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Reply to "Radiator fluid change"

quote:
Originally posted by DOES 200:
Thanks Mark. I have used something called Dex-Cool in the past, it is orange & says good on aluminum parts and says it lasts 5 years. Maybe thats the same stuff?

I am trying to think how to do this with minumal rain on myself and the carpet garage. I was thinking of drilling a hole in the hose before cutting it, so at least hopefully it all falls straight down out the hole.


Extended life antifreeze most commonly known as Dexcool was developed for modern aluminum block/headed engines. Old glycol antifreeze contained silicates which are abrasive. I believe they are added to wear away scale from iron engine parts. Unfortunately they wear away rubber seals and soft aluminum parts. Water pump failure is usually attributed to seal failure leaks. The drawback to Dexcool is that when contaminated, it turns into a gel. I have seen a neglected system's resevoir coolant turn to brown pudding that has to be spooned out. Look at your radiator cap seal, if it has a brown gel forming, that's the start of it. As was said, there are class actions law suits causing overheating damage when clogging cooling systems.

Adding Dexcool to a system that didn't come with it unless it's a totally cleaned out (like new) is not a good idea. If there is ANY contaminants in the old system, it will immediately start to deteriorate and break down. If you were using a glycol mix, you should continue.

I found Hyperkuhl which provides 100% corrosion protection and water wetter in one, seemed like the perfect product. Plain water is the best coolant, it has twice the heat transfer of glycol based anti freeze and 50% better than a 50/50 mix. Living in the tropics, I didn't need antifreeze protection and ran plain water with Hyperkuhl, my cars ran 10-12 degrees cooler than with plain water. This product is great with mixed metals such as iron engine blocks with aluminum heads and radiators. Unlike sacrificial annodes which offer localized protection, Hyperkuhl offers protection throughout the system. There are zinc anodes sold which advertise cooling system protection, some sold integrated into radiator caps. These are bogus as zinc protects in salt water thus are used in the marine industry. What protects in fresh water is magnesium. When I was in high school, the old time racers that I hung around with used to grind magnesium into powder and mixed them into the cooling systems. When left sitting, Hyperkuhl bottles had a silver colored sediment on the bottom of the bottles. While the formula is secret, I suspect that the substance is magnesium. The company lists an active ingredient as Molyb which is supposedly expensive. Fluidyne used to recommend Hyperkuhl for their radiators, not sure if they still do. Hyperkuhl has the same life span and Extended Life Coolants. If freeze protection is needed, it can be added and will provide added corrosion protection. How good is this stuff? It's used on NASA launching pads and to cool nuclear reactors.
Last edited by 4nford
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