Coolant acidity?

moresmoke wrote:

westend wrote:

Yep, 14 year coolant with 200,000 miles with original rubber hoses. I have only needed to top off with a few ounces of coolant once when a factory clamp on the bottom radiator hose gave up from road salt..

Lol, I lost the same clamp on my 2003, same cause no doubt. Luckily, I was close to home so limped back a mile or so to replace the clamp.

I really don't know the ultimate longevity of newer coolants but the old glycol based coolant was basically indestructible. I had many vehicles that ran out over 200K mi with the original coolant. This was in cast iron block engines.

I've learned over the years to have some faith in the mfg's suggested service intervals unless I think they are arbitrary. IOW, I've replaced a cabin air filter in one vehicle, once.

2003 Ford 7.3? The 7.3 has a reputation for cavitation issues on #7 cylinder if the coolant is not maintained. You won't notice a thing until one day you have a hole from the water jacket into the cylinder.

Coolant does require maintenance, what needs to be done can be determined besides just an arbitrary replacement.

I reccomend one get their information from knowledgable sources.

Fleetguard coolant

2003 F250 with 5.4 GAS ENGINE with 200,000 miles.

No issues with cavitation with the 5.4/6.8 gassers.

Now with Diesels that is a bit of a different beast due to the much higher compression flexing the cylinder walls.. That flexing causes small air bubbles to form on the cylinder walls in the coolant.. Those bubbles are like taking a hammer and chisel to the cylinder walls creating tiny holes..

However, the cavitation issue is overcome by making sure you have a sufficient coolant ADDITIVE PACKAGE per the vehicle manufacturers recommendations for Diesels for your yr of manufacture.

Even so, for Diesels and gassers you DO NOT HAVE TO CHANGE THE COOLANT EVERY TWO YEARS as per the poster I originally quoted..

For Diesel engines with potential cavitation issues you only NEED TO TEST THE ADDITIVE PACKAGE PER THE VEHICLES MANUFACTURERS RECOMMENDATIONS. If it tests low for the additive you simply ADD MORE ADDITIVE.

Even if you did change the coolant for Diesels that are known to have cavitation issues you WOULD STILL HAVE TO ADD THE ADDITIVE PACKAGE since it is not included in new coolant.

The change coolant every two years was bogus even back in the 1970s when coolant manufacturers started pushing it..

Coolant for the most part serves two major purposes..

One is to PREVENT COOLING SYSTEM FREEZING IN WINTER..

And NUMBER TWO, RAISE THE BOILING TEMPERATURE OF THE COOLANT.

Coolant in general does not "wear out", it WILL do those first two main jobs whether it has one mile or 1 million miles provided the mix is ALWAYS 50/50..

That means if you add water, you NEED to add the SAME AMOUNT of unduluted full strength antifreeze so you maintain the 50/50 balance.

The easy way (and more expensive) is simply add premixed 50/50..

Coolant manufacturers over the years have touted a lot of extra junk they add, like water pump lubricant and anti corrosion additives and markup the price along with the lame must change every two years for highest "protection"..

Waste your money with every two years change if you like but keep in mind, the stuff you remove IS poisonous to animals and humans, it is deadly.. you are needlessly throwing out good coolant that will need to be processed at a recycle center..

I put that with the change oil routine of every 3K miles from the 60's and 70's.. So gone with the DODO bird and Dinosaurs..