ELC for a bike...

[Reg# 43897]

Can someone give me a suggestion as to what sort of extended life coolant would be appropriate for a motorcycle. Are there any particular concerns of which I should be aware?

Thanks folks.

John.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Anyone...?

 

[tom slick]

I would think any of the ELCs that are rated for use in japanese vehicles should be ok. I am running peak ELC in my dirt bike, but that is only becuase i have some left over from my cars.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Thanks for replying.

John.

 

[bootlegger_1]

I would suggest you find a no silicate antifreeze for your bike. Prestone extended life, the orange is a no silicate antifreeze. Regular DexCool has silicates. The silicates will tear up the water pump on most Honda and possibly other bikes as well. Sometimes is just as easy to buy the pre mixed at the motorcycle shops.

 

[Ray H]

"Regular" silicated Prestone is no longer in production. I noticed my local Costco is now only carrying two-jug packs of the replacement extended life, no-silicate Prestone. Though it's still dyed green, make no mistake - this stuff's really chemically the same as Prestone's own DEX-COOL juice, now.

 

[Reg# 43897]

What about Cat's ELC that's pre-diluted 50/50? Claims to be a long-life low-silicate formula? I got it pretty cheap at a local IH dealer yesterday.

Any ideas?

John.

 

[bbobynski]

quote:

---

Originally posted by bootlegger_1:
I would suggest you find a no silicate antifreeze for your bike. Prestone extended life, the orange is a no silicate antifreeze. Regular DexCool has silicates. The silicates will tear up the water pump on most Honda and possibly other bikes as well. Sometimes is just as easy to buy the pre mixed at the motorcycle shops.

---

News flash....DexCool is NOT a silicated coolant dude. DexCool never has and never will contain silicates.

DexCool is an excellent long life coolant if mixed and used correctly.

Why would you want to use the long life OAT coolants in the bike...?? Once the system has been contaminated with a silicated coolant the majority long life effect has been lost with the OAT coolants. They are no longer "long life" coolants when used in silicate contaminated systems and need to be changed regularily.

Even the new Prestone long life OAT coolant that is advertised as "universal coolant" and "long life" looses it's long life capability if installed in a system that was not ORIGINALLY a long life coolant system. Read the bottle...it is right there in the fine print. That coolant is OK...but is is just Prestone's attempt to market a "DexCool" equivalent coolant without calling it DexCool or mentioning DexCool. Since Texaco owns the patents on DexCool Prestone apparently came up with their own "DexCool" wannabe coolant and markets it as universal and long life. Trouble is, it is only long life if installed in a long life, OEM cooling system..i.e..DexCool. LOL LOL Right there on the bottle in the fine print.

 

[Stinky Peterson]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Reg# 43897:
What about Cat's ELC that's pre-diluted 50/50? Claims to be a long-life low-silicate formula? I got it pretty cheap at a local IH dealer yesterday.

Any ideas?

John.

---

John there is no silicates, phosphates,or borates in the Cat coolant (check the Coolant Analysis section to view the report). It does contain nitrites and molybdate and should be fine in a bike, however in some cases nitrited coolants can form ammonia and raise the pH in systems with high velocity coolant flows and aluminum components such as a water pump. If you are going shopping for coolant I would recommend plain orange Dexcool instead.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Thanks Stink,
I was at my dealership today and they advised me that Yamaha has no issues with the coolant that I provided (the Cat ELC). Given your recommendation, I wish I had picked up some of the Prestone Dex-cool that was at Walmart today. It was labled as Dex-cool by Prestone in a silver gallon or four-litre jug. Anyway, the Cat ELC 50/50 goes in tomorrow and I'll see how it performs on the temperature gauge (if that's any real indicator).
Thanks again.

John.

 

[Stinky Peterson]

Hi John

I wouldn't worry about it, it's one heck of a good coolant.

Mark

 

[Reg# 43897]

Well, I just picked it up at the Dealership after the warranty work was done. It's working well and the temperature indicator (LCD bar graph) is perfectly normal. I is happy.

John.