Did I use the wrong coolant?

[diesel_dave]

Why did you decide to ditch the Zerex G05 and go with original green? I returned my prestone "any make" and was leaning toward the g05 stuff.

Honestly, the G05 probably would have been fine. Plenty of people had good results with that coolant. The reason I went back to green is simply that's what was in there the last 16 years and there are no coolant leaks, overheating issues or any other concerns. Also the green coolant came out completely clean which leads me to believe it was doing a good job fighting corrosion. I figured if the green stuff is working so well, why change it? My original intention all along was to put green in and I THOUGHT that's what the Prestone AMAM stuff was but I clearly didn't do enough research.

Bottom line, I was really close to using the G05 stuff I already bought but it was easy for me to exchange it so I did at the last second.

 

[Mogman]

So I go to O'Reilly's and said I wanted plain ol IAT green antifreeze so they gave me the house brand "conventional green" I read what I could on the label and did not see anything bad and it did not say "extended life" or any such crap.
So I looked it up and if you read near the bottom, "patented advanced organic acid technology"
SO back I go again..

We even had a discussion about OAT posing as IAT....

 

[diesel_dave]

So I go to O'Reilly's and said I wanted plain ol IAT green antifreeze so they gave me the house brand "conventional green" I read what I could on the label and did not see anything bad and it did not say "extended life" or any such crap.
So I looked it up and if you read near the bottom, "patented advanced organic acid technology"
SO back I go again..
View attachment 865067
We even had a discussion about OAT posing as IAT....

Wow that is really sneaky! I ended up using the Zerex stuff because the data sheet specifically says it is IAT and Napa had a 20% off deal so it was the same price as the Napa house branded stuff.

 

[Mogman]

I think I am going to try this stuff, has additives for anti cavitation

 

[Coug]

isn't cavitation only an issue with the wet liner type engines, not cast cylinder blocks?

 

[Mogman]

I do not think cavitation is limited to wet liner engines, it only became a big issue as the RPM, compression and horsepower increased causing the "ringing" of the cylinders to become more pronounced.
As I understand it the "little Detroits" do not have that issue, I was going to have to "order it in" at the local parts house ether way so I just went with it....

 

[TNDRIVER]

I think I am going to try this stuff, has additives for anti cavitation
View attachment 865070

isn't cavitation only an issue with the wet liner type engines, not cast cylinder blocks?

This anti freeze is probably intended for the commercial type diesels with the wet liner. The anti cavitation is probably DCA that we added to regular antifreeze before the "long life" stuff came along. I know some one will correct me but i've never seen a "bored liner" engine that had to have the coolant tested for DCA concentrate on a regular basis. The military certainly does not test the HMMWV engines. My two cents.

 

[blutow]

I know some one will correct me but i've never seen a "bored liner" engine that had to have the coolant tested for DCA concentrate on a regular basis. The military certainly does not test the HMMWV engines. My two cents.

I'm pretty sure the ford powerstrokes have a history of cavitation problems and they are not sleeved as far as I know.

 

[TNDRIVER]

I'm pretty sure the ford powerstrokes have a history of cavitation problems and they are not sleeved as far as I know.

I stand corrected, I know nothing about Fords except how to turn the key.

 

[kenn]

Back to the top! I'm about to do this and I've been as frustrated as others reading about antifreeze. It seems like the proper product is going to be a low silicate IAT ethylene glycol coolant. I.e. simple green stuff. Maybe an additional anti-corrosion additive? The zerex original green states that the product is designed for vehicles that require IAT and has a "patented" corrosion inhibitor package. Maybe I'll just get 5 gallons of the stuff, go through the flush process, then go back in with distilled plus 5 gallons. Maybe there is something else but I'm going to go this route after a ton of reading here and elsewhere.

 

[diesel_dave]

Back to the top! I'm about to do this and I've been as frustrated as others reading about antifreeze. It seems like the proper product is going to be a low silicate IAT ethylene glycol coolant. I.e. simple green stuff. Maybe an additional anti-corrosion additive? The zerex original green states that the product is designed for vehicles that require IAT and has a "patented" corrosion inhibitor package. Maybe I'll just get 5 gallons of the stuff, go through the flush process, then go back in with distilled plus 5 gallons. Maybe there is something else but I'm going to go this route after a ton of reading here and elsewhere.

