Recochem antifreeze?

[The_Jeff]

Have an almost empty jug of "VIP" store brand coolant. Bottom is stamped "recochem"; a web search pulls up a Canadian company that makes antifreeze. Am considering buying more.

Their website, http://www.recochem.com/ requires logging in to see MSDS sheets.

The jug, and website, list ethylene glycol as the main ingredient in the 2 year, 50k mi normal drain auto antifreeze I'm interested in. I want to know if phosphates are also in this brew: Saturn's S-series forbids phosphates.

If phosphates are in the ingredients, do they have to be on the label? I assume this stuff is safe to use unless my research decides otherwise. Their pdf says meets GM specs 1825M and 1899M but my cars just say "phosphate free ethylene glycol".

 

[Ray H]

Most "simple green" products don't specifically state the presence of phosphates, either, but they're known to be loaded with the stuff, as well as silicone/silicates as their corrosion inhibitor package. I'd wager it's just one more traditional green "Prestone" clone. The two year/50,000 mile change interval is a mystery, though. (makes more sense if it were 50,000 kilometers, though...) GM's Dex-Cool spec is listed as, 6277, so we can rule that out. If your Saturn's cooling system is sensitive to traditional phosphated coolants, I wouldn't use this stuff in your Saturn if I were you.

Footnote on coolant/antifreeze MSDSs - I recently visited Peak's web site to check out the MSDS for their amber extended-life product. It listed percentages of "ethylene glycol", "water" (and their standardized CAS #s), and a percentage, generic, "corrosion inhibitors", listing, only. Apparently manufacturers are not required to list proprietary formulary information except in vagueries.

[ July 09, 2004, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]