Originally Posted By: sayjac
Good article. It doesn't address the explanation/reason(s) why the Asian OE and proprietary coolants are all first, silicate free. As I read the traditional green recommendation, he basically ignores it.
Yet, he did give the explanation/reason (hard water) for the minor difference between the non phosphated G-05 and Asians.
Subaru is not the only one that recommends 2yr/30k subsequent changes, Nissan also.
Yeah he didn't make much mention of Japanese recommending no silicates, but his postion and many other is that the low silicate formulas don't really harm waterpumps. Somewhere in the article it mentions to paraphrase, "The carbide seals on water pumps aren't going out, it's the rubber parts". I don't know what rubber part he's talking about and don't fully agree about that but water pump life doesn't really seem to be shorten overall by silicates. I'm not sure whyor if Nissan still recommends 2y/30K.
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Makes some tough accusations at the coolant manufaturers Prestone and Zerex. Basically saying, Prestone and WM are the same as Dexcool, just a different name and color. So Prestone is marketing the same coolant in different jugs, the
only difference being the name and the color of the coolant. One would think that would require access to proprietary information, but who knows.
Didn't mention Peak Long Life though.
I just don't understand why you think there is any question that Prestone extended life is the same formula as their Dexcool? It says right on the bottles, 2EHA and sodium deconoate. All the Dexcools and Dexclones contain 2EHA (that's why they are dexclones) and the only real difference between the two is one is paying for the licenses fee. If there is a difference between the two the only difference there'd be is the universal Dexclone has reduced inhibitor level but not different inhibitors. That would be a bad thing not a good thing.
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And Ashland Zerex, the coolant company many seem to respect, has long recommended Zerex Dexcool for Asians vehicles, still on their coolant application chart.
Yeah that's true, Zerex recommends Dexcool for 96 up but I think the reason Zerex does that is because until recently they didn't have AVF. I'm not sure why they picked the year '96 and not '03 when Asians starting using extended life. I think Zerex has to recommend G-05 for earlier Asians because they may have a copper-brass radiator and maybe because of gasket compatibility.
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So, maybe next time if I can't find full strength Peak Global Life or similar, I'll try traditional green for a couple years.
I think G-05 might be a better option than Green.
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Good points about using distilled water, and getting as much of the old out as possible with several flushes. I wonder what a professional coolant exchange costs, and who one could trust to do it right?
They typically cost $1000 to $2000, so way out of the price range of a DIYer. There are some vaccum filling device for under $200 that I think run off an air compressor, but I'm not sure how well they work. It's still too much money for just ocassional changes. With Japanese cars with accessible block drains I think it's best to just drain the block and that should be more than adequate. It's the GM vehicles that without a coolant exchanger you are forced to do a different approach. Without a coolant exchanger about the only way to get most all of the old out beside a T-flush is 2-3 radiator fill and drains. That's so time consuming.
