Changing coolant

[Kiwi_ME]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
1994 Eagle Summit (Mitsubishi derived clone) and dad had a 1995 Honda Accord.
...
I immediately tell them not to use the coolant with silicates.

yes, interestingly this Motor magazine article says:

"American conventional green coolants use doses of both silicates and phosphates."

"Japanese conventional coolants contain no silicates, but they do contain phosphates for fast-acting protection, plus other inhibitors.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: artificialist

My parents experienced something completely different. Many years ago, mom had a 1994 Eagle Summit (Mitsubishi derived clone) and dad had a 1995 Honda Accord. Both cars had water pumps fail within months of each other, the year was 1999 or 2000, IIRC. The guys at the repair shops said that the OEM coolant had no silicates, and the conventional green stuff had it. Dad always thought green antifreeze was all the same.

So whenever someone tries to use coolants that have silicates in a car that doesn't use them, I immediately tell them not to use the coolant with silicates.


That was then, this is now and I don't think you can get a full silicate formula coolant anymore, at least not readily available. Coolants available today have a low silicate concentration, just enough to provide fast protection against cavitation, same function as phosphates.

Japanese concluded that the old full silicate formulas may contribute to shorter seal life and moved to phosphates instead, but of course most people took that as "all silicate coolants are bad in Japanese cars". I've been using G-05 in my Mazda 3 for five years now with stellar results and perfectly clean innards.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: DannyBoyG
Also, what kinds of coolant would you suggest? I have looked at several types such as Prestone, Genuine Pink or Red Toyota, or even Amsoil. I am not too concerned about price as coolant doesn't need to be changed very often.


An important thing to note here: You said the price of coolant doesn't matter much as it doesn't need to be changed very often.

True, as long as you realize that the reason it doesn't need to be changed often is because of the coolant's formulation. Different coolant will have different service intervals. For example, the plain old green coolant wouldn't be suitable for such a long service life.

Personally I would stick with the Toyota pink coolant. It wount have any compatibility issues if you leave some coolant in the block (simply draining the radiator will not remove all of the coolant in the system) and it will have one of the longest drain intervals. Also note that in your manual, it probably recommends a reduced drain interval AFTER the first 10yrs/100K miles.