antifreeze of choice

[greg_atlanta]

I'm taking my '92 Q (appx 191K miles) to T-3 S. Cobb in the next month or two to replace hoses, thermostat, spark plugs, etc. I went to dealer today to get a gallon of Nissan antifreeze, but they were honest with me... the price is now $27/gallon, and nothing wrong with using something else. So I figure change is good.......

I've read before than Havoline Orange is the best bet. Any other choices?

I know you have to flush everything once so old and new don't mix. I can drain it a few times at home (but that gets old). Should I bring extra distilled water for T-3 to do a complete flush before adding AF??

Any reason to use a chemical cleaner? If so, which one?

[elwesso]

Ill just tell you what I used.......

First..... If you are going from green to green, you dont need to be extra super careful to get it all out..... You wanna get MOST of it out, but its not really really important...... Only applies going from green to DEXCOOL (orange havoline stuff your talking about)......

I used PEAK antifreeze.... its blue...... No reason why I picked it over anything else except I was too lazy and cheap to buy something else, and we had this laying around in the garage, unopened..... My uncle said it was free game, so I went at it!!!!!

That being said, I think if you drain and fill 4 times, you'll be safe...... That is, if your using green and not dex-cool..... From here out, im doing bi/yearly drain and refills of the radiator, so I dont have to the flush procedure.....

I used ZEREX cooling system cleaner...... Worked good I guess, its probably something that you wouldnt really notice, since I changed the Tstat with it also..... I did notice the temp gauge stays a little lower than it did......

The key with that stuff is to take it on a really long road trip to let it work its magic...... Last winter, the heater was weak..... I ran it for 2 days, with one road trip over 2 hours at 70mph with the heater core full open, and now the heater will singe your leg hairs off now!!! Not that you'll need that in atlanta or anything......!

[180fan]

personally I use prestone 50/50 with alhambra distilled water as there's no additional salt added into the water after the distillation process. The salt adds gunk to the walls of the cooling system and can corrode aluminum parts.

[Q45tech]

What ever you chose just periodically check the coolant PH to make sure there is reserve alkalinity per specs.While you have your millivolt meter out check to make sure there are no ground loops with engine running.

http://www.audiocontrol.com/te...2.pdfh ... es...d.htm

"Determining the levels of EME present in the cooling system is very easy. All you really need is an ultrasensitive voltmeter. Simply remove the radiator cap, stick the positive probe into the cooling system, and ground the negative probe to the radiator. With the meter dialed down to the lowest voltage setting, take a reading of the total amount of electrical volts present in the cooling system. The reading should be somewhere between 0.1 volts and 0.5 volts. Anything higher than 0.5 volts means the cooling system is highly acidic and should be changed at once to prevent future leaks from appearing"

[Mayhem_J30]

"Determining the levels of EME present in the cooling system is very easy. All you really need is an ultrasensitive voltmeter. Simply remove the radiator cap, stick the positive probe into the cooling system, and ground the negative probe to the radiator. With the meter dialed down to the lowest voltage setting, take a reading of the total amount of electrical volts present in the cooling system. The reading should be somewhere between 0.1 volts and 0.5 volts. Anything higher than 0.5 volts means the cooling system is highly acidic and should be changed at once to prevent future leaks from appearing"

Very cool info. I'll try it.

[greg_atlanta]

I guess brand of antifreeze doesn't matter. I'll still change it at least every 2 years (if engine lasts that long). :surprisea

I'm currently using Nissan Green and don't want to risk having a chemical conflict that gunks things up..... so I guess Havoline Orange should be avoided. I think T-3 uses Zerex (sp?). Would that be fine? Any other brands that mix happily with Nissan Green?

[elwesso]

Any brand that is ethelyn glycol (sp) will be fine, as nissan green is the same stuff as, say prestone......

Zerex is just fine...... Id also like to try (probably next time) valvoline maxlife......

[Q45tech]

The additive packages are what causes the problem: OAT and metasilicates don't mix..........the OAT causes the MS to jell out!

The color is just dye........water, ethylene G, and OAT and meta silicates and borates, and other additives are all clear and make clear solutions.