Most say anti rust and water pump lubricant. Do they lube anything useful, do they do any harm? I assume they dont touch the water pump bearing which is what usually fails on a pump.
If you run a proper 50/50 coolant mix, they do nothing. If you run straight water, then you don't have the anti-rust additives in the antifreeze and the proection for the water pump seals. It's like adding octane boost to your gas. If you have enough octane already, it doesn't make any difference, but if you don't, it does.
Originally posted by Formula88: If you run a proper 50/50 coolant mix, they do nothing. If you run straight water, then you don't have the anti-rust additives in the antifreeze and the protection for the water pump seals
+ 1
Really the water pump's "lubricant" - if you want to even call it that - come from a standard 50/50 water/coolant mix. There's no need to do anything beyond that, and for many products out there the potential to diminish service life from standard usage is increased if you put these products in.
All the new anti-freeze ( inclluding the green) available today has less block protection in it that it use to. Dexcool is the worse. GM wanted the anti-freeze to last five years. In order for it to last five years, certain protectants were removed from the formula. Other car manufactures followed GM's lead. I have been a believer is water pump lube/rust protection for many many years ande it is necessary with todays anti-freeze.
Water pump lube are not really of any real value. Keep the antifreeze at the proper mix and change it when needed the pump will last as long as it normally will.
What kills pumps are generally the seals go out and often from belts that are too tight.
I had customer in the past use the AC WP lube and all I ever saw it do is make the hoses soft from oil in the system. Rubber hates this kind of oil.
As for Dexcool there is nothing wrong with it if you keep the correct 50/50 mix. If you run it weak and or with air in the system it can become corrosive. It is a fine antifreeze but you must use as directed as there is less margin of error vs. Prestone.
Originally posted by hyperv6:As for Dexcool there is nothing wrong with it if you keep the correct 50/50 mix. If you run it weak and or with air in the system it can become corrosive. It is a fine antifreeze but you must use as directed as there is less margin of error vs. Prestone.
I am forced to disagree with this statement. I have had Dex-cool in 3 vehicles (and one with Ford's version of it), and it has, even with normal maintenance, ruined the following in all of those vehicles: Radiator, heater core, hoses, intake gaskets, intake manifolds, oil cooler, various plastic bits and head gaskets. The high silicate content that is in these "long life" antifreezes comes out of suspension under high heat (such as the oil cooler in my diesel) and clogs everything. It will also become corrosive if air gets into the system. It doesn't cool any better, last any longer or do anything differently than green antifreeze has been doing for a long, long time. I replaced that stuff with regular green in everything and have had NO problems since. The only exception is I used silicate free big rig antifreeze in my diesel (after $5000 in repairs) and have had no issues since.
Good ol' green will do everything the "long life" coolants do- including last over 100,000 miles- WITHOUT destroying things if a little air gets in (and it always does). It's also cheaper and doesn't smell like a nasty wet dog when it starts failing.
Not trying to be a jerk here, but if you have to follow some strict operational guidelines in order to call a product good, while at the same time another product will perform just as good for less money and with no intervention, is it really all that good?
Any lube protects the seal, not bearings. BEARINGS does not see coolant. Bearing is a sealed set that needs no service.
Any coolant that meets GM and others current standards has lube etc to protect the seal in the formula. Adding more just wast your money.
The E or P Glycol does not wear out go bad etc. The additives and lube does "wear out" over time. Adding more to old/"damage" coolant is a band-aid fix. Damage coolant has little/no "rust" protection, even when new. Example Bad/weak grounds can cause damage to coolant, hoses, and allot more. (google: coolant electrolysis )
Running 50-70% coolant is allowed by most manufacturers. Only reason to run more that 50/50 mix is to get more freeze protection.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
I am forced to disagree with this statement. I have had Dex-cool in 3 vehicles (and one with Ford's version of it), and it has, even with normal maintenance, ruined the following in all of those vehicles: Radiator, heater core, hoses, intake gaskets, intake manifolds, oil cooler, various plastic bits and head gaskets. The high silicate content that is in these "long life" antifreezes comes out of suspension under high heat (such as the oil cooler in my diesel) and clogs everything. It will also become corrosive if air gets into the system. It doesn't cool any better, last any longer or do anything differently than green antifreeze has been doing for a long, long time. I replaced that stuff with regular green in everything and have had NO problems since. The only exception is I used silicate free big rig antifreeze in my diesel (after $5000 in repairs) and have had no issues since.
Good ol' green will do everything the "long life" coolants do- including last over 100,000 miles- WITHOUT destroying things if a little air gets in (and it always does). It's also cheaper and doesn't smell like a nasty wet dog when it starts failing.
Not trying to be a jerk here, but if you have to follow some strict operational guidelines in order to call a product good, while at the same time another product will perform just as good for less money and with no intervention, is it really all that good?
Tim Recovering high silicate antifreeze victim
I also have had 7 vehicles with the Dexcool and nary an issue anywhere. I did lose a Water pump on the SSEI but that was not the coolants fault as it was just a seal. All the car accept the ones I have now were well into 6 figures in miles when sold and never a failure.
In fact the Buick we sold 5 years ago the owner is just now going to replace the hoses as he is nearing 200,000 miles on the originals.
With the millions of cars on the road using this fluid if it were so bad they all would be failing. If you look at the failures some were miss identified as coolant failures when the truth is it was a gasket failure. Plastic intakes also have been issues not the coolant. Finally the failure to use the proper mixture has been proven to be major issues.
You have a right to you're opinion but you would be hard pressed to prove it with so many vehicles that never have issues due to the fluid. If what you say is true then they all would fail. It is the variables you have to look at and often it is proper service or failure to follow instructions on the new product. If not followed properly you can and will have issues. The fact is I see some mechanics even fail to follow proper service.
