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What coolant to put in the radiator?

3K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  fordfanatic 
#1 ·
I'm currently planning to get the coolant in my radiator and cooling system changed. I've look at some products in the market, including the nulon, valvoline and tectaloy but not quite sure which one should I use. I also found some unfamiliar models from Tectaloy (New(or may be even obsolete?)), so if any one have used them please give opinion about them.

- Nulon Coolant Concentrate (Sounds good with trusty results but some of my frds claim that it actually chews thru rubber pipes and alloy part of their engine as it's too concentrated even at the 2:1 mix)
- Valvoline Coolant Concetrate (Claimed to have 5yr protection but I'm a bit skeptical on their claims)
- Tectaloy 90+ (That's what I used on my old car, doesn't seem to be too bad, but not sure if it works or not in the engine of my na fairlane)
- Tectaloy 100+ (not quite sure how it rates when compared to a 50:50 mix of nulon)
- Tectaloy XP7 (Supposed to be used in utes, 4WD and light commercials. Claimed to be a heavy duty coolant, but can't find any details from the web. It's a 35% ethene glycol mix, about $23 in repco)
- Tectaloy Optimal 33 (Claimed that it can eliminate hotspot(?) on engine block by transferring heat quickly to the coolant (less heat conductive resistance(?)), but can only be found in motorquipe ($35). Again 35% EG mix)

I'm pretty curious about the Optimal 33 and XP7, but not sure if they're good enough to sit in the radiator of my car. Looking forward for all your opinions.
 
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#3 ·
Whatever you do don't use the genuine Ford coolant. It's garbage, and its real corrosive. I just use that Wynns Winter/Summer coolant, only because we buy it in bulk at work, but its good stuff, I don't know if you'll find it in shops, but if you do, its good stuff. I use about 2 litres of it in the whole cooling system, no probs.

Alex
 
#5 ·
I use Nulon stuff - works fine for me.. I don't know about their four year claim or whatever, I'll be replacing it every year as I always do for all coolants..

Using good quality coolant and getting the system nice and clean is always cheaper than replacing a head gasket - and I've done both in the last six months!!

Dan..
 
#14 ·
Whatever coolant you decide to use (as long as it's it's some brand name).. stick with the same brand and percentage of coolant to water you decide on.. (a third to 40% depending on how good your arithmetic is)
Three words..
'Flush'.. 'Clean'.. 'Stay'..(With the same coolant)

After a few years experience with motor cars I've decided to stick with Castrol products for all the vehicles I maintain..

The following is a simplification maybe, but it works for me and i'm responsible for the vehicles concerned.. (Please state your case if you disagree)

Castrol GTX for petrol engines..
Castrol Gas for straight gas LPG vehicles (And two dual fuel cars)
and.. more importantly..
Castrol premix coolant for all of them..

I change the engine oil and filter every 5000 km's or so in all the vehicles and the coolant every 18 months or thereabouts, regardless of km's travelled..

Over a number of years I've had no problems you could relate to any wrong choice of oil or coolant..

Maybe the message is..
"Change it often and the brand or type doesn't matter all that much".. ?

For what it's worth, my time scale for AIR filters is..
20,000 km's for suburban vehicles.. (Absolute max is 30,000k's)
12,000 km's for cars using gravel roads with a lot of dirt and dust..(With a max of 20,000 k's)..

Argue your case if you think it's reasonable..
 
#15 ·
rawlinna, I agree with you 100% on the service intervals, I work for a car dealership and they've introduced a supplementary service at 7500ks (oil and filter) because the manafacturers 15000k interval is just too long.
My cars only done 2500ks since I last changed the oil, but it's gonna be 6 months next month, so I'll be changing it.
As for the coolant thing, thanks for that info people. I am gonna get my system flushed soon and was just going to use Ford coolant, but I'll try the Tectaloy gold or the Nulon Long Life, whichever is easier to find, I guess. :)
 
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