quote:
Originally posted by doitmyself:
Off topic: Ray, since we are bashing green coolants here, what is your opinion of the Zerex "conventional" green coolant (refer to their web site). It states that it is low silicate and can last 5 years/150,000 miles just like the "newer kids on the block".
Is the conventional green Zerex better/different than the old silicate Prestone?
And, my .02 - there was/is nothing wrong with the old green coolants as long as you changed it every 2 years or so. Many even believe that "the silicate destroys the water pump" is just an urban legend.
I really don't know anything about the Zerex conventional green. But I'm curious. The reduced silicate level is interesting. Doesn't someone make a reduced silicate antifreeze and mix it with OAT inhibitors?
Could this alternate Zerex brew also contain OAT? Might be a clever clone of Zerex's well regarded G-05, no? If the fallout of precipitated hard silicates involvement with waterpump seal failure is an urban legend, then Honda and Toyota have been taken in, too. (I've learned the hard way that with conventional green, especially mixed with tap water if it's hard, that going beyond 18-24 months is at my peril. The factory-fill green fluid from Korea had turned from clear green to somewhat murky in less than 24 months - something was coming out of solution. I'm staying on top of it and if something similar happens with the SuperTech "universal" juice, it'll be coming out, too, for replacement with G-05. So far, so good, though.) The Japanese OEM corporate antifreeze products differ from DEX-COOL only in color and the inclusion of phosphate. Would the latter elixer solve DEX-COOL's alleged problems? Maybe so - just don't know. (It seems GM wanted to eliminate another potential waterpump damaging precipitate by specifying no phosphate. GM's definitely at odds with Honda's thinking over this issue. Maybe in hindsight that wasn't a sound decision? If there've been complaints about Toyota and Honda antifreeze, other than extortionist pricing, I'm unaware of 'em.)
Note to rgl - I'm not arguing with your personal experience, but don't argue with mine, either. I'd run Havoline DEX-COOL for three years in a 96 Accord with no sludging, no overheating, and no seal failures. Then the car got totaled in a low speed head-on - darned DEX-COOL! (Fortunately for my legion of BITOG detractors, I wasn't injured . . .) Wifey's old 2000 Cavalier came from the factory with DEX-COOL - never had ANY cooling system problems. Her new Cobalt has DEX-COOL. (This despite someone with an obvious agenda breathlessly broadcasting throughout Radio-Free BITOG that GM would go to G-05 with the 2005 models. Apparently someone forgot to mention this amazing fact to GM
) I'm running the new SuperTech, which is unabashedly an unlicensed DEX-COOL clone without the name, in my 2003 Sonata V6. If I'm a guinea pig, then I'm one very lucky S.O.B. guinea pig over six years with the stuff in four disperate cars. As far as I'm concerned, the technology works - even on cars allegedly never intended to run DEX-COOL. Honda doesn't like DEX-COOL. They may have sound technical reasons for their opinion, but they obviously have sound economic reasons in their dealerships' parts departments, too. Have there been problems with cars originally filled or changed out to DEX-COOL? Yep - I never said there weren't. But I'm not convinced that DEX-COOL specifically is the culprit so much as an unwitting player in cars whose cooling systems were flawed or given inadequate/improper maintenance. GM clearly had some culpability due to poorly designed/engineered intake and cylinder head gaskets and pressure caps used with certain V6 engines. Perhaps G-05 (an excellent product) would've masked those problems longer only for these engines to poop even worse later on. Perhaps G-05 would've prevented the failures despite the other suspect parts' problems. (Dunno, but time'll tell.)
