green EG 50/50
4. Prestone Super Radiator cleaner

Note: On the Expedition, I flushed the heater core with a garden hose back in the spring of '06, because I wasn't getting good heat. A lot of rusty looking debris came out of the core. I kept flushing the core until the water ran clear. Heat was pretty good after the flush.

Then, a couple weeks later, I decided to flush the entire cooling system with Prestone Radiator cleaner. I followed the directions on the bottle. I guess there was a lot of rust in the Expy's block, because sometime between then & this Fall, the heater core became stopped up again. I thought I had a blend door problem. I took the Expy to the shop on Monday, & they flushed the core again. They told me it was NASTY. Must have been, because after they flushed it, the heater blows HOT again. Basically, I think the Prestone cleaner did such a good job of cleaning, that it broke loose a bunch of rust from the block, thus stopping up the heater core again.

My point? If you have a neglected cooling system, & you use a cooling system cleaner, & your heater stops working, plan on flushing the heater core.

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

1. 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis
2. Motorcraft (or something like that) 50/50
3. Amsoil Propylene Glycol 50/50
4. Prestone Super Radiator Flush, and I am currently running RMI-25 in my cooling system along with the Amsoil anti-freeze.

1. 2004 Nissan Sentra
2. Nissa Long Life 50/50
3. Amsoil Propylene Glycol 50/50
4. None, but plan to add RMI-25 sometime.

 

[Big Jim]

1. 98 Ford Contour 222,000 miles
2. Motorcraft (Texaco) conventional green
3. Dexcool 50/50
4. Clear water. Changed over at 1 year of age.

1. 03 Ford Escape Limited
2. Motorcraft Gold
3. Zerox G05 50/50
4. Drain and refill

Dexcool works great in the SVT so I'm nolt likely to make the change to anything else. I was an early adopter of Dexcool and it has treated me well on a variety of well cared for cars.

G05 is factory fill on the Escape and works well so again there is no reason to change.

 

[BuzzCut]

97 GMC 1500 5.7
Dex
Dex/Distilled H20
Drain block/rad then refill

 

[Mike_dup1]

2005 CTS OEM Dexcool
2004 GMC OEM Dexcool
1993 Lumina Green generic*
1992 Chevy PU Green Generic*
*shop flushed and service last, used?

 

[Ray H]

2003 Hyundai Sonata 2.7L V6 purchased 12/12/2002
"quality ethylene-glycol coolant suitable for aluminum"
WalMart 5/150 dexclone {made by Prestone} & distilled water
Distilled water flushes until effluent ran water-white clear

(Hyundai's "quality" OEM sludge went turbid by Sept 2003.
3+ years on the dexclone - NO turbidity. This is a year
longer than I've been bragging about. {OK - I'm
obviously math challenged...} Great stuff for $6.88/gal.)

 

[Chuck1986]

1. 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
2. Ethylene glycol coolant suitable for aluminum
3. Peak Long Life (5 yr/150k mile)
4. Flushed numerous times with distilled water. I added half a bottle of Zerex Super Protector to my mixture too.

Question: Does repeated flushing with distilled water remove any rust in the system? From what I've learned in college chemistry, it wouldn't do anything to remove rust.

 

[jorhyne]

1989 Volvo 240 GL
Valucraft brand coolant from Autozone.

 

[Ray H]

Quote:

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Does repeated flushing with distilled water remove any rust in the system? From what I've learned in college chemistry, it wouldn't do anything to remove rust.

---

I doubt it, too - except for the odd, free flakes of rust debris that would be subject to being carried out with the force of the draining flush water.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

2005 Hyundai Accent GT
"Use any high-quality ethylene glycol coolant."
Bought this car in Feb of this year, 12 miles on the clock. Drained the old snotty coolant at 600 miles on the odometer, flushed the system with several fill/warmup/drain cycles using distilled, and used a 70/30 ratio of Zerex G05-to-distilled water. At nearly 30,000 miles, the level is up to snuff without adding, and clear and clean in the tank and radiator. I'll use this fill with confidence for another year.

Good tip, RayH!

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Oh, btw. Used no flushes beyond distilled water. This car was new, but having been manufactured December 2004, and not purchased by me until 2-2006, it sat a lot, needless to say. The original coolant was completely glopped by silicate coming out of solution in the tank with a heavy line of silicate/minerals at the top of the coolant in the puke-tank that had to be scrubbed out with a brush to break it loose. The drain pan was cloudy-white/green with silicate.

Folks buying a new car at the end of the model year need to take a close look at the cooling system. As usual, the dealer had no problem with the way it was, the choice to re-do the coolant was my choice, they were fine with the old stuff for 60K.

 

[MNgopher]

1. 1988 Jeep Cherokee
2. Green Snot 50/50
3. Zerex G-05 50/50
4. Prestone Super Raodiator Cleaner

and

1. 1999 Ford F150
2. Motorcraft Green Snot 50/50
3. Zerex G-05 50/50
4. Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner

Use distilled water for flush and fills as well. No problems with either vehicle, though the water pump just went on the Jeep, but I feel that had more to do with age than use!

 

[Greaser]

1.1999 Jeep Cherokee
2.Mopar Green coolant
3.Motomaster Canadian tire pre-mix green
4.just drain & fill with 220,000km on the odm.

1.2001 Jeep Wrangler
2.Mopar longlife orange
3.Prestone All-Makes pre-mixed longlife
4.Just drain & filled with 155,000km on the odm.

Everything is running great!

 

[Gary Allan]

99 4.0 jeep Wrangler
02 2.5 jeep Wrangler
92 3.0 Dodge Caravan
91 3.0 Vulcan Taurus

Recommended coolant

All using LowTox PG-blend

Some Prestone cleaner/flush stuff on the shelf at AAP.

 

[wiswind]

1996/FORD/Windstar/178K miles
"Traditional" Green
Zerex G-05
Water only

 

[Pbert25]

2004 Pontiac Grand Prix
DexCool
Peak Global 50/50,ST Green Cocentrate with some Distilled Water
Prestone Super Coolent and the coolent hasn't been changed sence I got the car(used with 64,450 miles).

 

[Iain]

Quote:

---

1. Year/Make/Model
2. Recommended coolant by vehicle manufacturer
3. What coolant you are currently running.
4. Any cleaning chemicals used during the installation process.

---

1. 2001 Ford Taurus
2. Bog standard green coolant
3. Xerex G-05
4. Unknown, as it was "professionally" accomplished late spring 2006. However, cooling system was drained and flushed twice to ensure all traces of original coolant were removed.

 

[mchang204]

1. 2002 Toyota Camry
2. Toyota Red
3. Toyota Red
4. water only