10 Year coolant??

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May 6, 2014
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UK
Hey all, my ford fiesta has a 1.6ltr engine that uses a cast iron block and aluminium head has always been run on the recommended handbook antifreeze/coolant which is the blue stuff thats ethylene glycol. only headache is that i got to chance this every 2 years even though the car doesnt get driven around much, does around 1000miles a year these days.
i saw this coolant on the shelf from prestone when i was in the shops and its 10 year/300k mile life caught my eye. it says it can work in any car but im not to sure on its claims. if it is true then not only will it save me a lot of money over the 10 years id keep it in there for but also a lot of time in draining a filling the system. the older i get the less i like working on the cars.
do you guys think this would be safe for me to use or should i follow the age old saying - "if it aint broke dont fix it"?
my car is old though, made in 1995 so i dunno..
prestone2.jpg

prestone1.jpg
 
There are a lot of good ways to test coolant.

Here's how you can do it when it is cold

And here's how to do it once it gets warmed up.

There are some vehicles, such as Ford's with internal water pumps, where you may want to change out the coolant on a more frequent basis for peace of mind.

But on your particular Ford, just using these two tests will help you make a decision based on the science and your unique situation. If the coolant shows to be in excellent condition, I would focus instead on putting that money towards premium quality filters.
 
yes it is an european model car, im in the uk.
the 10 year life of the prestone was tempting me i was under the assumption that coolant technology would have advanced from 30 years ago so the 10 year life could have been genuine but its looking like i should avoid it for my cars.
 
yes it is an european model car, im in the uk.
the 10 year life of the prestone was tempting me i was under the assumption that coolant technology would have advanced from 30 years ago so the 10 year life could have been genuine but its looking like i should avoid it for my cars.
Coolant is ethylene glycol plus a anti corrosion add pack. Iron rusts, and hence uses up the add pack faster than aluminum generally. Heat also makes things rust (oxidize) faster, so given your only using it 1000 miles a year, you likely could get away with a little longer. The question becomes is it worth the risk? How much does it cost to change? I presume since your looking at Prestone your a DIY guy?
 
Yes i change it myself doing diy work on the car. Coolant is not very cheapo here, changing it every 2 years adds up but far cheaper than engine replacement lol.
When blue coolant is on offer i can get 10L of it for around £25 so about 28 usd
 
Hey all, my ford fiesta has a 1.6ltr engine that uses a cast iron block and aluminium head has always been run on the recommended handbook antifreeze/coolant which is the blue stuff thats ethylene glycol. only headache is that i got to chance this every 2 years even though the car doesnt get driven around much, does around 1000miles a year these days.
i saw this coolant on the shelf from prestone when i was in the shops and its 10 year/300k mile life caught my eye. it says it can work in any car but im not to sure on its claims. if it is true then not only will it save me a lot of money over the 10 years id keep it in there for but also a lot of time in draining a filling the system. the older i get the less i like working on the cars.
do you guys think this would be safe for me to use or should i follow the age old saying - "if it aint broke dont fix it"?
my car is old though, made in 1995 so i dunno..
View attachment 138925
View attachment 138926
Its only every 2 years so what is the problem...I would just change it every 2 years....
 
Its only every 2 years so what is the problem...I would just change it every 2 years....
Busted discs in my back are the problem, just cant do the car work like i used to 2 years ago
 
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If you can do a complete change of coolant, I see no reason why G05 wouldn't work for 5 years in this vehicle. Being a 1995 it's extremely unlikely that it has a copper/brass/solder heater core. (G05 supposedly doesn't protect copper/brass/solder well).

What Ford specification is the coolant recommended by your handbook? This will be a code like WSS-M97B44-D2 or ESE-M97B44-A
 
The vehicle is old, and if all original, you might have problems REGARDLESS of what coolant you use. So many like to blame the coolant brand when failures might not be related. Prestone works fine here even if its not my preferred brand. I'd worry about the failures..... waterpump, headgasket, heatercore, thermostat, radiator cap, recovery/degas/overflow bottle, or radiator, many which will get you new coolant during the repair. Marketing understands this.

I think that "marketing" and "environmentalism" should be left out of "intervals chosen" for oil/atf/coolant/psf/bf....

My recommendation is to source the coolant from Ford. This way, if anything fails, you won't be able to slander Prestone, like so many others have on the internet.
 
Prestone's universal stuff is fine, don't know why people are hating it. Just change more frequently than that. Though 2 years is from BC times, I do around 6-7 years.

I've got 331k on my all original iron block 6.0. No coolant related issues of any kind. Still has the original head gaskets. I buy the cheap stuff like prestone or the walmart brand supertech and only changed the pump and radiator once. oe pump failed at around 260k and the oe plastic radiator cracked at around 280k miles. You'll be fine.
 
Car has done 83k miles in my 24 years of ownership bought when it had 10k miles on it. Water pump was replaced twice last time was in 2019 so done 3k miles since. Had a new rad too since i thought old one was clogged but turned out the old pump had shattered plastic impeller. I even took the end tanks off the old rad and it was so clean you would have mistaken for new.
 
Car has done 83k miles in my 24 years of ownership bought when it had 10k miles on it. Water pump was replaced twice last time was in 2019 so done 3k miles since. Had a new rad too since i thought old one was clogged but turned out the old pump had shattered plastic impeller. I even took the end tanks off the old rad and it was so clean you would have mistaken for new.

So clean.... means your choice of coolant is working. Parts replaced is normal wear/tear. I would just stick with the 2 yr interval with the same coolant that you're already using. If your back is that broken, then hire a neighborhood kid to assist the maintenance while you supervise. Some might want to learn something.
 
Prestone's universal stuff is fine, don't know why people are hating it.
My understanding is all Prestone has 2-EHA. Its a cheap anti corrosive additive that supposedly actually works pretty good - but it also softens plastic and silicon. So I don't use it in any rig I own. Maybe its different in Europe?

I am also unsure how one antifreeze can meet all these fairly different coolant specs from different manufactures in one bottle - OAT, HOAT, PHOAT, different corrosion inhibitors. Just because it will work, doesn't make it great.

Now with the OP only using it for 1000 miles a year - probably doesn't matter much, but honestly I just think if your going to the trouble to change it, might as well do it right.
 
Ford actually uses that coolant from the factory now :D

If you still don't believe in it, get the G-05 coolant (gold) under whatever brand name they use in the UK. Ford used that in the early 2000s. It's a 5-year coolant, low silicate HOAT
 
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