Coolant Flush.....and fill with......

[shadowvox6]

Group,
I recently had my timing belt, and water pump replaced. After replacing the parts, the repair shope used DexCool to replace my G-05 coolant. Well, the weather was warm today, and I decided to get the DexCrap out of my car. I also decided to replace radiator hoses. I got 2 gallons of Zerex G-05, 18 gallons of distilled water, and 1 bottle of RedLine Watter Wetter. I drained the DexCrap out...replaced it with ~ 2 gallons of the water. Let car warm up to normal operating temperature, with heat on. Drain, then repeat. I did this until the water came out clear...I also put in a bottle of Zerex Super Cleaner during the cycle of draining/filling.

Once I spent most of the day flushing....
I was ready to fill. Here is the mixture I used:
1.5 qts of G-05, 4 ozs. of Water Wetter, and 2.5 qts of Distilled Water to make a gallon of mix. I made up 4 gallons, put ~ 1.5 gallons in...I figured there was ~ .5 qts. of distilled water in the system. So my blend was: 37.5% G-05/62.5% Distilled H2O

Should allow the car to cool well, and be able not to freeze.

Any thoughts??

 

[Amkeer]

Should be a 50/50 on the mix. I don't know the reason for the additive.

 

[Eddie]

You should be good but, why not measure the percentage to be sure. I would not have used the WW as many on this site have found much brown slug in the cooling system using it. WW is primarly benifical if used with 100% water in competition. I personelly prefere a 50/50 mix for the extra corrosen protection. JMO ed

 

[shadowvox6]

I had WW (with G-05)in the car prior to the waterpump replacement. I didn't measure it out, and poured out the entire bottle into the system. This time, I did accurately measure all the fluid out...I bought a 16oz. measuring cup, and was very precise about the mixture. I started with an empty gallon container. Poured 48ozs. of G-05 into the container. Then poured 4ozs. of WW, then filled the rest with Distilled Water (I had marked the container with a 1 gal. mark prior to mixing.) I think that is as precise as one can get. I have never been that precise with coolant before. But I wanted to get this right. I made the other 3 gallons the exact same way.

Come Spring, I am going to flush out the wife's Caprice using the same method, and put the G-05 into it, and run the exact same mixture.

 

[Ray H]

Isn't VW "pink" a minor variant of DEX-COOL?

 

[Megadeus]

Dex-Cool is crap compared to HOAT coolants. It has lots of stuff in it that is beneficial to iron blocks, but it still clogs up systems.

 

[Ray H]

Bad news? You have a lot to learn. Good news? You're now in the right place to do so. Welcome, Newbie.

 

[Megadeus]

If you say so. I know 3 GM techs who wouldn't put Dex-cool in their cars if they were stuck on the side of the road. But what would they know? They only do that stuff for a living.

The only bad news is Dex-Cool.

 

[ChrisW]

when techs use a product not as it was engineered to you will have problems.

I will agree that G 05 has better control of cavitation than OAT/dexcool coolants.

 

[Megadeus]

It would be real nice for GM if that were the case, but as a matter of fact, Dexcool screws up cars even when used properly.

It's an old design that never really worked right in the first place, and wasn't helped by the fact that it was designed to benefit iron block engines, and doesn't have any place at all in an aluminum engine.

 

[beanoil]

I think I would be bumping up the concentration of antifreeze to at least 50/50, or even inverting your percentages to about 65,70% of antifreeze. I agree that WW and antifreeze aren't always a good combo, and it is better left alone with water. As a sidebar, an even better product for competition (especially where AF mixes are prohibited) is Race Cool from Dr. Dave....
Precision Automotive Research
901 Hillside Dr.
Bensenville, IL 60106
Phone: 630-766-4402
Fax: 630-766-1715
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Dr. David Redszus

 

[BigV]

Here's a dumb question.

You measured out everything so precisely, but what about the water that is still in the block after draining?

 

[jmacmaster]

Another way to put kanling's point is this. When you flush as you did, with each flush cycle water remains in the engine block after you drain the radiator. So when you're done flushing and draining and put antifreeze in the radiator you have to take into account the water that is at that time in the engine block. Check the owner's manual for the cooling system capacity. If you want a 50/50 mix, then you should put into the radiator an amount of antifreeze equal to half the cooling system capacity. As a general rule, your radiator will hold about half of the cooling system capacity, so with each flush and radiator drain cycle you still have about half the coolant in the engine block.

The back of the antifreeze jug should tell you how low a temp various percentages of antifreeze/water mixes will protect you for. Use the chart on the back and how cold its liable to get where you live to determine the appropriate mix. The back of the jug will probably also state the minimum and maximum safe percentages of antifreeze to use.

If I lived in Ohio I'd use a 50/50 mix. And remember, you might sometime travel north when its a lot colder where you go then it ever gets where you live.

 

[kanling]

You have to assume that the owner's manual gives the right volume of the cooling system and you use that to determine the amount of coolant and water to add so that you get the desired percentages.

If for example, your system holds 8 quarts according to your manual... and you want a 50/50 mix... and you flushed multiple times with distilled water so only distilled water is in the block, then you pour in 4 qts of coolant and then finish the fill with distilled water. The system will fill up before pouring in four full quarts of water due to the water already in the engine.