That is basically exactly what I ended up doing in the end. I started with the Universal stuff then ended up draining it out after a few weeks after I did some research and learned some things that concerned me. I am glad I did too because there was a lot of sediment that was already starting to precipitate out of solution in just those few weeks. I then bought several bottles of pricey Zerex G-05 because I had read some promising things about that type. After even more research, I took the G-05 back and decided I would go back to the conventional green stuff because that is what the truck came with and after nearly two decades of that green stuff being in there, there wasn't a single spec of crud that came out during the initial flush. So I bought 4 gallons of Zerex Conventional Green and put that in after an extremely thorough flushing process to get out as much of the "Universal" stuff as I could. It has been a few months later and the green coolant looks completely clean so far. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

 

[Maxjeep1]

I just did this and I used prestone platinum. Claims it’s better and lasts 15 years. I got the premix that was 60/40 or something weird and I got the straight anti freeze.

 

[diesel_dave]

I just did this and I used prestone platinum. Claims it’s better and lasts 15 years. I got the premix that was 60/40 or something weird and I got the straight anti freeze. View attachment 873642

Yep, that appears to be an Organic Acid Technology type of coolant. I elected to go with an old school Inorganic Acid coolant in the end. Honestly, you are probably fine with whatever you go with as long as you flush out the system completely so there is no IAT - OAT mixing that could precipitate silicates and create mud.

 

[Maxjeep1]

Yep, that appears to be an Organic Acid Technology type of coolant. I elected to go with an old school Inorganic Acid coolant in the end. Honestly, you are probably fine with whatever you go with as long as you flush out the system completely so there is no IAT - OAT mixing that could precipitate silicates and create mud.

It’s really confusing. I feel comfortable with my choice and I flushed everything and ran my leaf blower thru it until the drips stopped. I think I only got 5 gallons in it

 

[kenn]

Well, I started on cleaning it out. I took out the temp sender since it is bad and collected about 1.5 gallons from that hole. I opened the radiator drain cock and... nothing but a tiny drip. It's full but obviously crud is clogging it. Nothing is ever easy, lol. I figured I'd remove the drain cock but it is mangled pretty badly by some previous "operator". Top that off with another "what size is that?!" question and it appears the drain cock is 17/32 as it is halfway between a 1/2" and 9/16" wrench (and is also about 13.5mm). I'm going to go get a 9/16 flare wrench and see if I can get it off that way but I sure don't want to damage a VERY expensive radiator! I may have to go the lower hose route. It's awfully hard to avoid spilling toxic crud in that method...

***edit*** I opened the valve all the way and used my compressor with a pressure nozzle and blew a bit of air. It opened it up a bit so it started flowing but not a lot. I then stuck thin flexible plastic stick in there and kind of wiggled it around and voila - my radiator no longer has a prostate issue. Very strong stream.

 

[Maxjeep1]

Well, I started on cleaning it out. I took out the temp sender since it is bad and collected about 1.5 gallons from that hole. I opened the radiator drain cock and... nothing but a tiny drip. It's full but obviously crud is clogging it. Nothing is ever easy, lol. I figured I'd remove the drain cock but it is mangled pretty badly by some previous "operator". Top that off with another "what size is that?!" question and it appears the drain cock is 17/32 as it is halfway between a 1/2" and 9/16" wrench (and is also about 13.5mm). I'm going to go get a 9/16 flare wrench and see if I can get it off that way but I sure don't want to damage a VERY expensive radiator! I may have to go the lower hose route. It's awfully hard to avoid spilling toxic crud in that method...

Take the lower hoses off and look up inside the radiator and see what’s going on inside. I had lots of build up where the lower hose connects to the standpipe. Probably a good time to replace hoses if you haven’t already. I got lots of stuff out of the heater core also. I ran the prestone flush in it and I drained it and did it again.

 

[kenn]

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your take, I don't have a heating system on the truck so one less thing to worry about leaking/clogging. I live in Central texas and I put on a long-sleeve shirt maybe a dozen times in a year. I edited my original post as some compressed air and a flexible plastic stick got it done. That said, I'm going to flush the heck out of it and do a full fluid change and drive it a few months then do it again. I know it is a bit of a waste but I know that no matter how much I flush it this time, it'll come back dirty pretty quickly given it has been a very long time since done and is nasty dark brownish green. The second round will get new hoses everywhere. I have too many other immediate needs to make it more road worthy...

 

[CanadianAR]

I’m a new owner and in the diesel trade. I was planning on doing a coolant flush and fill and had not considered a lot of what was mentioned. Very informative thread. Nice to know that basic old school green is a solid choice still.