just wondering what you guys recommend as far as antifreeze to keep temps the lowest? i saw this stuff called purple ice over at jeg's performance and does that mix with your normal anti-freeze or u use it by itself? the purple ice is recommended for racing applications, but anyone know how it would do used for street/cruising? thanks in advance

nathaniel

I've always used good ol' Prestone... about a 60/40 mix (60 being water). No probs.

Prestone 50/50

I'll play odd man out - Distilled water, Prestone Anti-rust and a bottle of water wetter - otherwise read: None.

Originally posted by Midnight Marauder:
I'll play odd man out Yeah that this will be the first time. tongue.gif

I recently spoke to a well respected local radiator shop thats been in business for 45 years, he said never to use Prestone, that it was the worst stuff you could buy and that it turns to "jelly"..... I think I'll stay away from that stuff. I may log on to some mustang site and recomend it to all the FORD guys. ;)

Originally posted by Thad:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Midnight Marauder:
I'll play odd man out Yeah that this will be the first time. tongue.gif </font>[/QUOTE]Good point.

:D

Been using Prestone for years. Only brand I ever use. Never had a problem with it or any of my cooling systems because of Prestone....I have one truck with over 180,000 miles on it running nothing but Prestone and no problem ever..... :D

Switched to distilled water and Waterwetter. Dropped 10 degrees. You guys who see winter might have to add a little antifreeze. I never see below 40 degrees.

i just use water and water wetter! car stays around 190.. When winter comes ill probally use a mix of anti freeze and water. usually prestone, i have never heard of prestone being bad

Hi guys,

I couldn't help but notice that some were using distilled water instead of regular tap water, what is the difference between using distilled vs tap water?

Kent

I've used Prestone in the Chevelle since the original coolant was changed back around 1971. Never had ANY problems. Always used a 50/50 mix year around. From the coldest winter morning to the hottest summer day, runs fine. I use distilled water only because I have well water and the mineral content is very high.

I would not put any credibility in a guy who told me that Prestone was bad. They have not become the number one leader in aftermarket coolants by supplying "jelly" to the market and rated the highest used by Automotive mechanics and also was the best by consumers mag! I would not take my radiator back to em either! They do not know what they are talking about.

If any coolant was suspect it's Dexcool with taints of other coolants. That's what turns to jelly. :eek:

You guys do realize that most all antifreeze(low silica type) is the same just different brand names and packaging.
This is why there are only a couple refineries in the US that make all of it. Zerex is the same as Prestone and so on.

I took a lesson from the turbo buick crowd, and I run distilled water and RMI-25.

Nice thing about the RMI-25 is that it's a lubricant package, anticorrosipn package, and surfectant (just like WaterWetter) all in one, and if you happen to pop a headgasket and pump coolant into the motor it won't attack the bearings unlike standard ethylene glycol based coolant. Very good thing for us boosted people.

Troy

Distilled water is used because of mineral impurities found in the drinking water of different municipalities. Trace amounts of hard minerals can cause severe electralisys and seal problems in a cooling system.. Especially one that contains several different metals, ie copper radiator, aluminum intake, and iron heads/block. I've read in the radiator trade publications that in certain areas of the country the tap water is so bad that new radiators have failed within 2 weeks.

Here i've always used tap water, but none of our water here comes from wells, its all soft surface water. We still have the occasional aluminum heater core failure do to eletralisys though.

Just my 2 cents. I believe Prestone is simply antifreeze with some additional additives in it. It is because of these additives that they can't really label it as 'antifreeze'. There are currently only 2 major manufacturers of the stuff, so just about anything you buy, will be the same thing if it is green in color (additives or not). Now there are also different formulations that are yellow and orange and none of these can be mixed with the others. I guess one type was just too simple. graemlins/sad.gif

You are so right about distilled water. The minerals and the other yukkie stuff in regular tap water can crystalize and actually form enough deposits to block cooling passages. That is why they sell "Radiator Flush" which is basically an acid to eat away at those deposite when you "flush" your cooling system.

