I used Prestone Anitfreeze good for everything it says???

[444-4D]

Originally Posted by SrTrainer

My name is John and I’m a technical trainer for Prestone. I wanted to offer a little input.

What are the duties of a Prestone technical trainer? Do you travel and hold clinics for auto parts stores?

[klutz1]

If it is mint and beautiful rich guy with that much mileage then use whatever it came with and it might reach a million miles. Somebody was doing something right!

[SrTrainer]

Grandpas97

Thanks for the tip on the well water because we all know this makes a difference.
You could have your water tested to make sure it meets specifications for use in a cooling system. It is always good to know what’s in the water. The water can be good to drink but when mixed in a hot running engine and cooling system hard water can cause scaling and/or corrosion/erosion.

If you have concerns about the quality of the water then use Distilled or DeIonized water. You can usually buy it at a local grocery store.

First, start by draining the cooling system (remember always do this on a cold system and never open a hot cooling system).
I prefer to remove the thermostat and reinstall the housing so everything flows and upon start-up you don’t have to wait for the thermostat to open. I also replace the thermostat afterwards (this is just my preference).
It’s not a bad idea at this point to run quality water through the cooling system to flush out as much antifreeze from the block as possible. Then close the drain, let the system fill with water and pour the proper amount of flushing solvent into the cooling system (bottle usually tells you how much flushing solvent to add for the capacity of cooling system).
Run the vehicle for the allotted time (from the directions on the type of flushing solvent you are using) with the heater on full hot, to get flow through the heater core, and blower on high.
Let the system cool and then drain cooling system.
Flush the cooling system 3 to 4 times with quality water to remove any flushing solvent, debris, and left over antifreeze.
If needed keep flushing with water until water drains clean. I use the Prestone Flush and Fill Kit because it works very well.
When satisfied the system is clean and flushed with water, let the system drain.
Install the new thermostat and gasket- fill the cooling system with 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and good quality water.
Run the vehicle at operating temperature for 15 minutes. Check for leaks.
Let system cool before opening the cooling system and then test the antifreeze/water mixture by checking freeze point, making sure it is at -34 degrees.
Remember this step is important unless you remove the block plugs to drain the engine of water. Depending on the engine, it could hold anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of water; which after mixing you would not have a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze/water when completed.
If you live in an area above 5000 feet the mixture of antifreeze to water should be about 55% antifreeze and 45% water. Boiling point is lower above 5000 feet.

Hope this helps.

[SrTrainer]

444-4D

Good question… I work for Honeywell in the Transportation division and we offer technical training to our customers in areas, such as, cooling system technologies, filtration, ignition, OBD II, Power Management Systems, and Electronics. The training can cover automotive, light-duty trucks and/or heavy-duty trucks. The training is attended by OE dealers, HD Fleets, Automotive and Light-duty Truck technicians.
We also present product knowledge and technical training for our customers in sales that work for a warehouse, jobber, or dealer; for their service advisors.

Cheers,

[pjwoolw]

Thanks John. Your comments have cleared up allot of questions I had about coolant. I for one have no idea what coolant has been in the coolant system before I got it. Good to have an expert on hand to help out with the confusion. At least mine!


Thanks again!

[Sixstringhotshot]

To clarify a few things, and confirm I read correctly:

7.3L IDI do not have cylinder sleeves, and are therefore less prone to cavitation? Or is it PSD 7.3 that aren't sleeved? Do they recommend/require less SCA as a result? I just replaced my water pump. Not looking to go down that road again. Green low-silicate antifreeze requires 8-10oz of SCA (according to Ford) or 4oz per gallon of coolant...or 1.2-3.0 SCA units per gallon? I see lots of conflicting info about how much is the correct mixture. And 15,000 miles is the regular SCA test interval? (according to Ford)?

[pjwoolw]

The only way I know of is to use the Fleetguard test strips. I've always gone two and a half pints of the Ford SCA additive to start. Test and adjust the level as necessary. I haven't done this but a couple of times. Haven't flushed the 97 yet. But the SCA levels are OK. The chemistry of the whole deal is beyond me.

[grandpas97]

Here is my half a cent. I just changed the coolant in my 97 PSD and I had a little trouble the first time. Changed it on a Sunday so the dealer was closed. When I tried to take out the thermostat it was stuck in the housing from probably not being changed in a hundred and twenty thousand miles. Then to my regret I had to just put the housing back on and did not replace the thermostat. (Had to work later that night) After flushing with tap water from a well I could not get the motor to heat up after 45 or more minutes idling so essentially I just flushed the radiator. Then I filled the motor/radiator with distilled water and took it around the block. Thermostat took a bit to open up; temp. gauge got all the way to the L and right when I was going to shut it down, the themostat opened. Drove home and dumped the water and diluted coolant mixture. Then filled one more time with distilled. Took for another spin and dumped that. Pre-mixed my SCA in the concentrated coolant. One bottle dca4 per gallon of concentrated coolant equals 2.5 units per gallon of 50/50. Then added 2 gallons of concentrated coolant with the one pint per gallon of sca, to the cooling sytem. Then did the 50/50 mix on the next two gallons of coolant with the sca added at a half bottle per gallon of 50/50. System took two and a half more gallons of 50/50 to top off. Had to burp the sytem on the way to work. Now she's good to go I hope.