Pretty Cool Customer
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,112
Likes: 28
From: Florida
This is big and everyone with an aluminum radiator should pay close attention. City water is processed differently everywhere. Some systems soften the water which will leave sodium or salt. Some places have florides or calcuim, and/or iron. No city water has nothing in it. Minerals and aluminum do not get along. They will attack the aluminum even when a coolant package is brand new and kill the radiator when the coolant package is depleted. I just attended a corrosion seminar and it scared the hell out of me. For the cost of coolant, I probably will now replace my coolant every year! The reason coolant companies publish a change date isn't because they want to sell more coolant. It's because the inhibitor package that is built into the coolant slowly dies out, and after 24 months, it isn't strong enough to fight off the natural corosion effects of water and minerals, so it starts eating the radiator. It's not anything like running over time on an oil change, which probably will have no effect at all.
We all do the same thing when it comes to coolant. We open the cap and see lime green and say "it looks good". Having no clue as to the last time we changed it. I found myself doing it to a car I bought last year. Then it hit me....I thought wait a minute, I don't know when it has been changed or with what. It could be 3-4 years old and I'm thinking it's fine because it's green? Or I'm prepared to let it go longer? What we all need to do is change it. But then write it down somewhere, and put a note in the glove box or your wallet. Remember, Color means nothing! You wouldn't drink milk if you knew it was two months old, even if it was still white, right? Coolant that has turned brown was dead years ago and all that brown is your engine. Another thing you might want to do as a simple test is check to voltage in the coolant. If you have a volt meter, poke the positive into the coolant and if it measures more than .1 volts, you have a short somewhere and electrolysis may develop.
We all do the same thing when it comes to coolant. We open the cap and see lime green and say "it looks good". Having no clue as to the last time we changed it. I found myself doing it to a car I bought last year. Then it hit me....I thought wait a minute, I don't know when it has been changed or with what. It could be 3-4 years old and I'm thinking it's fine because it's green? Or I'm prepared to let it go longer? What we all need to do is change it. But then write it down somewhere, and put a note in the glove box or your wallet. Remember, Color means nothing! You wouldn't drink milk if you knew it was two months old, even if it was still white, right? Coolant that has turned brown was dead years ago and all that brown is your engine. Another thing you might want to do as a simple test is check to voltage in the coolant. If you have a volt meter, poke the positive into the coolant and if it measures more than .1 volts, you have a short somewhere and electrolysis may develop.
Whenever I suggest it, I usually just get a hassle.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 5,593
Likes: 631
From: Brighton
Do the corrosion inhibitor additives you can buy work or should you just drain it every 2 years?
I didn't see a heater core on the DeWitt's website. Do you make one or who do you recommend for it and the bypass valve?I hate to even ask, but are you going to do your free shipping program again this winter?
I didn't see a heater core on the DeWitt's website. Do you make one or who do you recommend for it and the bypass valve?I hate to even ask, but are you going to do your free shipping program again this winter?
I don't make any heater cores, I think you can still get them from AC Delco
It's become an annual event for my birthday in january so stay tuned
Last edited by Tom@Dewitt; Oct 26, 2007 at 07:59 AM.
You have my business commitment.
