What kind/brand of coolant do you use?

[Nicholas R]

Distilled water and water wetter. This supplies max cooling.

Steve

True, but the trade-off is that it also gives you the highest freezing point and lowest boiling point.


I'm a Prestone All Makes All Models and distilled water guy. Use it in every vehicle.

[DavidProehl]

Prestone and distilled water here, seems to be a popular choice.

[EdR5150]

I’ve always mixed my own coolant, since it’s more cost effective. Some quick price research showed:
$8.44 – 1 Gallon Prestone Premixed 50/50
vs
$9.24 – 1 Gallon Prestone Concentrated
$0.88 – 1 Gallon Distilled Water

I mix the coolant and distilled water in a clean bucket, and pour any leftover back into the coolant jug, and label it 50/50 with permanent marker.

20130331_113949.jpg

I prefer the drain and refill method for coolant maintenance. It doesn’t replace all the coolant, but the coolant left in the system isn’t much, and (in my car) less than 3 years old. I think there is too much room for error with the flush with garden hose/fill with concentrate method.

[David T]

You really should not use distilled water, it is not balanced and can cause minerals (metals) to dissolve. Soft water is what you want. More economical to buy and mix yourself unless you do not have access to soft water. Bottled water is a good substitute if necessary but not cheap. The good old green stuff, aka Prestone, is the best all around choice as it is compatible with all of the materials used in the cooling system. You should never run straight water, it has no anti-corrosion properties, no water pump lubricant, no leak sealing ability, and of course the highest freezing point and the lowest boiling point. All it is good for is flushing and testing. You really should stay away from Dexcool or any of the other "exotic" coolants. If you ever were to accidentally mix and put another, different kind of coolant in you can end up with a disaster. Test annually for strength and PH and drain, flush, and replace it every 5 years. Prestone is available everywhere and is the least expensive coolant you can buy. Spending more money won't get you anything better for your Delorean.

[Chris4099]

Prestone myself. Sometimes 50/50 and sometimes pre-mixed.

Sorry Fletch, no Quaker State.
CGVpsXUU8AAQ65P.jpg
I always think of that scene whenever somebody mentions Prestone coolant.

[81dmc]

I use Prestone 50/50 in the DeLorean and my truck. No issues.

[DMCVegas]

Prestone myself. Sometimes 50/50 and sometimes pre-mixed.

Sorry Fletch, no Quaker State.
CGVpsXUU8AAQ65P.jpg
I always think of that scene whenever somebody mentions Prestone coolant.

[DMCVegas]

You really should not use distilled water, it is not balanced and can cause minerals (metals) to dissolve. Soft water is what you want. More economical to buy and mix yourself unless you do not have access to soft water. Bottled water is a good substitute if necessary but not cheap. The good old green stuff, aka Prestone, is the best all around choice as it is compatible with all of the materials used in the cooling system. You should never run straight water, it has no anti-corrosion properties, no water pump lubricant, no leak sealing ability, and of course the highest freezing point and the lowest boiling point. All it is good for is flushing and testing. You really should stay away from Dexcool or any of the other "exotic" coolants. If you ever were to accidentally mix and put another, different kind of coolant in you can end up with a disaster. Test annually for strength and PH and drain, flush, and replace it every 5 years. Prestone is available everywhere and is the least expensive coolant you can buy. Spending more money won't get you anything better for your Delorean.

I'd probably disagree with just a couple of items. The first being about spending a bit more, or rather specifically spending a bit more overall to just buy the pre-mixed 50/50 antifreeze. THAT is worth spending the extra cash so you never have to worry about the water quality nor dilution ratio. Unless you live in extremely cold climates that dip below -34°F/-37°C in the winter, there's no reason to dilute beyond the 50/50 ratio.

Otherwise, most of this is simply going to be specific for the DeLorean.

Agreed to just stick with the regular antifreeze, unless it's a modern car which requires the extended life stuff. There is however one very special type of antifreeze which you must be aware of: DEX-COOL.

If you've got a GM product that uses the orange liquid abomination known as DEX-COOL, only add DEX-COOL too the engine. But the next time you flush the engine on that car, do yourself a huge favor and get all the DEX-COOL out and switch the engine over to the other Extended Life Coolant. DEX-COOL does NOT play well with other coolants. It also does not tolerate contamination very well. The stuff will eat gaskets, silicone rubber, and plastic manifolds, so get it out.

Personally, I myself would go with the Prestone PRIME antifreeze, but that's just because I operate my vehicles in an extremely hot climate. Otherwise, regular antifreeze will work for almost everyone out there.

[dn010]

DEX-COOL does NOT play well with other coolants.

I should add that my current engine which is the B280F with EFI, is rebuilt so it was all cleaned up beforehand. I didn't have to worry about contamination but it is a problem as Robert indicates so don't go dumping it in your drained cooling system since there will still be plenty of "green" coolant left in it. My Ford also uses Dex-Cool. So far, no complaints or issues with either vehicles.

[Nicholas R]

If you've got a GM product that uses the orange liquid abomination known as DEX-COOL, only add DEX-COOL too the engine. But the next time you flush the engine on that car, do yourself a huge favor and get all the DEX-COOL out and switch the engine over to the other Extended Life Coolant. DEX-COOL does NOT play well with other coolants. It also does not tolerate contamination very well. The stuff will eat gaskets, silicone rubber, and plastic manifolds, so get it out.

Personally, I myself would go with the Prestone PRIME antifreeze, but that's just because I operate my vehicles in an extremely hot climate. Otherwise, regular antifreeze will work for almost everyone out there.

I've got the LS1 engine and even I dont use DEX-COOL. I used it the very first time I filled up the car after the swap because I was all jazzed about the new engine, but that was it. After about 6 months I decided it was ridiculous and went back to Prestone (after flushing all of the DEX-COOL out.) Since then, I use the same Prestone in every vehicle I have.