There are also cooling system additives aid in dissapating heat, reducing electrolysis, reducing the surface tension of water (water wetter). I've always stuck a can of Mac's 13 from NAPA in after every flush, That stuff has been around for some time and onlt costs about 3 bucks.

Originally posted by chevymad:
I've read in the radiator trade publications that in certain areas of the country the tap water is so bad that new radiators have failed within 2 weeks.

I know in some parts of he country the water is pretty bad but, 2 weeks, wow they must really have some bad water.
I'm sure glad our city water isn't that bad, I've always used just what ever brand antifreeze is on sale for years and never had any problems except for one time I had a heater core plug up on a 74 Dodge pickup

Mick@Nite Cool screen name smile.gif
You mean Preston can't say their antifreeze is "antifreze" ?

:confused:

I had a radiator 80% plugged on me 6 months after we moved-- I wasn't thinking. New house is on a well. The hard water just calcified and left tons and tons of buildup in my radiator. That was the last time I put well water into my cooling system. :rolleyes:

Another thing about cooling systems a lot of people forget: it's very good to run sacrifical anodes, especially if you have aluminum components. That way the electrolysis that is always present between the dissimilar metals in your motor (and aggravated by the coolant solution connecting all of it) eats up the sacrifical anode first rather than your expensive aluminum goodies. You can get pipe threaded ones from McMaster-Carr for only a few bucks.

Originally posted by Mick@Nite:
Just my 2 cents. I believe Prestone is simply antifreeze with some additional additives in it. It is because of these additives that they can't really label it as 'antifreeze'.
Uh, it IS labeled as antifreeze.

Originally posted by chevymad:
Distilled water is used because of mineral impurities found in the drinking water of different municipalities. Trace amounts of hard minerals can cause severe electralisys and seal problems in a cooling system.. Especially one that contains several different metals, ie copper radiator, aluminum intake, and iron heads/block. I've read in the radiator trade publications that in certain areas of the country the tap water is so bad that new radiators have failed within 2 weeks.

Here i've always used tap water, but none of our water here comes from wells, its all soft surface water. We still have the occasional aluminum heater core failure do to eletralisys though. WOW! So how do you know whether or not you have CRAP TAP water?! From the hardness or what?

I'm worried now :( Our water SUCKS here, and I actually drink bottled water. Im thinking maybe I should start using distilled water in the rad. Is the water from those Gla*ier machines OK to use if the municipal water is garbage? They are filtered for mineral content, I think.

Where I used to live the water was like 7 hardness- I used it for my radiator(s) right out of the tap with NO problems whatsoever! Here, the water is like 22 hardness out of the tap. Come to think of it, My neighbor had a '88 Plymouth in Cali, ran fine for him forever- until HE CHANGED OUT THE FLUID and PUT tap water from HERE in with the Afreeze! THANKS for the eye opening info- I was going to flush and fill here soon, and you may have saved me a LOT of money! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Oh yeah- I too use Prestone and will continue to do so; never had or heard of bad experiences with it.

I have been using a sacrifical anodes for years, it is called a rad cap. It is a anode on a radiator cap. It works.
Pat

Just did a drain and fill on my Dexcool-equipped 96 Grand Prix yesterday. After 65k miles and more than the recommended 5 years graemlins/sad.gif , the stuff coming out looked pretty good. Ran a hose through it and it ran clear very quickly. After all the bad stuff I've heard about Dexcool, I was expecting molasses. Haven't had any cooling problems yet. (Knock on wood) Used the distilled water and fresh Dexcool to refill. In the Chevelle, I use 50/50 mix of Prestone and distilled with a bottle of Purple Ice.

MalibuJerry350 I stand corrected! Next time I'll check out my "old wives tales" before taking them public.

I did talk to an older gentleman this week who related a story about how they used to run salt water during the winter up north here to keep things from freezing up. They'd just dump it all in the spring and fill it with plain water. I'm glad I'm hot rodding today!

Again Jerry, thanks for setting me straight on Prestone...