green antifreeze in my 93 civic

I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.

I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
recently. What potential hazards am I dealing with? What's the best
way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:40:08 -0600, Robert Reynolds > wrote:
>I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
>the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.

>I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
>recently. What potential hazards am I dealing with? What's the best
>way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?

The only hazard is that honda isn't making 9500% profit.

Flushing it out every other summer is sufficient.

honda has used green antifreeze in the past, does not mean its prestone.

AZ Nomad wrote:
>>I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
>>the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.
>
>>I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
>>recently. What potential hazards am I dealing with? What's the best
>>way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?
>
>The only hazard is that honda isn't making 9500% profit.
>
>Flushing it out every other summer is sufficient.

--
Message posted via CarKB.com
http://www.carkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...-cars/200801/1

So what's the deal with Prestone anyway? Is it really a problem?
I'm pretty sure our friends weren't taking their 13 year old car to a
Honda dealer for service, by the way.


loewent via CarKB.com wrote:
> honda has used green antifreeze in the past, does not mean its prestone.
>
> AZ Nomad wrote:
>>> I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
>>> the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.
>>> I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
>>> recently. What potential hazards am I dealing with? What's the best
>>> way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?
>> The only hazard is that honda isn't making 9500% profit.
>>
>> Flushing it out every other summer is sufficient.
>

On Jan 14, 10:40 pm, Robert Reynolds > wrote:
> I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
> the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.
>
> I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
> recently. What potential hazards am I dealing with? What's the best
> way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?


fluid services make up a huge portion of profit for Honda dealerships,
and so they started the campaigns for their proprietary fluids, even
motor oil!!

i like Honda engineering, but i hate their marketing with a passion.

i've never visited a dealership or buy anything from them. i bought
OEM parts elsewhere if i need too. and i'm open to aftermarket parts.
Boy! you have no idea what kind of fluid i'm running on my 89 Honda
power steering!!!

the concentration of silicate in traditional green coolant is about 59
ppm, not much, but enough for Honda's scaring tactic to work!! and
let me tell you the green dye just won't die!!. i drained the green
coolant and re-filled the radiator with amber/yellow antifreez and now
the whole thing is green! WTF?

it's the long life aspect of the PEAK LongLife coollant, and its
compatibility with all kind of proprietary coolants (except for diesel
egnines) that appeal to me..

http://www.peakantifreeze.com/referencechart.html

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:54:04 GMT, loewent via CarKB.com <u10197@uwe> wrote:
>honda has used green antifreeze in the past, does not mean its prestone.

I don't give a **** if is blue and has little pink clovers in it.

What matters is that it has sufficient thermal mass and that it won't
corrode the cooling system.

Paying twenty times more for a half percent improvement in performance
is simple insanity.

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:57:26 -0600, Robert Reynolds > wrote:
>So what's the deal with Prestone anyway? Is it really a problem?
>I'm pretty sure our friends weren't taking their 13 year old car to a
>Honda dealer for service, by the way.

What if they really really want that special feeling of pride that comes
from having spent too much?

"Robert Reynolds" > wrote
> I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze,
> and I noticed the comments about Prestone not belonging in
> a Honda.
>
> I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought
> from a friend recently. What potential hazards am I
> dealing with?

Premature water pump failure. Saw it on my 91 Civic after a
few years of using the Prestone and similar stuff. One
cannot definitely blame the coolant, of course, but other
reports here tend to support the theory. The net may have
more.

I have used the orange Havoline anti-freeze in my Civic
since about 2002, with no problems. The water pump was new
in 2001. Technically, it's due for replacement, but that's
another thread.

> What's the best way to get it all out if I'm going to
> replace it?

Part of the directions for replacing the coolant say to
remove the drain bolt on the engine block. It can be hard to
remove, but you really do want to remove it, since doing so
ensures a good drain and fill. The first time I did this on
my 91 Civic around 1993 it was very difficult to loosen. But
I did not have a deep socket, nor breaker bar yada, and was
not as handy then. Now I find it easy to remove and have
done so with little problems for the last several changes
over some eight years or so.

With the engine block drain bolt removed, you can really
flush the system pretty well, in my estimation, with a
garden hose placed in the radiator mouth, the radiator drain
plug shut, and with the water running out the engine block
drain bolt hole. For the early flushes, catch the coolant
that comes out with the water, since you don't want it
poisoning animals.

A bit of water will remain in the engine block when you are
done. You can do the persnickety calculations to account for
it and compensate with a slightly higher concentration of
anti-freeze, assuming you are using orange Havoline and not
OEM pre-mix. Or you might be fine blowing off the small
amount that stays in the block.

You will want some non-hardening high temperature sealant
for the engine block drain bolt threads. One of the Permatex
sealants says on its packaging it is good for the drain bolt
on the engine block. The sealant is per the maintenance
instructions. You will also need a new gasket for the drain
bolt.

On Jan 14, 10:40*pm, Robert Reynolds > wrote:
> I've been following the thread on Honda brand antifreeze, and I noticed
> the comments about Prestone not belonging in a Honda.
>
> I noticed green antifreeze in my 93 civic that I bought from a friend
> recently. *What potential hazards am I dealing with? *What's the best
> way to get it all out if I'm going to replace it?

my official honda antifreeze seems to be green.

On Jan 15, 12:57*am, Robert Reynolds > wrote:
> So what's the deal with Prestone anyway? *Is it really a problem?
> I'm pretty sure our friends weren't taking their 13 year old car to a
> Honda dealer for service, by the way.

the main thing is that older cars used silicate in the antifreeze to
eliminate scaling, supposedly that's too abrasive for hondas. i don't
know whatever else in the formula has changed.