Well, if you use an antique tester, your results may vary.
Unless you flush the engine with water.its always better to buy concentrate and distilled water. that way you know its 50/50.
I agree. IMO the premix is a great way for the makers of coolant to rake in some extra cash on distilled water.its always better to buy concentrate and distilled water. that way you know its 50/50.
If you know the tare weight of the vehicle and other items/fluids, you could figure out the residuals and account for it by weighing the car.Problem with pre-mix is.....after you flush a system with water, some is left behind. Now how are you going to get the concentration up to 50/50? It will always be less.
Yep, this right here. I just did a couple drain and fills on my 2018 Sierra this past week and the distilled water I bought at Kroger was $1.29 per gallon. Got the DexCool from NAPA for around $25 for 2 gallons of concentrate, still have 1 gallon of 50/50 mix left after the 2 drain and files. Took about 3 gallons of 50/50 mix total, so 3 gallons of 50/50 premix would have cost around $45-50 total. And I wouldn't have had a gallon left over either, so if you figure that it would have been more like $70 total for 4 gallons.I look at it this way - the cost of 1 gallon of Prestone 50:50 DexCool:Water (distilled or de-ionized I assume) is $14.18, and the cost of 1 gallon of Prestone DexCool Concentrate is $15.18. That means 1 gallon of the premix solution contains 1/2 gallon of DexCool which costs $7.59 so the remaining $6.59 is for distilled or de-ionized water.
Now, I can go to the grocery aisle and pick up a gallon of distilled or de-ionized water for about $1.00.
Since all of my vehicles requires around 2 gallons of 50:50 DexCool:Water, I can either pay $28.36 for two gallons of Prestone Premix 50:50 DexCool or I can pay $16.18 for 1 gallon of Prestone DexCool Concentrate and 1 gallon of distilled or de-ionized water and save roughly $12. I'll save the $12.00.
I also use two testers. One with the dial and the other with the floating ball.I have two of that type of coolant tester. The reason I have two is because I misplaced the first one so I bought another. Once I had two, I found they never matched each other and often gave different readings only minutes later. Now I use a refractometer to measure the strength of coolant.
Exactly.It's not likely that every bottle is truly off spec. Since most major manufacturers have rigorous quality management systems in place, it's most likely that your tester is defective.
I look at it this way - the cost of 1 gallon of Prestone 50:50 DexCool:Water (distilled or de-ionized I assume) is $14.18, and the cost of 1 gallon of Prestone DexCool Concentrate is $15.18. That means 1 gallon of the premix solution contains 1/2 gallon of DexCool which costs $7.59 so the remaining $6.59 is for distilled or de-ionized water.
Now, I can go to the grocery aisle and pick up a gallon of distilled or de-ionized water for about $1.00.
Since all of my vehicles requires around 2 gallons of 50:50 DexCool:Water, I can either pay $28.36 for two gallons of Prestone Premix 50:50 DexCool or I can pay $16.18 for 1 gallon of Prestone DexCool Concentrate and 1 gallon of distilled or de-ionized water and save roughly $12. I'll save the $12.00.
Oh I agree completely with you, and some of those people are/were relatives of mine!Here’s my take as someone that sells a lot of coolants. Over 1m gallons a year.
If you consider yourself an average person, which I consider myself an average person. 50% of people are dumber than you.
So while you may be able to mix 50:50 coolant reliably and use decent water. Someone out there is going to think since it’s yellow/gold/orange, they should mix it with the respective color Gatorade, in a 1:20 ratio.
At the end of the day, coolant blenders make 50/50 for ease of use. Both because some end users don’t want to screw around. And, some are bluntly too inept to figure out how to mix something.
I’d buy premix if I need to - deionized water is as “pure” as you can get, distilled water is pretty **** close.