Best Classic "Green" Coolant

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Originally Posted by mattwithcats
Try Zerex G-05, it's a long life coolant without the plastic munching 2-EHA found in Dexcool....

https://www.valvoline.com/our-products/antifreeze-products/g-05-antifreeze-coolant
+1-I've used G-05/MC Premium Gold in several vehicles that used green originally with no issues, apparently it has enough silicate to protect soldered brass/copper radiators & heater cores. My vote would be for Zerex if you HAD to go green, but it won't last as long.
 
Another question is, where is everyone sourcing their green from? I haven't seen supertech green at a wal mart in years, nor do most of the auto parts stores. Seems all anyone has is the dexclones. zerex green I haven't seen in years anywhere. I am talking local sources.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
If it's a copper radiator Prestone long life ( or any long life coolant) is the wrong stuff. It eats through the solder which may explain your radiator failure.


I've never heard of this before--is this really a thing? I've heard of aluminum radiators being damaged with the wrong coolant, but copper/brass and lead/tin solder seem to be extremely stable metals.
 
Originally Posted by Propflux01
Another question is, where is everyone sourcing their green from? I haven't seen supertech green at a wal mart in years, nor do most of the auto parts stores. Seems all anyone has is the dexclones. zerex green I haven't seen in years anywhere. I am talking local sources.


Rural King house brand Durex, Carquest at Advance, and NAPA has their house brand too all in stock at my local stores.
 
Originally Posted by Propflux01
Another question is, where is everyone sourcing their green from? I haven't seen supertech green at a wal mart in years, nor do most of the auto parts stores. Seems all anyone has is the dexclones. zerex green I haven't seen in years anywhere. I am talking local sources.

AutoZone, Carquest, Advance and O'Reilly's all carry green in either house label or a Peak/Zerex. I believe the WM 50/50 premix is a green but don't quote me on that..(pretty sure NAPA carrys green)
 
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Originally Posted by AlaskaMike
Originally Posted by Chris142
If it's a copper radiator Prestone long life ( or any long life coolant) is the wrong stuff. It eats through the solder which may explain your radiator failure.


I've never heard of this before--is this really a thing? I've heard of aluminum radiators being damaged with the wrong coolant, but copper/brass and lead/tin solder seem to be extremely stable metals.

Dex-Cool and some OAT coolants have low to no nitrate/nitrite in them. Nitrate helps protect solder, nitrite was for years added to coolants to help protect ferrous metals. There was something I read, either the patent Prestone filed for Cor-Guard or something else that said the rationale for Cor-Guard's existence was the rise in brazed aluminum heat exchangers. Those were brazed in a controlled environment with a special flux.

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/nitrite-free-coolants-rise-due-more-aluminum-engines
http://labcheckresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Coolant-System-Maintenance-Guide-FINAL1.pdf
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3460880/all/New_Prestone_Coolant?_Pics - read MotorKing's post. He used to work for Fram Group, just before Prestone and Holts was spun off and the acquistion of Fram by Trico.
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by Propflux01
Another question is, where is everyone sourcing their green from? I haven't seen supertech green at a wal mart in years, nor do most of the auto parts stores. Seems all anyone has is the dexclones. zerex green I haven't seen in years anywhere. I am talking local sources.

AutoZone, Carquest, Advance and O'Reilly's all carry green in either house label or a Peak/Zerex. I believe the WM 50/50 premix is a green but don't quote me on that..(pretty sure NAPA carrys green)


I will check those again, but rarely if ever see the green. Mostly just the dexclones.
 
Originally Posted by Propflux01

I will check those again, but rarely if ever see the green. Mostly just the dexclones.

I have no idea if inventory changes from region to region but my local AZ stocks both regular and long life green. Ship to home or store pickup... the O'Reilly's down the road has the same. Wally's has the "yellow" premix which is I think🤔 an IAT and compatible with original green. Don't quote me on that last part though..(can anyone confirm that the yellow is an IAT?)
[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]
 
I use WalMart branded long life (green) in everything I own. No problems but my stuff is old. The Ranger came with some weird Ford (yellow) stuff but it's been running the WalMart stuff for over 10 years.
 
Originally Posted by AlaskaMike
Originally Posted by Chris142
If it's a copper radiator Prestone long life ( or any long life coolant) is the wrong stuff. It eats through the solder which may explain your radiator failure.


I've never heard of this before--is this really a thing? I've heard of aluminum radiators being damaged with the wrong coolant, but copper/brass and lead/tin solder seem to be extremely stable metals.



I believe it is true. I have a copper brass radiator w/ a dexclone coolant that is leaking after only a few years from where it's soldered. Lots of other places state it that it can potentially be an issue. I guess if someone has some time to kill, they could conduct their own experiment using some soldered together scraps filled with dexcool or similar. If my radiator is any indicator, you might be waiting a few years for a leak to spring up...


Here's an old thread on here on that subject(I'm sure there are also many more): https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...tthread/Board/35/main/301243/type/thread
 
Originally Posted by mfewtrail
Originally Posted by AlaskaMike
Originally Posted by Chris142
If it's a copper radiator Prestone long life ( or any long life coolant) is the wrong stuff. It eats through the solder which may explain your radiator failure.


I've never heard of this before--is this really a thing? I've heard of aluminum radiators being damaged with the wrong coolant, but copper/brass and lead/tin solder seem to be extremely stable metals.



