I decided to change a coolant in my truck - 2019 cm2350. The coolant had 450000 miles on it. After reading about what coolant to use I decided to pay a bit more and get the premium stuff.
I purchased Final Charge Pro-Series, 50/50, 1.5 million miles, red. ($20 a gallon)
I drained my old coolant and it looked really good. I compared the old one with the new one and the new coolant looked a lot lighter. Werid, I thought. I got new sealed Fleetguard test strips and decided to test it to satisfy my curiosity. These are the results:
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The differences were a lot more pronounced within the testing time - after 45 sec and before 75 sec time period.
The old coolant has much better results!!!
It shows it's -60 F for a freezing point and much better results for Molybdate and Nitrite!!
What gives? Are the strips no good?
Also, the new coolant is considerably lighter. Is it because it is less contaminated or less concentrated?
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This really threw a wrench in to my gearbox..
I m so lost on what to think about it that it is not even funny. Please share your thoughts.
ELC red coolant is usually good for about 400k miles if it does not get contaminated.
also, if you only gave roughly $20/gallon for the new coolant then you got a decent price on it... and that is not considered expensive at all for the typical ELC-red.
I run ELC red in all my vehicles, cars, trucks, everything... never had an issue with it.
and.. the old coolant might not have been 50/50 any more and likely has gotten more concentrated due to evaporation over the years... so yeah, the color will be different.
next, is that the coolant is old. The ph might not be all that off, but who knows what other contaminants, wear metals, etc. are built up in it by now. It is still best to change it.
You also need to check the expiration dates on those test strips. They do go bad and get stale. - i can't tell you how many times that I went somewhere to purchase test strips, and they handed me expired ones. They then looked at me sideways when I pointed it out to them, handing them back, and demanding test strips that were not out-dated. Most people never pay attention to this.
Lastly, the new coolant checking out at 1.1 is quite normal and actually is a good thing for the most part. As it ages, it typically moves up and to the right, further into the green zone .. and not the other direction.
just my thoughts.
Got it. It is somewhat confusing and seems like a waste of money at the first look. But, you are absolutely right that there might be some other contaminants that are present but not being tested for like metals, etc..
Also, the Nitride numbers going to the right is totally counterintuitive. From the table, you would think that the higher the number the better the condition of the coolant at least according to the instructions.
The test strips were good until Apr 2024.
Also, a word of advise - this red stuff is very toxic, I had some splash on my coveralls and had a red spot that was quite stingy by the end of the day. Eyes protection is a must.... Did some reading on the internet ,and getting burned with hot antifreeze is pure hell.
And for the Volvo owners:
What is going on with that quick-disconnect tool for draining leaking all over?