what coolant are you using?

ive looked and read and wondered. it seems that there is no real "winner" in the coolant catagory. SO, this might be a good way to end my quandary anyway, and maybe others.

let me know! tia

zerex coolant (~30%)
as long as it doesn't stink, its fine with me
.. waterwetter... *shudder*

DEX COOL, which I use because Zerex isn't easy to get around here. My favorite coolant round up is here. It's a good read.

The only problem w/ that article they don't mention the smell nor staining Water Wetter has [long term affects?]

Water Wetter here, used it for years in racing and have total faith in it.
BTW- what does sent matter if ti works? Besides, you aren't gonna smell it after your systems closed. Might be a good leak detector

Might be a good leak detector

Click to expand...

Never thought of it like that before. Smells funny? Must have a leak!

I use Zerex. Minus the teflon it puts on everything it works great.

I'm a firm believer in Dex-Cool. 25% if you have mixed metals in your system, 10% if you have an all copper/brass system. It's kept me corrosion free and cool. No problems with it.

i just started but i'm using 75% distiled water (until i get my RO watter) and like 5percent Zerex Super protectant (additive like water wetter cept doesn't stain) and 20% autozone Green antifreeze

C'mon guys stop being additive geeks... Zerex and water-wetter have never been shown to be better than your standard car antifreeze... You know what drive to your neareset auto store and get yourselves some nice good ANTIFREEZE, on the way home pick up some distilled drinking water, then fill er up with 10-30% antifreeze...

Trust me you can't go wrong with antifreeze, if it's good enough for your car it's good enough for your puter...

Stop wasting your time with zerex or waterwetter waiting for miracles to happen, they won't... There's better things in life, like, your girlfriend

Same is true with all those car engine oil additives, motor up and similar stuff. They ain't gonna do any good for your car, they're modern-day SNAKE OIL in spiffy packaging and infomercials...

I'm using 25-30% Prestone "all-metal" anti-freeze. This is what I have on hand; I'd use any normal ethylene glycol based anti-freeze in a no-aluminum computer water-cooling system. I don't, but if I had any aluminum in the water system, I'd make sure the antifreeze was rated to protect it and use a minimum 25% anti-freeze in the water mix.

Cars and computer watercooling operate in totally different environments, but from the trouble I've had with dex-cool in a used vehicle (clogged heatercore multiple times), I won't use it anywhere. Also, I can't imagine going 2 years with a computer watercooling setup and not draining the water/anti mix at least once, so ordinary anti-freeze should be good enough. The dex-cool advantage for cars is not having to change antifreeze until 100,000 miles or 5 years; that's the theory anyway. YMMV

OK I'll keep it simple for all watercoolers out there:

If you're using aluminum in your system, use DEXCOOL. The benefits of dexcool clearly outweigh the risks when using alumihum components. Dexcool is long lasting protection for aluminum.

If you're not using aluminum, get regular antifreeze. It will still protect aluminum but gets DEPLETED over time. But Since you don't have aluminum it won't get depleted quickly, and everything will be fine for you. Got it?

I'm using 10% Havoline 5-Year antifreeze, for the lack of silicates/sulfides etc. and also for the improved corrosion protection. The rest of that mix is distilled water, with a dash of alcohol and a dash of Radiator Anti-Rust (milky white stuff) from Napa.

Im using water-wetter right now until I run out, after that I will probably switch to Anti-freeze or Methanol.