Honda Car Forum

rev_otis_mcnatt@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> SoCalMike wrote:
> > rev_otis_mcnatt@yahoo.com wrote:
> > > I've got a '90 Mazda Protege (173K miles) and it's still in
> > > amazingly good condition, and runs like it did when one-
> > > day old. It's been very well maintained all these years,
> > > which is why I still have it. Here's the deal: I put in a
> > > new after-market radiator last July; last month I noticed
> > > a rather slow leak in the fins somewhere. This radiator
> > > has a two-year warranty I think (still have the paperwork
> > > somewhere), but I can't decide whether to just pull the
> > > thing and take it back to collect on the warranty (assuming
> > > they don't try to dance about something), or just pour a little
> > > of the stop-leak stuff in and hope it seals it.
> >
> > return it. if you use stopleak and it doesnt work perfectly and forever,
> > youve just invalidated the warranty. if they dick you around about the
> > warranty, then do whatcha like.
>
> Yep, I'm in agreement with you guys. I'm gonna pull it and take
> it back. If they try to dance, I'll just politely leave with it and
> buy one
> somewhere else....and send a letter to headquarters because
> I have done nothing to void the warranty. BTW, does Prestone
> only sell 50/50 now (at roughly the same price per gallon as they
> used to sell 100% before)? I was at K-Mart recently and that's
> all I saw. Great gig they've got, i.e. sell half-gallon of anti-freeze
> mixed with an equal part water, and keep the price the same!
> Thanks!
>
> --
> O.M.

You have to watch those sneaky SOB's and their mixed junk!

You 'cannot' use that pre-mix to fill up a system after a water flush if
you live anywhere that goes below -25F. It is only good for topping up
a properly filled up system.

I see folks buying it and killing their engines/heater cores, etc....

When you flush a system, normally close to 40% of the water is still
trapped in the heater core and engine block. You then need to add the
correct percentage of pure coolant first and then top it up with water.

On my Jeep that takes 12 quarts to fill, I add 6 of pure coolant first,
then water. Normally I can only get another 2 quarts or so to go in
before it is full. That means 4 quarts of water was left inside things.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

rev_otis_mcnatt@yahoo.com wrote:
> I've got a '90 Mazda Protege (173K miles) and it's still in
> amazingly good condition, and runs like it did when one-
> day old. It's been very well maintained all these years,
> which is why I still have it. Here's the deal: I put in a
> new after-market radiator last July; last month I noticed
> a rather slow leak in the fins somewhere. This radiator
> has a two-year warranty I think (still have the paperwork
> somewhere), but I can't decide whether to just pull the
> thing and take it back to collect on the warranty (assuming
> they don't try to dance about something), or just pour a little
> of the stop-leak stuff in and hope it seals it. It's been many
> years since I used one of these products, and it seemed
> at the time to gunk up the radiator some. What would
> you guys do? Thanks!
>
> --
> O.M.

try to collect on the warrenty but check you have done everything
correctly first.

Bars-leaks and similar I have found to be a temporary patch which tends
to blow on long drives.

Top up with mixed antifreeze only - not water.

A radiator I replaced recently had a disclaimer in the installation
instructions that use with water only voided the warrenty. It seemed to
be something about aluminum corrosion.

Mike Romain wrote:
> You 'cannot' use that pre-mix to fill up a system after a water flush if
> you live anywhere that goes below -25F. It is only good for topping up
> a properly filled up system.
>
> I see folks buying it and killing their engines/heater cores, etc....
>
> When you flush a system, normally close to 40% of the water is still
> trapped in the heater core and engine block. You then need to add the
> correct percentage of pure coolant first and then top it up with water.

YES! Thank you! Finally!

The first time I measured what I was able to remove and compared that to
the spec for cooling system capacity I was amazed; about 35% stayed in
the engine.

--
If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

rev_otis_mcnatt@yahoo.com wrote:
> I have done nothing to void the warranty. BTW, does Prestone
> only sell 50/50 now (at roughly the same price per gallon as they
> used to sell 100% before)? I was at K-Mart recently and that's
> all I saw. Great gig they've got, i.e. sell half-gallon of anti-freeze
> mixed with an equal part water, and keep the price the same!

id imagine they carry the regular version as well. whatever you get,
make sure its silicate and phosphate free, aka: "safe for aluminum engines"

the orange dexcool prestone in the silver jug has been a safe choice for
me over the past 15+ years. mixed 50/50 with distilled water, of course.

zerex supposedly makes a "red" colored universal coolant that id like to
check out some time if i ever run across it. its supposed to be what
toyota uses, so that would be safe as well.

"SoCalMike" <Mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:waOdnROrW8n4uhPeRVn-
> id imagine they carry the regular version as well. whatever you get,
> make sure its silicate and phosphate free, aka: "safe for aluminum
engines"
>
> the orange dexcool prestone in the silver jug has been a safe choice for
> me over the past 15+ years. mixed 50/50 with distilled water, of course.
>
> zerex supposedly makes a "red" colored universal coolant that id like to
> check out some time if i ever run across it. its supposed to be what
> toyota uses, so that would be safe as well.

Finally, someone in the whole wide world who loves DexCool..
Hip Hip Hurray

HLS@nospam.nix wrote:
> "SoCalMike" <Mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:waOdnROrW8n4uhPeRVn-
>
>>id imagine they carry the regular version as well. whatever you get,
>>make sure its silicate and phosphate free, aka: "safe for aluminum
>
> engines"
>
>>the orange dexcool prestone in the silver jug has been a safe choice for
>>me over the past 15+ years. mixed 50/50 with distilled water, of course.
>>
>>zerex supposedly makes a "red" colored universal coolant that id like to
>>check out some time if i ever run across it. its supposed to be what
>>toyota uses, so that would be safe as well.
>
>
> Finally, someone in the whole wide world who loves DexCool..
> Hip Hip Hurray
>

I bought into the hype when Dex-Cool first came out, flushed the cooling
system in my Scirocco real good and filled it with Dex-Cool. The
radiator leaked like a seive within a year. :/

Lesson learned; if I feel like being nice to my car I buy the Pentosin
stuff, otherwise Prestone.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

"clifto" <clifto@clifto.com> wrote

> > When you flush a system, normally close to 40% of the
water is still
> > trapped in the heater core and engine block. You then
need to add the
> > correct percentage of pure coolant first and then top it
up with water.
>
> YES! Thank you! Finally!
>
> The first time I measured what I was able to remove and
compared that to
> the spec for cooling system capacity I was amazed; about
35% stayed in
> the engine.

Per the manual's directions, if one takes off the engine
block drain bolt (not just the radiator drain bolt), then
all the coolant comes out of Honda circa 1990 engines. No
calculation is needed for dilution.

I checked quantities carefully while changing the coolant in
my 91 Civic this past summer and confirmed this.

<HLS@nospam.nix> wrote
> "SoCalMike" <Mikein562athotmail@hotmail.com> wrote
snip
> > the orange dexcool prestone in the silver jug has been a
safe choice for
> > me over the past 15+ years. mixed 50/50 with distilled
water, of course.
> >
> > zerex supposedly makes a "red" colored universal coolant
that id like to
> > check out some time if i ever run across it. its
supposed to be what
> > toyota uses, so that would be safe as well.
>
> Finally, someone in the whole wide world who loves
DexCool..
> Hip Hip Hurray

This newsgroup has several posters who drive Hondas, use
DexCool, and are finding no problems with it. My 91 Civic is
on its third year with Dexcool. (I put new Dexcool in after
2.5 years. That's a bit early, according to other posters
and Dexcool's advertising, but I am being careful.)

Elle wrote:
>
> "clifto" <clifto@clifto.com> wrote
>
> > > When you flush a system, normally close to 40% of the
> water is still
> > > trapped in the heater core and engine block. You then
> need to add the
> > > correct percentage of pure coolant first and then top it
> up with water.
> >
> > YES! Thank you! Finally!
> >
> > The first time I measured what I was able to remove and
> compared that to
> > the spec for cooling system capacity I was amazed; about
> 35% stayed in
> > the engine.
>
> Per the manual's directions, if one takes off the engine
> block drain bolt (not just the radiator drain bolt), then
> all the coolant comes out of Honda circa 1990 engines. No
> calculation is needed for dilution.
>
> I checked quantities carefully while changing the coolant in
> my 91 Civic this past summer and confirmed this.

Wow!

You are the first one I have ever seen that has ever 'read the book and
done it right'.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

"Mike Romain" <romainm@sympatico.ca> wrote
snip
> > Per the manual's directions, if one takes off the engine
> > block drain bolt (not just the radiator drain bolt),
then
> > all the coolant comes out of Honda circa 1990 engines.
No
> > calculation is needed for dilution.
> >
> > I checked quantities carefully while changing the
coolant in
> > my 91 Civic this past summer and confirmed this.
>
> Wow!
>
> You are the first one I have ever seen that has ever 'read
the book and
> done it right'.

'Cause I got lucky or smarter with tools, and so this past
summer got that now-and-then-damning engine block drain bolt
off quite easily.

I have done the dilution trick in the past, when the right
tools were not available and I couldn't free the bolt.