Winter antifreeze

[henry's 31]

Greetings,
What do 'yall recommend as a good antifreeze for winter driving? I have heard and read that modern antifreeze is not good for the Model A system. Most articles on the subject assume that the car is not being used at all during the cold months.

50:50 mix GREEN only like Peak or any other brand that is GREEN. Most auto parts stores are not aware of this and will try to sell you the modern extended life antifreeze.

 

[Chris Haynes]

My car has a closed cooling system. I run Evans Waterless coolant. I have had no problems with it.
Evans Waterless is not recommended for open cooling systems.

 

[30 Closed Cab PU]

So you are saying the green has silicates?


I thought only OAT and modern Antifreezes have silicates.

QUOTE: [When the last time this came up I put some pieces of babbitt the was unfortunately once my thrust bearing in a jar with concentrated Peak "Green Cap" (for use in pre 1989 cars) for a little experiment.

It has been in there for ~one month and I don't see any change. What exactly does the anti-freeze supposed to do to the babbitt.

I can see a problem if the engine was run and it was mixed with the oil but the same problem would occur with water mixing with the oil.]

Soaking babbitt in antifreeze proves nothing. The real damage to babbitt occurs when the water is cooked out of the oil by engine heat, leaving behind a precipitate of the silicates commonly used as a leak preventative in ethylene glycol based antifreeze products. The silicates, which are not soluble in oil, then circulate in the crankcase as a fine abrasive that scrubs away the babbitt.

Back when the government had its "cash for clunkers" program to get old gas hogs off the road, they wanted to make sure the engines wouldn't be put back into use again. So, they added sodium silicate to the engine's crankcase and left them idling until the motor seized up.

 

[Beater]

hmmmmm I have been running the GM orange stuff. dexcool extended life no probs so far

 

[30 Closed Cab PU]

So you are saying the green has silicates?


I thought only OAT and modern Antifreezes have silicates.

Decided to look this up and got this from googling .




I can never seem to keep this info straight in my head for more than a couple of months. A lot of you probably already know some or all of this.




"Vehicle engines require coolants to keep them from overheating. In the past, there was only one kind of coolant (anti-freeze) and that was the green liquid. Today, there are two: The green coolant and the orange colored coolant, which is also known as Dexcool. Let’s look at these more closely.


The green coolant is an inorganic additive technology (IAT). With this type of coolant, phosphates along with silicates are added to ethylene glycol. This helps to protect the metals that are in the vehicle’s cooling systems from becoming corroded. There are some IAT coolants that use propylene glycol instead of ethylene glycol.


The orange coolants are organic acid technologies (OAT). These were created for newer vehicles that had more nylon and aluminum parts in them. OAT coolants use organic acids in order to prevent corrosion.


Some people believe that they can mix the two. This is a mistake and can lead to expensive repairs. The two coolants should never be mixed together as they do not react well. When mixed together they can form a thick, jelly-like substance that can completely stop all coolant flow which can lead to overheating. As the coolant stops flowing, other problems can occur as well such as happens with radiators, water jackets, and even heater cores. The water pump may overheat and stop working. In severe cases, head gaskets can blow, and heads may warp. The engine itself will encounter major damage.


As you can see, mixing the two is not a good idea. If mixing happens, it is best to have the entire system flushed before driving the vehicle. This is the only way to be sure that the system is clean and not at risk. Failure to perform this flushing can, and often does, lead to engine failure and costly repairs. It is better to take care of the problem before it gets much worse."

 

[redmodelt]

It is suggest that changing over from one to the other, that is correct that the system should be flushed.

 

[Purdy Swoft]

Water with a small bottle of water pump lubricant runs cooler . I've never run antifreeze in the summer . Antifreeze is more likely to leak in the primitive cooling system . When I drove my model A's in winter , I used the green antifreeze , one gallon antifreeze mixed with two gallons of tap water .

 

[40 Deluxe]

Anybody here that owns or owned a mid-90's era GM/Chevy with a 350? Did you have to replace the intake gaskets, or worse, did you lose an engine? That acidic orange stuff would eat out the intake gaskets around the water ports in the heads and dump coolant into the crankcase. Also, they had an aluminum quick disconnect heater hose fitting on the back of the (aluminum) intake manifold that would corrode and leak. It would crumble when removing and leave a stub that had to be dug out and the manifold rethreaded.
Most GM vehicles that used Dex-Cool would build up a rusty orange sludge under the radiator cap and in the overflow bottle so GM released a video showing how to clean the system and prevent reoccurrence. As I remember, part of the "cure" was a special radiator cap and never let the overflow bottle get low. It seems exposure to oxygen would promote corrosion. Dex-Cool may be re-formulated now, but it gave us mechanics extra work in the past!