Prestone Every Car Antifreeze

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my68barracuda

my68barracuda

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Long as I can remember I used regular Prestone antifreeze, always mixed with distilled water in my older non antifreeze specific vehicles. Bought two gallons of the new Prestone Every Car antifreeze, but I am re thinking that I may take them back and get some other brand that is the traditional 'Green' formulation.

Did some looking around and found this recommendation from Champion Radiators
What Coolant Color Should I Use In A Champion Radiator?

also found this article that shows using a multimeter to check an antifreeze mix in use corrosion resistance
An Inside Look at the Radical Changes in Antifreeze Chemistry
 
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my68barracuda said:
Long as I can remember I used regular Prestone antifreeze, always mixed with distilled water in my older non antifreeze specific vehicles. Bought two gallons of the new Prestone Every Car antifreeze, but I am re thinking that I may take them back and get some other brand that is the 'Green' formulation.

Did some looking around and found this recommendation from Champion Radiators
What Coolant Color Should I Use In A Champion Radiator?
Click to expand...
Thanks for bringing that up. Something we all should do to our old cars more often. Flush and change out the coolant.
 
Prestone and distilled water plugged up my core on my Dart radiator after 15 years even after changing the coolant every two years.

My radiator guy told me to only use the GREEN coolant and not Prestone.

He sent me a great article explaining the formulation and compatibility of all the coolants.

I’ll try to find it and post.
 
Just check if AL compatible. The orange stuff was super long life and plastic friendly but...
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Stay the course...Prestone/Peak/Zerex yellow. YMMV as scatpackbee posted
 
If I don't flush it I put a bottle of conditioner in every year or two. It renews the wate rpump lube and anti corrosive chemicals.
 
my68barracuda said:
Long as I can remember I used regular Prestone antifreeze, always mixed with distilled water in my older non antifreeze specific vehicles. Bought two gallons of the new Prestone Every Car antifreeze, but I am re thinking that I may take them back and get some other brand that is the traditional 'Green' formulation.

Did some looking around and found this recommendation from Champion Radiators
What Coolant Color Should I Use In A Champion Radiator?

also found this article that shows using a multimeter to check an antifreeze mix in use corrosion resistance
An Inside Look at the Radical Changes in Antifreeze Chemistry
Click to expand...
Good reading thanks for the info.
 
I've used Evans Waterless Coolant in 6 of my 7 vehicles for many years and seen no internal corrosion since. Unlike one of the linked articles, it is not pure propylene glycol (PG), but rather 30% PG w/ 70% ethylene glycol (EG) as I recall their MSDS. Used to be pure EG, but they found that adding a little PG makes it pet-safe. Costs $43/gal, but should last forever or until your next coolant leak. Supposedly cools worse than 50/50 EG/water, but I've driven several cars over the I-5 Grapevine climb (north of L.A.) on 110 F days and didn't overheat, so works for me, and with no corrosion should never get worse. I understand that new car models are validated for cooling systems on that climb.

You might roll-your-own by buying pure EG (most brands) and PG (Sierra Coolant) and mixing. But, those spec up to 5% water, so should first boil the water off. I did that and quite interesting. Do so only outside on a grill, far from your house, and don't breathe the fumes. Once the liquid reaches ~400 F, the water will be gone you will start getting EG or PG vapors. They can ignite in the air. The first time I did it, the EG seemed to be burning with an almost invisible flame. Holding paper above lit the paper, though that happens above "Farenheit 451" (per Ray Bradbury novel). Same for PG, but the flame is more benign. Last pass, I left the grill on high too long and the EG started burning and boiling violently, splashing to the ground and melting the propane hose. Got it shut off w/ garden hose spray, but could have been worse, so decided better to just pay Evans price.
 
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