Holden dealer's advice on coolant change

[shueardm]

Returning my overpriced manifold gasket today for a refund I asked on the way out about the Holden coolant ( AcDelco), $53 isn;'t too bad but I said, it's only 5 ltrs concentrate and the system takes 12 ltrs.
He said yes but you'll never get all 12 ltrs out of it, so it will be fine, just flush it out with a hose and put in 5ltrs, then top up with tap water. To which I replied, I don't wish to flush with a hose and he said why not that's what we do....
So all my concerns about rightness seem to be overkill.
I was worried about Adelaide tap water, he said nah!
I was worried about not getting a perfect 50/50 mix ( 5ltrs coolant and 7 ltrs tap water), he said nah!

I was a little bit surprised he even said don't waste your time with demineralised water, this coolant is great it doesn't mater.

Personally, I am less confident than ever before with the Holden dealerships service dept and I am going to do it with a 6 ltr Nulon and 6 ltr demin water, in the end once i flush and rotate out as much of the tap water that I can.

 

[CalaisNQ]

Just remember to turn your heater on to flush the water out of heater core.
Anything is better than tap water, I use rain water.
If your concerned about flush the system just fill the system with clean water, run the engine up to normal operating temp, dump the water, ( after the engine cooled down again), and then fill with your coolant mix.
Never had a cooling problem, using the nulon green concentrate.

 

[gossie]

I used rain water with RED Nulon coolant in the VE engine at 5 years as per the books. Same engine as a VZ.

These engines use RED coolant. Your books tell the story, and to used "pure" water as such.

 

[Capsule]

Nulon RED is fine at 33% mix (and 5/12 is 41%), it will just boils a bit earlier, well, 3 degrees earlier, big deal! And freeze earlier too, but I doubt you'd get to -18 in Adelaide :-D

Soft tap water is fine too. Not sure how soft it is in Adelaide but here in Brisbane it's really soft, I wouldn't worry too much since Nulon says "soft, clean or demineralised water". Of course distilled is always better.

See the specs here:
Red Long Life Concentrated Coolant - Nulon Products Australia

 

[mpower]

Nulon Red here, I use premixed and always have a bottle around if I need a topup - if I wasn't going to topup with premix I'd buy some demineralised water from Woolies.

 

[Benboy]

Returning my overpriced manifold gasket today for a refund I asked on the way out about the Holden coolant ( AcDelco), $53 isn;'t too bad but I said, it's only 5 ltrs concentrate and the system takes 12 ltrs.
He said yes but you'll never get all 12 ltrs out of it, so it will be fine, just flush it out with a hose and put in 5ltrs, then top up with tap water. To which I replied, I don't wish to flush with a hose and he said why not that's what we do....
So all my concerns about rightness seem to be overkill.
I was worried about Adelaide tap water, he said nah!
I was worried about not getting a perfect 50/50 mix ( 5ltrs coolant and 7 ltrs tap water), he said nah!

I was a little bit surprised he even said don't waste your time with demineralised water, this coolant is great it doesn't mater.

Personally, I am less confident than ever before with the Holden dealerships service dept and I am going to do it with a 6 ltr Nulon and 6 ltr demin water, in the end once i flush and rotate out as much of the tap water that I can.

Please - who was the Dealer !

 

[Sabbath']

Just get the garden hose,some red coolant and be done with it. Not worth this much of a fuss.

 

[shueardm]

Please - who was the Dealer !

I don't think I wish to drag a business name like that. Maybe a hint? South of the city of Adelaide. There's a few so I am not really telling

Is Adelaide water soft? Cough Cough, Adelaide has the nations worst water.

I have done the rotation of coolant. I purchased 30 ltrs of Demneralized water ( overkill yes), drained the radiator four times, each time replacing with my water, eventually the red was just a light pink So then put in the 6 ltrs of concentrate the final time. I could have done the whole reverse flush and heater hose, rad hose but I just couldn't be stuffed doing those clamps, very limited space to work with.
I used Nulon Red, $53 plus $33 water, hey it's still cheaper than the $180 I was quoted by mechanic...

 

[K-BAGZ]

Half the money for half the job in my eyes...

But it's done now.

 

[CONROD]

I could have done the whole reverse flush and heater hose, rad hose but I just couldn't be stuffed doing those clamps, hey it's still cheaper than the $180 I was quoted by mechanic...

Fair Dinkum mate,
You doubted the info the dealer gave you based on what you thought was dodgey, only to do half a job based on couldn't be stuffed !!!!!!!!:hmmm: