Post Your Latest Coolant Change.

2013 Honda Accord, 35k miles
Out with the OEM Blue
In with Valvoline Asian Blue (for Honda)

Only got about a gallon to drain out so not sure what percent I changed out... Was at the 5 year mark so I did a drain and fill.
 
2007 Cadillac CTS 3.6l
Flushed with water before starting the process of changing timing chains.

Out: Dexcool
In: Peak Long Life

I now have one coolant for both vehicles!
 
97 civic 202,xxx Kms (125k MI).

Out Toyota red
In Toyota red and DH2O.

Flushed with tap water first and changed the thermostat as well (1st time thermostat was changed).
 
Radiator drain and fill on 2013 Skoda Citigo. Tiny half-width radiator on 1-litre engine yielded around 2.5 litres of (presumably) factory fill, replaced with G13. Given that I have plenty left over, I may do it again in a couple of weeks to give things a bit of a flush and increase the concentration of new coolant in the system.
 
2011 Prius 179,916 miles

Out: Toyota Super Long Life Pink, about 57K.
In: A mix of Toyota Super Long Life Pink and GC Super Extended Life Pink (made by CCI).

About 8 quarts was installed into the Engine Loop. The coolant was replaced because the EGR cooler was removed for cleaning and the electric engine water pump was replaced.
 
2008 Chev Suburban 3/4 ton with 6.0 liter engine
Out: Dexcool
In: 2.2 gallons Dexcool.
Drained rad, filled with distilled water and ran engine with front and rear heaters on. Drained a 2nd time. Filled rad with Dexcool and distilled water and ran engine again. Drained a third time and checked concentration. Filled rad with Dexcool and distilled water to give 60% Dexcool concentration overall.

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94 Camry
2.2 4 banger
Out: water, qmi cooling system flush
In: 50/50 Starfire universal green and water, qmi cooling system conditioner
 
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Granddaughter's 2010 Camry with 188K. The unknown coolant in the car was pink. Did a single drain & refill with one gallon of Valvoline "Toyota" 50/50 coolant.
 
Did a water pump on my 2005 Ford Taurus so new coolant. Drained once. Two gallons came out meaning there was one gallon left in in the engine of my 3 gallon (12 quart system). Filled with distilled water. Ran the engine until the thermostat opened and drove for 10 min with the heat on. Let cool, drained again and repeated with two more gallons of distilled water. Drained last time and filled with 1 gallon of 100% concentrated coolant and one gallon of coolant mixed at about 60% with distilled water. If I had to do it again, I'd throw in a cup of 100% coolant with the final flush because the coolant content is so low it wants to form a bit of rust if you leave it to cool. Here is the final freezing temp and coolant type.


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1993 Toyota 4x4 4cyl

Out: Prestone long life, installed 2014
In: 8.8 quarts Zerex Asian Red 50/50
 
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1996 M35A3 Cat 3116 Turbo Diesel.

I thought my antifreeze/coolant was clean as it always appeared clear and green(think it was ethylene glycol) in the surge tank.

Off roading last week and put my A3 through some vigorous hill climbing and descending. Brought it into my shop for a chassis lube.

Checking the fluid levels I opened the surge tank cap to find a stinky black mess. I guess the rigorous driving stirred up some hidden sludge from within the cooling system as I have inspected the reservoir numerous times over the last year of ownership.

Drained the black antifreeze into 5 gallon buckets thru the petcock. Removed lower hose and began to flush into buckets for proper disposal. Removed thermostat housing and thermostat and flushed the block. Removed hose to heater core and flushed. Removed the surge tank and flushed it and noticed the small return port from the top small hose from the radiator coming into the tank was blocked. I cleared it using a small drill bit.

New thermostat and gasket(NAPA) and refilled with +/- 30 qts of Peak Fleet Charge SCA precharged antifreeze. Drove to operating temps and opened surge cap to find my new antifreeze was still a bit dirty. Decided it's time for a coolant filter. Bought NAPA #24019 filter base and #24079 coolant filter. As I began to drain the coolant to do the install I noticed the lower radiator hose was cracked but not leaking. NAPA was no help so I'm off to Philadelphia to Eastern Surplus for a new lower hose and 2 upper elbows. I drained the new but particle filled coolant into clean 5 gallon buckets and reused it after the filter was installed. My thought was to use the new,sort of dirty, $100 coolant to use as a medium to flush the system and utilize the new filter and replace coolant, again. at a later date.

Got it all together over the weekend and took a 100 mile drive today to check on the house at the shore. The new thermostat kept engine temps at 180. The coolant was clean and clear and it appears the filter is doing its' job. I'll replace and cut the filter open at 500 miles to see what it looks like.

I plumbed the filter from an available unused 1/2" port in the T-stat housing to the filter inlet. The outlet port from the filter was teed into the return line from the cab heater. If the filter were to fail or block it will not interfere with coolant flow to the engine.



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Lower hose.jpg
 
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Changed coolant in a friend's '02 Buick Lasabre. Opened the radiator and it was solid. About the consistency of river mud and reddish/brown color. After removing the radiator, thermostat, upper and lower hoses and cleaning all of them up, then came the job of flushing the engine. Used a couple of bottles of Prestone super flush and it still took several hours to get water to run out clean, but finally got there. Filled up with premixed 50/50 Napa universal coolant. The lesson here is to NEVER mix any other kind of coolant with DEXCOOL. That is what caused this mess and could have ruined this guy's engine. Mark it up to one more reason not to use the quick lube stores.
 
An 18 year old car, that by your description has been ill maintained.
Definitely the "Quick Lube Stores" fault.

Originally Posted by Big_3_Only
Changed coolant in a friend's '02 Buick Lasabre. Mark it up to one more reason not to use the quick lube stores.
 
Originally Posted by Ursatdx
An 18 year old car, that by your description has been ill maintained.
Definitely the "Quick Lube Stores" fault.

Big_3_Only said:
Changed coolant in a friend's '02 Buick Lasabre. Mark it up to one more reason not to use the quick lube stores.



I don't necessarily disagree. It was obviously ill maintained, but to be as bad as this was, matched what I had heard happens when you mix dex-cool with universal coolant. It turns into a jelly like substance.
 
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