Coolant ?

[84minieldo]

Yeah yeah so I opened my radiator yesterday and rusty nastiness was all to find so I flushed it today so what kind of coolant do I put back in I bought Prestone greenish yellow standard coolant ethylene glycol or something...what should I use I'm sure the Prestone green is better than the rusty brown,but I know a certain mis-mix will turn to sludge,so the ? is can I use this???

 

[LIMA BEAN]

84 get a flush kit and back flush. Green is good to go in your rig.

 

[adsm08]

The only time you get sludge is if you mix dexcool and ethylene glycol.

As long as one isnt pink you are ok.

Postin' from teh Galaxy

 

[84minieldo]

Do them flush kits got something special to help remove rust,cuz I flushed it with water last night til it ran clear but I could still see rust in the radiator...

 

[RonD]

Radiator flush liquid is just an acidic fluid that helps dissolve rust build up.
Vinegar and CLR are very similar.

As a note PH is a scale used determine if something is acidic or alkaline.
The scale is from 1 to 14
7 is neutral, distilled water is ph7
1 is acidic
14 is alkaline

Flushing fluid would usually be about ph3, so acidic.

Coolant PH should be 10-11, below 9 means coolant needs to be changed as rust will start happening more.
You can't really stop rust in a cooling system, just slow it down, PH above 9 does this.
Acidic fluid increases rust, that's kinda the point of using an acid fluid to clean out the rust, it promotes the chemical reaction causing rust which helps break it free and hold it in solution so it can be drained out.
It is important to flush the system with just water after using an acidic flush, to clean out all the acid, this will help when the new coolant is added because remaining acid solution would bring down the new coolants PH.

Regular coolants last about 2 years after that you will start to get more rust.

Newer OAT based coolants can last as long as 5 years, some claim lifetime.
For a new vehicle these are fine, but on used vehicles the extra cost for these, IMO, is a waste of money.
Used cars will blow hoses, water pumps, heater cores, or rads, and you will need to replace with the more expensive OAT coolant because once you switch to OAT based coolant you should NOT go back to the older style.
OAT doesn't protect the cooling system better, it protects it longer, and if you predict you will not have a cooling system problem in the next 5 years, then by all means switch to OAT..............but is that really a good prediction, lol.

 

[adsm08]

Muriatic acid is also a valid choice to run through the system. Just pour it in with some water and drive for a few days, then drain and refill with new coolant. Start by putting some concentrate in since you probably won't get all the water out.

There should also be a drain plug on the block somewhere that I would pull out. It allows all the water jackets in the block and heads to be drained.

 

[Frank The Tank]

Don't use CLR on aluminum anything... At least don't let it sit more than a couple hours. I use vinegar as a flush regularly.

Buy full strength green fluid (I use peak, its usually on sale) and a few gallons of purified water (not spring or tap water) at the dollar store and mix it with that.

 

[Surrey]

I see everyone recommending the green stuff, but wasn't there a big write-up about the different types of anti-freeze just a short while ago?

http://therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142453

There it is. Seems to quite reasonably show how the green stuff is bad compared to the other two?

 

[adsm08]

It's all about what green stuff. Just like everything else in the automotive world the color you see when it comes out of the bottle is all about the color of the dye that's put in it.

Ford has some new green stuff that is supposed to be really corrosion resistant. It is what they say we should be putting in the 3.5Ls now after all the heater core problems on the Edge.

 

[RonD]

I see everyone recommending the green stuff, but wasn't there a big write-up about the different types of anti-freeze just a short while ago?

http://therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142453

There it is. Seems to quite reasonably show how the green stuff is bad compared to the other two?

Yes, nice test but a little misleading on the conclusions.

He was basically using electrolysis to prove a point when you have bi-metal cooling systems, i.e. iron and aluminum

The more acidic coolant becomes the more electrolysis will happen, which is why coolants are alkaline, ph 10+, as they age they become less alkaline so more acidic.
This why they use acids in batteries, better electrical conduction.

Coolants that minimize electrical conduction will show up as better on that type of test, especially since he did the test using parallel wiring, this meant that the best conducting fluid(least alkaline) would get more power passing thru it right off the bat.

A 2 year coolant is just that, lasts 2 years if system was clean to start with.
I have always used inexpensive coolant because I change the coolant.
I also drive older vehicles so know I will be losing the coolant from some other failure usually before it's time to change.

Are more expensive coolants better?
Sure, of course

Is a more expensive new car better than my 20 year old Ranger?
Sure, of course

But it doesn't mean I must run out and buy a new car and say the Ranger is sh!t and shouldn't be used.

They each have their own advantages, inexpensive coolant and expensive coolant, I don't think it is a better or worse situation, it is an application decision.

 

[Surrey]

Is it still etyhlene glycol based?

That write-up seems to say that stuff is a corrosion magnet...

 

[RonD]

Is it still etyhlene glycol based?

That write-up seems to say that stuff is a corrosion magnet...

Ethylene glycol is the anti-freeze part, all anti-freeze/coolants have this, and it never wears out but can get diluted over a long period.
It also raises the boiling point of the coolant.

The coolant part is the corrosion protection.
The original "green" used inorganic chemicals that are "used up" over time, 2 years was the recommended time frame for changing this type of coolant.
As the chemicals are used up the PH starts to drop below ph9, so corrosion can start.

OAT coolant is Organic "acid" but neutralized, it takes longer to break down so 5 years is the recommended change time but that can be extended if system is well maintained, you can end up with sludge in the cooling system if this type gets too old.

Hybrid-OAT(HOAT) was developed to cover both bases, lol, it has organic and inorganic chemicals so won't react badly with either "green" or OAT when topping up or just refilling a system that can not be completely drained.

The corrosion part happens when coolant of any type gets below ph9.
And in multi-metal cooling systems this can happen pretty quickly.
Seawater is ph8, and look what it does to metals

 

[84minieldo]

... So it won't turn to goo...thanks, like I said its a rust filled environment now so I'm not too worried about all that other stuff if it was new yeah, but for this little truck,sorry,no ill be flushing again in a couple months too anyways

 

[Surrey]

Ethylene glycol is the anti-freeze part, all anti-freeze/coolants have this, and it never wears out but can get diluted over a long period.
It also raises the boiling point of the coolant.

The coolant part is the corrosion protection.
The original "green" used inorganic chemicals that are "used up" over time, 2 years was the recommended time frame for changing this type of coolant.
As the chemicals are used up the PH starts to drop below ph9, so corrosion can start.

OAT coolant is Organic "acid" but neutralized, it takes longer to break down so 5 years is the recommended change time but that can be extended if system is well maintained, you can end up with sludge in the cooling system if this type gets too old.

Hybrid-OAT(HOAT) was developed to cover both bases, lol, it has organic and inorganic chemicals so won't react badly with either "green" or OAT when topping up or just refilling a system that can not be completely drained.

The corrosion part happens when coolant of any type gets below ph9.
And in multi-metal cooling systems this can happen pretty quickly.
Seawater is ph8, and look what it does to metals

Fair enough. Thanks for explaining that. Long story short as long as its got green in it now, keep it going, just make sure you change it every 2 years or less.

 

[RonD]

In my opinion, running the less expensive "green" in an older vehicle just makes the most sense.
You WILL have worn out parts in the cooling system, so you WILL loose coolant from time to time, and if maintained the "green" protects the metals in the cooling system just fine.

What usually happens is that we buy a used vehicle that hasn't been maintained, so corrosion in the cooling system has already started, best thing to do is to flush it out a few times and refill with new "green" then keep an eye on things.