G-05 coolant question

[boulderdentist]

I had flushed and refilled my truck with the Zerex G-05 formulation last March. It was such a pale amber color at the time I had trouble believing it would keep its pristine, non-cloudy, water like appearence. I thought it would darken, discolor, or maybe become cloudy, nearly six months later it has not. I have an old Prestone ethylene glycol tester with a bulb and a floating arrow to indicate freeze protection. Is this accurate with the new coolant?

Scott

[ August 20, 2006, 01:28 AM: Message edited by: boulderdentist ]

 

[Ray H]

Yes. Any antifreeze using ethylene glycol for freeze-up protection carries ~95% of the stuff as its main ingredient. This includes G-05. The remaining ~5% by volume consists of the corrosion inhibitors and a small amount of de-ionized water for solubility. Your Prestone antifreeze hydrometer will work fine to track protection. Just be sure to take readings while the system is cold because normal operating temperatures will skew the reading due to the lower density when the coolant is hot.

(Don't expect much traditional color or turbidity change with the use of OAT or HOAT chemistry. I'm running a dexclone in my car and, at nearly two years in service, it's still the same cloud-free and bright bluish-green solution as when newly installed. The conventional stuff Hyundai used as factory fill didn't make it two years.)

 

[Mickey_M]

quote:

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boulderdentist:
I had flushed and refilled my truck with the Zerex G-05 formulation last March. It was such a pale amber color at the time I had trouble believing it would keep its pristine, non-cloudy, water like appearence. I thought it would darken, discolor, or maybe become cloudy, nearly six months later it has not.

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It does eventually become a light amber.

There are dyes you can add to it (they chose the color because OEM G-05-type coolants come in a number of different colors) but I've never seen any point to it.

 

[boulderdentist]

Thanks for the information. If I understand you, 95% of antifreeze coolant is still ethylene glycol, with the remaining 5% corrosion inhibitors, etc. In this 5% it must be either hoat or oat, so such a small component determines the difference between G-05 and Dexcool?

Scott

 

[Big Jim]

Yes. It is just the additive package.

 

[Ken2]

And the color of the dye.....

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Boy, I'll say, Ray..

quote:

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The conventional stuff Hyundai used as factory fill didn't make it two years.

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With a manufacture date of 2/2005 and a purchase date of 2/2006, my nasty green coolant in a new AccentGT didn't make it a year.

The G-05 you recommended is in identical shape 18,000 miles and nearly 8 months later with no loss of fluid or low-temp protection. Appearance is the same light biege, too. Good stuff, but the car is new after all, I suppose the test is on out to 30-50K, yes, no?

Ray, the miles are piling up pretty fast, what WOULD be a reasonable mileage cap on this stuff? Book is 60K on the factory swill, which I changed out immediately after getting the car..

 

[fat biker]

Per Valvoline/Zerex...
Protection for up to 5 years / 150,000 miles

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/product_detail.asp?product=10

fat biker

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Thanks, Biker..

I think I'll follow 60K til this thing is out of warranty. I check the puke-tank every fillup when I check the oil, and pull the cap every week or so when its cold just to see what's up in there..

 

[Ray H]

Quote:

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Originally posted by 2crazy2yoo:
[qb]I think I'll follow 60K til this thing is out of warranty. I check the puke-tank every fillup when I check the oil, and pull the cap every week or so when its cold just to see what's up in there..

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[/qb]That (or three years for people who don't pile miles as quickly as you) should be a very comfortably conservative plan for G-05, DEX-COOL or one of its clones. (And either should actually be capable of running MUCH longer than that, but the cost of a changeout amortized over three years or 60,000 miles simply doesn't justify pinching pennies to that degree.)

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Hey Ray, don't forget a few jugs of distilled water @ 99 cents..

Hey, you mentioned de-ionized water, or ionized water in another thread. What's that? I thought distilled water was the grail for flushing?

 

[Ray H]

Distilled and de-ionized water are equivalent from the standpoint of being mineral-free though derived from different processes - the first through evaporation and condensation, the other by means of an electrostatically charged semi-permeable membrane that collects the ions and reconstitutes them as salts on the membrane's surface while allowing the de-ionized water to pass through.

(When minerals dissolve in water, the salts' individual constituents are dissociated into their individual ions. Tap water always has mineral content present - the amount varies by source with well-water generally having the highest concentration for potable water. Sea water is way worse - which is probably one reason most of us don't drink the stuff...)

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Ray!

Quote:

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an electrostatically charged semi-permeable membrane that collects the ions and reconstitutes them as salts on the membrane's surface while allowing the de-ionized water to pass through

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This sounds suspiciously like my cousin's reverse osmosis water system, installed to remove the insane mineral content from the water here..

That it? Is the household reverse osmosis system complete enough to use to flush/fill?

Thanks!

 

[Ray H]

In theory, yes. Is it worth taking the chance with the possibility of a compromised membrane, though, when Walmart steam distilled water's so cheap?

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Nope!