Pole Cat Hollow? Someday I'll have to stop by. I can picture an old
clapboard garage at a bend in a two lane country road surrounded by
tremendous fall color. And maybe a crusty old mechanic . . .
(Please don't tell me you are in a strip mall just out side of Raleigh
or something similar!)
Anyway, these are not "lifetime" coolants as represented by Prestone and
Havoline. Five years, 50,000 miles and you change it. Only the
manufacturers would try to promote these as "lifetime", but that is
because they are on a crusade to reduce routine maintenance and also
consider the life of a car to be 100,000 miles. Eventually, you will
not have to do anything to a car (except tires), including change the
oil, for 100,000 miles if the manufacturers reach their goal. This is a
huge selling point now that cars average $20,000+. Unfortunately, the
cars will be junk at 100K.
Also, distilled water should be used with any coolant, particularly if
you are in a hard water area.
Chuck Rothfuss wrote:
>
> List,
>
> I'm happy to see that someone likes the new "lifetime" coolant. As a
> mechanic I must say I like the stuff too, since it brings me lots of service
> work. When it was created the chemists had good intentions, and it works
> pretty well under ideal conditions. Problem is that most of it gets
> contaminated somewhere along the line with tap water. I see cars regularly
> with less than 20K that have completely blocked heater cores. Cars that
> have yet to reach 100K with all their "freeze plugs" corroded through.
> Blown head gaskets, clogged radiators. All on cars with "lifetime" coolant.
> Some of the contamination may go as far back as the assembly line, but it's
> taken too long to recognize the problem. Distilled water is now what GM
> specifies to mix with the new Dexcool.
>
> Chuck Rothfuss
> Pole Cat Hollow, NC
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