Prestone’s push to 10 year coolants

It will get changed before 10 years. With a few exceptions Radiators break around 7 yrs.
Few exceptions? Owned twenty three cars and 21 rads went more than that. Wife's DD is 17 yo and still on original. Those CA drivers must be super tough on their cars.
 
I've never had to replace a radiator in any car I've owned, other than from collision.

Me too, maybe radiators only lasted 7 years in the 50's but certainly not now. My 83 300D Turbo still has it's original radiator and water pump, every time I see old Benz's in the junkyard they never have aftermarket or replacement radiators.
 
Depends where you live; out here you'd be lucky to get 7 years out of a radiator with plastic tanks. Even the old copper radiators had solder issues down the line, but they certainly last longer than ones with plastic tanks. About 5-7 years is the average lifespan for those with plastic tanks, about 10-12 years for copper radiators before solders become an issue. Only real, bulletproof option is an all-aluminum, TIG welded radiator in my neck of the woods.
 
I am somewhat curious to know if Prestone cor-guard is being bottled in everything and just the color is being changed. All the bottles claim 10 year protection with cor-guard.
 
I took a 2000 Taurus with a Vulcan 3.0 OHV to the wreckers because of rust that had the original 20 year old rad and water pump. I had used Prestone and Motomaster prestone-clone yellow/ green every three years and then switched to 5 years when Prestone did. I did two rounds of distiled water circulations at each change then added the coolant. On the other hand my buddy’s two year old rad on his Silverado let go at the side seam. Probably a manufacturing defect.
 
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I must have just crawled out of a hole because Prestone or anyone having a 10yr coolant was news to me.. Not to mention its dirt cheap at Walmart. Just picked up a couple jugs of this along with some distilled water for a coolant change in my Kubota tractor.

 
I must have just crawled out of a hole because Prestone or anyone having a 10yr coolant was news to me.. Not to mention its dirt cheap at Walmart. Just picked up a couple jugs of this along with some distilled water for a coolant change in my Kubota tractor.

Dont be fooled... its not good for 10 years... the OP of this thread showed his after 5 years and it was ****ed
 
Dont be fooled... its not good for 10 years... the OP of this thread showed his after 5 years and it was ****ed
Was it in another thread? I didn't see it. Personally I know of several low mileage cars running around with 10yrs on the old 5yr/100k coolant and it still looks fine. Not sure why this stuff wouldn't last 10yrs if it was put into a clean system. Generally speaking though coolant ends up being changed more often then that for one reason or another due to hose or water pump replacement.
 
So a lot of folks believe the 10 year thing is just marketing hype to sell "their" brand of coolant.

I'm not seeing any type of warranty mentioned on Prestone's website.
 
So a lot of folks believe the 10 year thing is just marketing hype to sell "their" brand of coolant.

I'm not seeing any type of warranty mentioned on Prestone's website.
Here it is.

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Literally every Japanese car company has been using P-OAT coolants (just like what Prestone now makes) for over a decade and they are all rated to at least 10 years. So I should be lead to believe that Prestone as one of the largest (if not the largest) coolant manufacturers in the world cannot master some 15 year old technology and make a P-OAT coolant that lasts 10 years?
 
Prestone has been selling a five year coolant with Cor-Guard for probably 5 plus years. I guess they feel Cor-guard is the ticket because it’s in the 10 year coolant that came out in 2020.
 
Was it in another thread? I didn't see it. Personally I know of several low mileage cars running around with 10yrs on the old 5yr/100k coolant and it still looks fine. Not sure why this stuff wouldn't last 10yrs if it was put into a clean system. Generally speaking though coolant ends up being changed more often then that for one reason or another due to hose or water pump replacement.
Sorry It was in another thread... if you watch the first 3 mins of the video in post #22 you'll see the video showing how congealed the coolant looks
 
I believe that the way old recommendation was 3 years for a coolant change. Back in the days of copper/brass radiators and iron engine blocks and cylinder heads. I stuck with that and only rarely had any cooling or radiator troubles. Good old green Prestone usually. When engines with aluminum heads on iron blocks and often aluminum radiators became more common in the 80's/90's, there was a lot of noise about going no more than 2 years due to the dissimilar metals situation along with the coolants of the time. I for one, believed that. My Dad did not and had way more water pump failures than anyone. As many cars still have that iron/aluminum mix, they must have improved the coolant chemistry since then.

I've only replaced one oem aluminum, plastic tank radiator ever and that was on a Nissan Altima that was about 14 years old at the time. The replacement aftermarket Al. rad lasted 2 years. I recently replaced the rad in my '82 Dodge truck. I lucked into finding an old new aftermarket replacement in a box that was actually also a copper type. Even aluminum 22 in. core slant 6 radiators are very scarce, as the big aftermarket names dropped the application. The 39 year old factory copper radiator evidently lasted that long though it likely may have recored at some time. There used to be a couple top notch rad shops around here, but all gone as a dead industry.

I'm going with a 10 year max idea on my two Scions that have the SLL pink Toyota/Aisin coolant. I do believe it's good for the long haul, but not magic. They're at 7 and 8 years age now. Unless I decide to change hoses prior to that time. Toy claims lifetime for it, like their lifetime WS ATF. I have heard claims that the lifetime moniker has something to do with advance fees/credits for eventual chemical recycling needs in Japan, if they stated a replacement interval.
 
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