While researching which coolant to use after new radiator install, I found the following:

 

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/tdrarticles/tdrarticle62_antifreeze.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

About halfway down the page there is this table:

 

 

There seem to be a few interesting tidbits in the article, and ALL sorts of talk about silicates etc...

 

Thanks for looking, and I am very curious as to what Folks think of the info....

Ed

 

I did a good bit of digging into this a month ago when I flushed my coolant. Sure I could have spend all the money on fancy HOAT coolant, but why when the factory fill is plain old green from Napa and costs only about $10 for a gallon of concentrate? Mike has pics of the inside of his rad after running creek water and Walmart or Napa coolant and it's clean as a whistle! Besides the cost, I'd like to have something readily available in an emergency rather than some special HOAT. I didn't even go with the high mileage coolant as I plan to change it regularly. Just my opinion of course :-)

I picked up 3 gallons of Wal-Mart Super Tech and 3 gallons of distilled water...

Should do the job, and with regular changes We should be ok.

 

The OSC Radiator made from Rock Auto in Great Shape...Lots of padding!

Fairly heavy unit...29lbs was the shipping weight...of course the box n padding are part of that I would assume.

Edited September 23, 20169 yr by DocH
Added content

I have run plain old ethylene glycol in mine since it was new. I dont have creek water like Mike but have used the well water at home the whole time. I did loose a radiator around 250k. Got a pretty good view of the old ones inards.

  I replace about one radiator a month.  Every one is due to a leak in the area of the radiator where the hot water from the engine comes into it.  Either the seal between the aluminum core and plastic side tank is leaking or there is a crack in the side tank.  Sometimes the neck for the upper radiator hose snaps off.  What I find is the plastic there has thinned out and weakened do to the hot coolant.

  I cut the side tanks from these radiators before I bring them in to the recycler.  The only radiators I've seen with some type of blockage are the old copper/brass type that have a calcium/mineral blockage or plastic/aluminum radiator with some type of sealer (Bars Leak) at the bottom. 

  The biggest problem I find is the ph is to high (8.0 ⇧ base) and causing corrosion in the cooling system, cylinder head, and block.    

Edited September 25, 20169 yr by IBMobile

9 hours ago, IBMobile said:

The biggest problem I find is the ph is to high (8.0 ⇧ acidic) and causing corrosion in the cooling system, cylinder head, and block.

 

 

 

Correction. Not acidic, but basic... Still corrosive though. I'll have to agree that most people do not change coolant often enough and end up getting a offset pH number and turns corrosive eating everything in the coolant system. Head gaskets, hoses, rubber seals around the header tanks, etc. All corrosive materials tend to react with other material and change or discard something which typically settles in the bottom of the block and radiator. 

 

So this is an example of too late... When you start seeing rust in the coolant you've gone too far. 

 

The funny part is most people look at the coolant reservior and see it still clean or even look in the radiator and still looks clean. The problem is the rust is heavier than the coolant so it always sinks to the very bottom of block and radiator where you can never see it. So by the time the coolant is totally discolored it way to late and pH level have been doing damage for long time.

Edited September 23, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

Its cheap.  Just drain and refill with new every now and again.  Doesn't have to be some big drawn out procedure.....