At 02:18 PM 12/10/00 -0800, you wrote:
>My 1997 Owner's Manual says "use a high quality ethylene glycol based
>anti-freeze coolant with a silicate inhibitor". The extended life
>anti-freeze I put in says it contains no silicates, but uses premium rust
>inhibitors. Should I be concerned? I always use distilled water and not
>tap water. Anyone know the difference between silicate rust inhibitors and
>premium rust inhibitors-if any, and should this matter on a V8 radiator and
>water pump? Thanks Jay
Just for information ... no personal opinion given.
The most common inhibitors in anti-freeze are called silicates and they are
used to protect the aluminum and other parts of the engine's cooling system.
Within the past few years, new types of corrosion inhibitors have been
developed
and they are called organic acids. Cars made by General Motors, the
Mercury Cougar
and VW/Audi cars use antifreeze that contains organic acids. To
differentiate it
from the traditional antifreeze, it is colored either red or orange and it
is supposed
to last 150,000 miles or five years. (By the way, it's pink in Audis).
That is longer
than the traditional antifreeze. Havoline Dex-Cool and Prestone Extended
Life are two
brands that contain the new organic acids. Keep in mind that you're not
supposed to mix
the new red/orange antifreeze with the old green, yellow/gold type.
NOTE: Just to confuse things a bit more, 1998-99 Chrysler LH cars
(Intrepid/Concorde/300M)
use a different type of orange antifreeze, which is a mixture of silicates
and organic
acids. It isn't compatible with the other red or orange antifreezes and
you can only
get more of it from your friendly Chrysler/Dodge dealer.
There's more. The green antifreeze used in most Japanese cars does not
contain silicates
and it's not the same as the old style green, yellow/gold antifreeze. The
yellow that is
used in some European cars is different from our yellow, even though it
contains silicates.
And let's not forget the red used in Toyota cars and the blue that is used on
some European and Korean cars.
The question that most people would probably ask is, "What do I do in an
emergency?"
If all you have is the older green, yellow/gold antifreeze, use it, because
it's better
than overheating or freezing. However, it's best to use whatever
antifreeze your car
came with originally.
Can you use the newer red/orange antifreeze (the one GM cars come with) on
other cars? You're not supposed to because the red/orange antifreeze is
specifically designed to be used on cars that have aluminum radiators
instead of
radiators made from copper and brass. The red/orange antifreeze will not
provide
the protection needed for the lead solder used in copper and brass
radiators. So
what it comes down to is, if your car has an aluminum radiator, stick with
the red
or orange antifreeze.
As for all the other colors (except the special Chrysler orange), you can
use the
traditional green, yellow/gold antifreeze in your car. With the
antifreezes that
have silicates -- the Japanese green, the Toyota red, and the European yellow
and blues -- you can use the traditional green, yellow/gold. You may be
compromising the longevity of some of the original equipment antifreeze,
though. As for the Japanese red or green that doesn't have silicates, you
can use
the common green, yellow/gold antifreeze but it's best to do so after the
system
has been flushed out and thoroughly rinsed.
And you thought that there were no standards for the FL manual
recounts :-)
Bob
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