Stick with Asian pHOAT or go with Prestone?

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I'm going to show a friend how to change oil on her 09 CR-V along side doing a "major" service(more or less a wallet flush at the dealer) - fresh fluids, new plugs/filters, valve adjustment and a visual inspection of the chassis/axles/brakes.

The car has seen serviced at a Honda dealer in Wisconsin before it made its way to California. A local neighborhood mechanic has serviced the car. The car was topped off with Dex-Clone. I'm debating doing a spill and fill with OEM Honda or Zerex Asian Blue/GC Blue premix or considering the fact there is some 2-EHA and sodium neodecanoate in the system, going with Prestone Cor-Guard which is like Japanese pHOAT but with 2-EHA and decanoate instead of benzoate or sebacate like Zerex or the factory fill.

In either case, I think both choices are valid but has anyone seen gasket or heat exchanger failure in Japanese cars using "universal" coolants? I know PGL was the favorite here due to a non 2-EHA formula and I've used that in an old Nissan Frontier.
 
I have a 2012 HYundai Santa Fe that got O'Reilly UNiversal (before I knew any better.) Put about 75K on the stuff. Changed it out again with the same stuff after I had a starter fail and had to remove coolant lines to get it out. Seems okay. An 09 Honda though? HOnestly, I don't know. I have not heard of any cars having issues lately though, so I assume it's not a big problem anymore or they would be liable if damaged was caused. That being said, getting the right stuff for your car isn't hard or expensive, so go with what is recommended by OEM.
 
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Originally Posted by Urshurak776
have not heard of any cars having issues lately though, so I assume it's not a big problem anymore or they would be liable if damaged was caused. That being said, getting the right stuff for your car isn't hard or expensive, so go with what is recommended by OEM.

My usual inclination is OEM but the car in question is owned by a pretty busy person so I dunno who will do the next oil change. From reading here, there are many here who aren't using OEM spec coolants with success here. Peak Global being the prime example.

The new Cor-Guard formulation of Prestone does meet Japanese coolant specs(phosphated, no silicates/amines/borates) but with a different organic acid. I would imagine by now(around 2000-2005 when the Japanese switched over to pHOAT like Honda Type II and Toyota SLLC pink), cars would be using more robust elastomers and plastics in the cooling system to handle organic acid inhibitors.
 
Originally Posted by Urshurak776
I have a 2012 HYundai Santa Fe that got O'Reilly UNiversal (before I knew any better.) Put about 75K on the stuff. Changed it out again with the same stuff after I had a starter fail and had to remove coolant lines to get it out. Seems okay. An 09 Honda though? HOnestly, I don't know. I have not heard of any cars having issues lately though, so I assume it's not a big problem anymore or they would be liable if damaged was caused. That being said, getting the right stuff for your car isn't hard or expensive, so go with what is recommended by OEM.


Put 300k miles on the old Rav4 with universal coolant.

For a friend's car, I'd have them take it to a shop. I don't want to be blamed should anything go wrong.
 
It's your choice but I would have no qualms about doing a drain and fill with Prestone Cor-guard. It's a P-OAT just like the original Honda type 2 (aka Honda blue), and given that sebacate and 2-Es HA are both known plasticizers which means if you believe the old 2-EHA eats gaskets myth then the sebecate in the factory coolant is doing the same. Also the universal type coolants are dyed very neutral colors to not change the original color of the factory coolant. I once serviced a Grand Cherokee where I drained the original redish Chrysler HOAT and refilled with Zerex G05 which has a more golden color and after the coolant had mixed it was back to the Chrysler HOAT color.
 
Originally Posted by Jake_J
given that sebacate and 2-Es HA are both known plasticizers which means if you believe the old 2-EHA eats gaskets myth then the sebecate in the factory coolant is doing the same.

That's my thought - OATs by their nature are plasticizers. Mercedes was once on the anti-2EHA bandwagon recently backspeced all their G-05 cars to use G-48, which has 2-EHA, BMW has used it for decades too. The Germans were the first to use plastics extensively in their cooling systems, starting with plastic tank radiators.

The GM issues were "open" cooling systems with wet intake manifolds and gaskets that couldn't handle the more aggressive OAT coolants - there's documentation about the PA66/GF33 and silicone IMGs used on the 1990s era Vortec engines, and I personally done a IMG job on one.

I'm thinking this car is going to be my guinea pig with the Cor-Guard. I don't think Honda uses silicone to seal up the coolant path.
 
Originally Posted by Jake_J
It's a P-OAT just like the original Honda type 2 (aka Honda blue), and given that sebacate and 2-Es HA are both known plasticizers which means if you believe the old 2-EHA eats gaskets myth then the sebecate in the factory coolant is doing the same.


Was not a myth. Bill from Mahle explains the real story about Dexcool.
 
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I decided to make the right choice. No Prestone, for fear of softened elastomers or blown head gaskets.
 
Was not a myth. Bill from Mahle explains the real story about Dexcool.

Well if Bill from Mahle and the younger lady where not clearly reading from a teleprompter then I might be inclined to believe them. Bill from Mahle is Bill McKnight who's an Clevite (the bearing company that Mahle now owns) lifer who has a teaching background. So when he talks about developing gasket's he's not talking about his own experience, he's reading the script prepared for the video. I especially enjoyed when they mentioned GM's 4.3L V6, and 5.0L and 5.7L V8's as an odd mix of engines. It's called the small block Chevy and GM made over 100 million of them, and it's the most well known engine in history. And the 4.3L V6 is an SBC with 2 cylinders removed, I know Bill knows all that but there's a script that needs to be followed.

The SBC intake manifold gaskets fail from a combination of a poor gasket design, and just plain old age and wear and tear. It's also an obsolete wet type intake manifold design that GM abandoned when they switched to the gen 3 LS based V8's in the late 90's. If GM was using or not using Dex-cool would not of made an ounce of difference in that case.
 
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I decided to make the right choice. No Prestone, for fear of softened elastomers or blown head gaskets.

My 03 Element's reservoir cap popped out (unscrewed), and found the radiator not full. Can I top it off with this Zerex blue from Walmart? I tried to fill the radiator using my Honda blue coolant, but It wasn't enough. TIA.
 
My 03 Element's reservoir cap popped out (unscrewed), and found the radiator not full. Can I top it off with this Zerex blue from Walmart? I tried to fill the radiator using my Honda blue coolant, but It wasn't enough. TIA.
This is old, but just in case anyone else ever finds this via search and wants to know, the answer is yes AFAIK.

You can actually use zerex Asian blue or red if one isn't available, as valvoline has confirmed that they are identical minus the dye.
 
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yes, i've mixed Zerex Asian and Honda brand coolant with no problems in an Accord. Could not tell a difference.

In fact, the biggest difference in engine temp happened when I switched to Mobil 1 EP High Mileage. Pre-M1 EP HM, the coolant needle hit smack in the middle. After the switch, the need stops about 5% - 10% shy of the midpoint.
 
yes, i've mixed Zerex Asian and Honda brand coolant with no problems in an Accord. Could not tell a difference.

In fact, the biggest difference in engine temp happened when I switched to Mobil 1 EP High Mileage. Pre-M1 EP HM, the coolant needle hit smack in the middle. After the switch, the need stops about 5% - 10% shy of the midpoint.
I wonder how it was that the oil brand affected the thermostat?
 
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