I believe it is true. I have a copper brass radiator w/ a dexclone coolant that is leaking after only a few years from where it's soldered. Lots of other places state it that it can potentially be an issue. I guess if someone has some time to kill, they could conduct their own experiment using some soldered together scraps filled with dexcool or similar. If my radiator is any indicator, you might be waiting a few years for a leak to spring up.

No coolant is perfect for starters... that said, Dex is silicate and phosphate free so those solder points sit unprotected until the the corrosion inhibitor in Dex (sebacate, 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA)) can act and they are slower acting corrosion inhibitors, compared to IAT formulas, to begin with but do last longer. (it can take thousands of miles for an OAT formula to lay down a protective coating)...Because of this OAT coolant is generally not preferred for the older copper/brass style radiators. See the article..(for s&g i checked out a couple of websites of radiator mfgs/re-builders and they both recommend IAT type coolant for copper rads)

Coolant Types
 
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I always use either Peak or Prestone green. I buy the concentrate and make my own mix with distilled water. The radiator in my 88 E-150 is the original, never repaired, and as clean as it was when new. I can only hope the OAT and HOAT coolants used in my Jeeps keep them as good as the old fashioned green coolants kept my van. Honestly I have my doubts about that.
 
I see Prestone "green" mentioned several times in this thread. As another poster mentioned I haven't seen Prestone branded original/conventional green for a very long time. Someone wants to post a link to the product be interested to see it.

As for topic, I don't know what "the best is" but a google search shows locally as noted, AAP, AZ, O'R and Napa all have an original/conventional green AF available for purchase. Peak/OldWorld does have an Original Green AF and likely provides it under some of the parts store brands too.

The Zerex Original Green is often mentioned because it has a longer recommended service interval than other original green AFs. If longer service interval a priority I suppose because of that it could be considered the best. That's if one can find it for a reasonable price.
 
Originally Posted by Sayjac
I see Prestone "green" mentioned several times in this thread. As another poster mentioned I haven't seen Prestone branded original/conventional green for a very long time. Someone wants to post a link to the product be interested to see it.

As for topic, I don't know what "the best is" but a google search shows locally as noted, AAP, AZ, O'R and Napa all have an original/conventional green AFs available for purchase. Peak/OldWorld does have an Original Green AF and likely provides it under some of the parts store brands too.

The Zerex Original Green is often mentioned because it has a longer recommended service interval than other original green AFs. If longer service interval a priority I suppose because of that it could be considered the best. That's if one can find it for a reasonable price.

Good point about the Prestone green. I checked my auto log and the last two coolant swaps were with Peak green, which was probably cheaper at the time or easier to find.
 
Originally Posted by Sayjac
I see Prestone "green" mentioned several times in this thread. As another poster mentioned I haven't seen Prestone branded original/conventional green for a very long time. Someone wants to post a link to the product be interested to see it.

As for topic, I don't know what "the best is" but a google search shows locally as noted, AAP, AZ, O'R and Napa all have an original/conventional green AF available for purchase. Peak/OldWorld does have an Original Green AF and likely provides it under some of the parts store brands too.

The Zerex Original Green is often mentioned because it has a longer recommended service interval than other original green AFs. If longer service interval a priority I suppose because of that it could be considered the best. That's if one can find it for a reasonable price.

The Prestone "green" is their "Prime" product and is indeed hard to find in stores. Zoro stocks it for certain, I just checked. I didn't scour the net to see who else.

If you have to have a green coolant right now, I'd just run into a NAPA as they have it on the shelf in both Peak and their store brand (-made by Peak per NAPA website). Or AAP or AZ or O'Reilly's..they all have store brand green in stock, at least in my area. Some of them (AAP) do have Zerex Green in stock on the shelf but it's expensive like the Prestone Prime at around $18/gl.

The other store brand greens run around $12/gl of the shelf in my area. Fwiw, the SuperTech is a yellow universal (HOAT?) made by either Prestone or Peak (Old World). I think Peak is currently making it for Wally's.
 
My reference and I assume others was to a Prestone "labeled" original/conventional green, which at some point many years ago did exist. While I'm aware of the "Prime" labeled line, it's not readily available in stores. With all the others mentioned that are readily available, I'd see no reason to chase it. Right now AAP has their Carquest brand original green for $11 and change*. Locally Zerex Green not available at AAP. Afaik Super Tech AF is still a Dexclone universal, most likely same as Peak LL.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...tifreeze-coolant-1-gallon-101/11061796-p
 
Originally Posted by paulri
Valvoline Zerex conventional Green is a true 5 year coolant (most greens aren't), and when I was looking around (previous car) that my mechanic told me needed it, this brand of green coolant met the most specs, so I went with that. For my current vehicles, I use Zerex Asian coolant.


How can a conventional green coolant be long life? What's in it that makes it long life? Surely it has to have some kind of OAT in it?
 
Originally Posted by racerviii
Originally Posted by paulri
Valvoline Zerex conventional Green is a true 5 year coolant (most greens aren't), and when I was looking around (previous car) that my mechanic told me needed it, this brand of green coolant met the most specs, so I went with that. For my current vehicles, I use Zerex Asian coolant.


How can a conventional green coolant be long life? What's in it that makes it long life? Surely it has to have some kind of OAT in it?


We had a discussion about this in the following thread, check pages 2 and 3. But who knows if we can even believe the answers we get from the techies that answer consumer questions. https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5142238/1

If I remember correct, most other conventional coolants still recommend the 2-3 year change interval.
 
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