Best antifreeze brand?

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[labeledsk8r]

i have used both prestone and peak and never had any trouble with either. just be sure to do your mixxing properly as to strong of a mix loves to eat up aluminum parts and to weak of a solution will have a lower boiling point plus be more susceptible to freezeing durring these winter months

[88lxi-shortram]

i used peak while the accord was running and i have no pllans to change once its running again. but as far as mixing goes hes right. get it right and go to walmart or autozone and spend a good 5 dollars on a hydrometer. not only will it help you mix properly but also itll help you maintain a good mixture and check your collant points whenever you want.

[nswst8]

I use what ever is on sale. Once a year I drain and fill the radiator only.

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[charliekuney]

You'll be fine with pre-mixed Peak or Prestone. I've used both without problems. Shit gets expensive real fast when you have a coolant leak, though.

[HON-DUH]

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[Bglad420]

Honda Blue.

[Dr_Snooz]

I've been using Evans NPG waterless coolant for a while now. It's a lifetime coolant that never needs replacing. It works pretty good even though it's $30 a bottle. At startup it is a lot thicker than normal coolant and that gives some idle bobbing because the IACV weirds out. I get only a few seconds of idle bob each morning, so this isn't really a problem. It's good stuff if you don't want to fart around with disposing of gallons of coolant each year.

Obviously, at $30 a bottle, you want to make sure your cooling system is up to snuff. If you spring a leak and it all dribbles out, you'll be sad.

[HON-DUH]

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[88lxi-shortram]

if you bought the 50/50 mix i dont think you need to add water

[2ndGenGuy]

I wouldn't dump in the whole gallon of either. Mix them in a bottle before you dump them in. You might wind up putting in a gallon of coolant, then topping it off with a cup of water if you don't get the whole system drained. I've done that a few times, then and had to start all over.

Your coolant overflow bottle makes a good bottle to mix in, if you don't have a spare one hanging out. Mix it in there, pour it in the radiator, you might have to do it a couple times... but it's handy.

[lostforawhile]

if you bought the 50/50 mix i dont think you need to add water

if you buy the 50/50 mix you are getting ripped off, it's the best scam they've got yet, one gallon of full strength antifreeze, one gallon of distilled water from the grocery store, mix in clean bucket, fill the system and pour the rest back in the antifreeze bottle. you get two gallons for just slightly more then one gallon of premix, people don't know how to work on cars anymore, that's why they buy it. it's not rocket science. always use distilled water, here it's about .50 to .75 cents a gallon. take the price of a gallon of full strength antifreeze, divide it by two, this is how much you are paying per gallon, compare this to a gallon of premix.

[DBMaster]

LOL^^

Or, in my case, if you have a reverse osmosis system you can use the water right out of that. I agree that the premix is for people who don't work on cars - just to have around to top off the system. If they have any issues that would actually require REPLACING the coolant they'd have to go to a mechanic.

[lostforawhile]

LOL^^

Or, in my case, if you have a reverse osmosis system you can use the water right out of that. I agree that the premix is for people who don't work on cars - just to have around to top off the system. If they have any issues that would actually require REPLACING the coolant they'd have to go to a mechanic.

just make sure you don't have any kind of minerals in the water at all. what happens is they heat up and combined with the water, they can form corrosive compounds that can cause a lot of damage to aluminum parts. If you mix the antifreeze yourself, you should have some left over to top up anyway, unless your cooling system takes two gallons

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[charliekuney]

If you live in Antarctica, go ahead. Otherwise, don't. Depending on how cold it gets where you live, you'll probably be fine with 50/50.

[Dr_Snooz]

Ideally, you keep the last antifreeze bottle you bought, pour half the new bottle in it, top off both bottles with water and you're happy.

I'm not convinced that distilled water is all that important. Distilled water, after all, will dissolve minerals like aluminum and iron a lot faster than hard water. What will eat up your cooling system fastest is not changing coolant regularly.

When I was younger, you couldn't buy premixed antifreeze. I hated it. I wondered how long it would take the antifreeze makers to figure out that people don't want to be bothered with mixing their own antifreeze. What a freaking hassle. First stop at the parts store to buy it. Then go to the grocery store to get the water. Spend an hour trying to find parking. Curse silently as your line goes into price check cryosleep. Get a ticket going home because you've spent too much time on this and are speeding to catch up. Once home, spend an hour finding an appropriate mixing container. Realize you don't have one and curse again that you didn't pick something up at the grocery store. Run to the neighbor's to see if they have something. Go back home empty handed. Scavenge something from the apartment complex's dumpster. Get everything dirty trying to clean it. Spill coolant all over the driveway trying to fill it, call Hazmat out to clean it up, etc, etc, etc. Pre-mixed is awesome.

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[w261w261]

Hon-Duh, what you are trying to do is end up with a clean cooling system, pretty close to a 50-50 mix of coolant and distilled water. So how much of each you add to the radiator depends on what is currently in the rest of the system (the block + the expansion bottle).

The radiator in a manual tranny car has 6.8 quarts, and in an auto car has 7.4. The coolant bottle has about a quart + or -. Then there's the volume of the engine block, hoses, etc. If you just completed a flush so the engine block is all water, then you'd want to put in more than a 50-50 mixture. If you think that the coolant/water in the block was about 50-50, then add a 50-50 mix.

I personally agree that you should have one of those little thingies that measure the coolant mixture, and tell you to what temperature you are protected. A 50-50 mix will get you down to around -35 degrees I believe, but that's not the only value of antifreeze. The other is corrosion resistance. I refill after a flush, let the engine warm up enough to open the thermostat (thereby mixing the block and radiator fluids), then check the mixture with the tester. If it needs more antifreeze, I drain some fluid out and add 100% antifreeze. If it's too much, ditto but add water.

