Thread: Red VS Green Coolant again!!!

Originally Posted by Rick Fischer

This sort of discussion will go on and on. However I will make this point.

Auto manufacturers count every cent per vehicle! If they thought that the "green" was sufficient that is all they would use.

If a manufacturer specifies Red (particular spec) and it is more expensive there is a real reason. Normally that will be due to the combination of materials used in the engine and the susceptibility of those materials to galvanic corrosion in combination with the internal operating temperatures of the engine.

It really isn't in any operator's interest to try and second guess a manufacturer's "Materials Engineers"

If manufacturers got things right all the time there would be no need for customising to make things better.

Cheers

Originally Posted by ozscott

If manufacturers got things right all the time there would be no need for customising to make things better.

Cheers

Better is always subjective..

"Optimised for purpose" may be a better description.

For example, if I decided to do a lap of the planet in my D2 TD5 I would be de-tuning it to account for poorer fuels.

And lowering it back down a bit and running a more common tyre size.

I'm not a chemist and all I can do is read, observe and talk to people. I know the red was in each time my heater gasket under the throttle chopped out. British offroad know their stuff. I'm happy to go with the change and will report back in a few years. Cheers

When I had Natrad replace my radiator in my 1983 Ford (alloy head), I got the same rave, and went with their inhibitor, as "they would know", instead of Nulon long life. They serviced the cooling system each year as part of warranty condition. After about 3 years.....my head corroded through and it was time for an engine rebuild. I don't trust Natrad.

Originally Posted by rick130

I've been using it for the last twelve-eighteen months in the Patrol and not quite that long in the Landy, so can't report on anything really so far, other than it's a cool colour.

The reason for changing ?
Iveco parts are 30km away vs 100km for Caltex, and I can buy the Cummins coolant at a better price

[edit] sorry for answering a two year old post Andrew
and it's been renamed PG Platinum.

I am now running the same. My reason. I reckon it is as good as anything around, It is not expensive, comes premixed so no need to worry about water quality, lifetime never needs changing and is compatible with other coolants.

Not that I want to mix it, but when flushing if any old stuff is still present it does not matter.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8x2piUzB4]Are all coolants created equal? - YouTube[/ame]

Originally Posted by Fluids

Maybe the quality of the water that's being used is suspect sometimes ?

I know from the last 25yrs in the pump industry ... water ain't water !

When I changed over my top radiator hose in the TD5 recently, I took the spigot off the head ... the water gallery I could view with a touch inside the head was spotless. The inside of the spigot and the hose was spotless. I drained, refilled, and drained after running up to temp 5x times, and caught all the drained liquid in a clean tub ... not 1 peice of foreign anything came out.

I more accustomed to doing this on green coolant vehicles and seeing plenty of junk in the drained water.

So far, so good, so I'll be sticking with the Nulon Red OAT.

Kev..

Kev,
I realise this is an old thread but very interesting. I need to add/replace the coolant in my 110 2006 Defender, after modifying top radiator hose to accommodate temp sender. Tried to buy Castrol Radicool SF-O but no joy, are you still using and happy with Nulon Red OAT?
Hugh.

Hugh.
CAT do a premixed OAT coolant,around $120 for 20LT from Westrac.
Ive been running CAT coolant in both my TD5s for a while now.No issues at all.
Andrew

Have a read before using the cat stuff. we test long life coolant for the backhoe I think was on a 1000 hr service. It required we use long life extender additive to get to 4000 hrs then replace.-cant remember but additive was half cost of drum of premixed. read on the bottle it refered to buckets of road KM between replacments.


I often read through these, as a mechanic I often see the the driveway heated discusions about this mine field.
some big brand cars alloy radiators and heater core lasting days. alloy heads months.


I my new job we carry genuine products and test with heavy equipment-but they are covers by fleet insurance policy.


factory coolant.
on the 110 assembly line we used a product. it was red. you get there with a small funnel and screw driver to jamb the coffe cup of crystals in.--cant say I want that in my vehicle.

started in this new job and their was the drum of the same product-Im not using..


old time radiator gents used water and zink blocks--for antifreeze you use a tarp.