best antifreeze/inhibiter

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

hi all im at work and im bord as hell ive been reading about the best oil and its helping pass the time, how ever i thought it might be good to start a thread up on anti freeze anti boil, eventualy im guessing that well have a topic for every fluid in the car, trans, break, powerstearing etc etc but for now

whats the best anti freeze anti boil (inhibiter)

cheers guys

[immortality]

i've always used prestone. the red stuff thats rated for GM products and alloy radiators, mixed 50/50 with tap water. they now have another one. i jsut drained the VN after about 4 years of not touching it, no rust, no crap, coolant was still a clear/red in colour etc. the only reason i drained it was because the waterpump needed changing.

if oyu want to be really anal you could use filtered and/or demineralised water or hte premix stuff but i honestly can't see it making much difference

[Scooter79]

I use the Nulon Long Life coolant (green stuff). You really should be using the concentrate so you can mix it yourself to a 50/50 ratio. with a full flush you'll still have about 3 litres of water in the block and many pre mixed coolants are only 33%.

By the way, whats the difference with the red and green stuff? Whats the pros and cons of each?

[undar8ed1]

I just use caltex or woolies stuff (clean team I think) just antiboil/corrosion protector and rubber lubricator, antifreeze is not needed in 90% of Oz.

[greenacc]

I use the Repco brand coolant concentrate and mix it with tap water, plus a pack of holden pellets.

[Harvs82]

Genuine Holden Coolant... I know its not the cheapest, but it is excellent quality. Always mixed 50% concentrate and 50% water. After 12 years the only part of the cooling system that I touched on the Berlina was the water pump, and that was due to a bearing failure, everything else was original. Not bad for 12 years and 200,000km. Changed every 2 years without fail, proof is in the pudding there for me.

[Chirpstr]

50% rain water or distilled not tap water...

[hsvpunk]

Distilled water is tap water which has been boiled, and left to cool.

Aslong as you use the one brand, and DONT mix brands, you will be right.

[undar8ed1]

I use the Repco brand coolant concentrate and mix it with tap water, plus a pack of holden pellets.

Those ferel things, god they make a mess of the resivior, after 1997 the coolant has rubber lubricant added eliminating the need for the pellets (thats what they do lubricate the hoses and water pump seals).

[undar8ed1]

The whole idea of distilled/demineralised water is to stop mineral staining (orange stains) check out the inside of your kettle looks nice hey!
thats what happens when water is stored in ground based resiviors, rain water is the best cost effective way of having good quality water for your car as the water has not touched the ground.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

so let me get this right, park the car outside with the bonnet open and the radiator cap off in a storm?

or is it more a case of put a few buckets out side and try catch 6 leters of water?

or can you buy it, from repco or supercheap?

dont get me wrong, im not tryin to be a smart ass, im genuanly intrested in how you get it (other than "the sky" lol)

[greenacc]

Hey, which coolants have the rubber lube in them ? that sounds easier. And how much is a bottle of the holden coolant ?
PSYKO PHEONIX, I reckon the best way to catch rain water would be in a few plastic buckets or tub. If you are really thirsty you could string up a plastic sheet and collect it in buckets. If thats too much trouble you can buy distilled water from auto shops and supermarkets. Its the same stuff you use to top up your battery. about $1 per litre

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

Hey, which coolants have the rubber lube in them ? that sounds easier. And how much is a bottle of the holden coolant ?
PSYKO PHEONIX, I reckon the best way to catch rain water would be in a few plastic buckets or tub. If you are really thirsty you could string up a plastic sheet and collect it in buckets. If thats too much trouble you can buy distilled water from auto shops and supermarkets. Its the same stuff you use to top up your battery. about $1 per litre

dont give me any ideas lol, as my girl will tell you theres a good possibility that ill string up a whole bunch or tarps and try catch rain weater, ill even throw in an inpromtue rain dance hahahaha, infact ive just been on the phone pricing 6 large tarps, some string and a bath tub and a red felt tip pen!

[immortality]

try supercheap mate, they have 3 or 4 liter containers from memory. if you ahve a water filter at home that will do also. i've always used tap water and my cooling system is still A1, no major corosion at all. i also never use the pellets either. just prestone long life red stuff coolant

[undar8ed1]

Hey, which coolants have the rubber lube in them ? that sounds easier. And how much is a bottle of the holden coolant ?
PSYKO PHEONIX, I reckon the best way to catch rain water would be in a few plastic buckets or tub. If you are really thirsty you could string up a plastic sheet and collect it in buckets. If thats too much trouble you can buy distilled water from auto shops and supermarkets. Its the same stuff you use to top up your battery. about $1 per litre

All do now days 1997 type b (green) is the most common even the cheap wollies stuff (clean team radiator coolant $7 for 4 litres) has the lube added
cost well most (caltex, castrol etc..) is about $24 per 4litres.

[kopper69]

Distilled water is tap water which has been boiled, and left to cool.

Aslong as you use the one brand, and DONT mix brands, you will be right.

Distilled water is the steam. They dont just boil it and cool it down. They boil it, take the steam, steam is cooled down and turns back into a liquid. The idea is that only the pure water will boil and you are left with nothing but the pure water - no salts, calcium, iron etc.

I have also read that rainwater is not as clean as distilled water because it is falling through the atmosphere through all the various chemicals and pollutants that we put up there. There is also the problem of catching of rainwater. If its running off your roof into a tank, or even a bucket, you are going to be adding things to it anyway.

I use the Castrol as recommended in the how to How To Flush A V6 Cooling System

Never had any problems with it. Its not cheap, about $50, and distilled water is another $4 or so. But when you think about how important it is, and how in-frequently you need to replace it, its piece of mind. Im sure the system is fairly tough though, as guys above have mentioned, if you have been running tap water for this long without problems, why change now.