I don't know what to say about Dr Snooz's comment about distilled water. I think it goes against the prevailing wisdom, and in my own case the difference between using my well water compared to distilled water was that when I started with distilled my coolant stayed green and clear much longer. But if he still used traditional coolant I think Snooz definitely ought to stick with the premixed. Reading his post, I can just imagine him in a holding cell, raving about mixing antifreeze. Whew! Thank god premix came along before it was too late for him

I would buy a branded anti-freeze, mixed or not. I think the most important thing about the stuff for our cars is that it be VISIBLE. Most of the expansion bottles are pretty crudded up by now (they can be cleaned, do a search), and it's hard to see the fluid level in them. If you're using Prestone or some other yellow stuff, when it mixes, it's really hard to see. A dark coolant like Peak makes it much easier. The typical failure mode for coolant leaks is that, if there is no obvious geyser or steam jet, the car will soldier along, with the coolant loss being replaced by the volume in the bottle, until there isn't anything left. Then (at least in a fuelie car, don't know about carbed), the last warning is when the idle stabilizer valve will start to malfunction (the idle will start to fluctuate) because of an air bubble in the coolant. Ultimately the gauge will start climbing, and if you don't notice it at that point, you can overheat things and maybe warp the head, blowing the head gasket and necessitating some unpleasant work or expense. All because you didn't keep track of the fluid.

[lostforawhile]

I bought the gallon of full strength Prestone antifreeze and a gallon of distilled water.

Just to clarify, should I pour in the whole gallon of full strength antifreeze and the gallon of distilled water into a bucket, mix it, then pour the whole thing in to the radiator correct?

Thanks

yep, you'll end up with two gallons of coolant,what doesn't fit goes back in the bottle for next time

[lostforawhile]

Hon-Duh, what you are trying to do is end up with a clean cooling system, pretty close to a 50-50 mix of coolant and distilled water. So how much of each you add to the radiator depends on what is currently in the rest of the system system (the block + the expansion bottle).

The radiator in a manual tranny car has 6.8 quarts, and in an auto car has 7.4. The coolant bottle has about a quart + or -. Then there's the volume of the engine block, hoses, etc. If you just completed a flush so the engine block is all water, then you'd want to put in more than a 50-50 mixture. If you think that the coolant/water in the block was about 50-50, then add a 50-50 mix.

I personally agree that you should have one of those little thingies that measure the coolant mixture, and tell you to what temperature you are protected. A 50-50 mix will get you down to around -35 degrees I believe, but that's not the only value of antifreeze. The other is corrosion resistance. I refill after a flush, let the engine warm up enough to open the thermostat (thereby mixing the block and radiator fluids), then check the mixture with the tester. If it needs more antifreeze, I drain some fluid out and add 100% antifreeze. If it's too much, ditto but add water.

I don't know what to say about Dr Snooz's comment about distilled water. I think it goes against the prevailing wisdom, and in my own case the difference between using my well water compared to distilled water was that when I started with distilled my coolant stayed green and clear much longer. But if he still used traditional coolant I think Snooz definitely ought to stick with the premixed. Reading his post, I can just imagine him in a holding cell, raving about mixing antifreeze. Whew! Thank god premix came along before it was too late for him

I would buy a branded anti-freeze, mixed or not. I think the most important thing about the stuff for our cars is that it be VISIBLE. Most of the expansion bottles are pretty crudded up by now (they can be cleaned, do a search), and it's hard to see the fluid level in them. If you're using Prestone or some other yellow stuff, when it mixes, it's really hard to see. A dark coolant like Peak makes it much easier. The typical failure mode for coolant leaks is that, if there is no obvious geyser or steam jet, the car will soldier along, with the coolant loss being replaced by the volume in the bottle, until there isn't anything left. Then (at least in a fuelie car, don't know about carbed), the last warning is when the idle stabilizer valve will start to malfunction (the idle will start to fluctuate) because of an air bubble in the coolant. Ultimately the gauge will start climbing, and if you don't notice it at that point, you can overheat things and maybe warp the head, blowing the head gasket and necessitating some unpleasant work or expense. All because you didn't keep track of the fluid.

the antifreeze is designed to be mixed with distilled water, thats what they use in the premix, it won't leach the aluminum because of the corrosion inhibitors in the antifreeze, however the minerals in regular tap water will when heated. it's interesting about the radiator, i didn't know the auto radiator held more, the replacement one i got was an auto and it fit right in, I just don't use the cooler in it. that would mean the auto radiator has more capacity and better cooling capability

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[DBMaster]

I had a little cooling system mishap this week. I actually bought a brand new overflow bottle a few weeks ago that turned out to be unnecessary, but it sure is nice to be able to see the coolant level clearly.

To make a long story short, my thermostat physically cracked in such a way that it could not open. I'm driving along and then see the temperature gauge climbing right up to the top. The overflow bottle was percolating like an old coffee pot and coolant was all over the ground. I had to leave the car in a parking lot overnight and change the stat the next morning. Fortunately, that's all it was, but how weird. The stat was a genuine Honda part that was replaced in 2006 when I last did the timing belt. I always change the stat when I replace the water pump. I have NEVER seen a stat crack apart like that!

[w261w261]

.... The stat was a genuine Honda part that was replaced in 2006 when I last did the timing belt....

It's been a credo of mine that I always buy Honda OEM, just for the peace of mind. Reading about your thermostat, I wonder if it was a one-in-a-million thing or now one-in-a-thousand. I hope that Honda is still as relentless with their QC as I had assumed they used to be.

I mention this because a couple of years ago - maybe 25k miles ago - I put in hew half-shafts from Honda. One of them has started to click on turns, not much, but definitely there. All the boots are fine. That shouldn't be happening, but it is.