Volvo RWD Forum

INDEX FOR 10/2025(CURRENT) INDEX FOR 4/2024

[<<]  [>>]


THREADED THREADED EXPANDED FLAT PRINT ALL
MESSAGES IN THIS THREAD




  REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

Green Coolant?

1990 740 regina NA

I'm "deskunking" this 740 to make it reliable enough to drive daily.

I've done a bunch, and the water pump and its seals as well as the thermostat look pretty new. I just replaced the upper and lower coolant hoses because one was bloated from an oil leak (front cam seal).

Anyway - the car had generic green coolant in it. I emptied about 1.5 gallons from the system, but I remember it holding more.

I'm going to use fresh coolant, but do I risk anything by using the extended life green coolant? I don't really want to deal with all the extra contaminated water/coolant I might create doing a flush and rinsing the system. I'm going to use Zerex G-05 in my project car's rebuilt engine, but this car... meh. I'm not going to try to make it nice, just want to avoid corrosion.

Cheers








  •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

    Green Coolant?

    +1 on 50/50 water/coolant ratio.

    Coolant alone won't corrode the engine. But impure water will. Only use distilled water to mix.

    Amarin








    •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

      Green Coolant?

      use the g05 instead of green. lower phosphate means less potential for clogging the rad or heater core.








      •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

        Green Coolant?

        Be careful about mixing different types of coolants, especially with the older green ethylene glycol based ones which are still quite appropriate for our old Volvos. Mixing some coolants can actually result in jelling. You need to match the coolant type to the variety of materials used in the cooling system (steel, copper, aluminum, plastic, soldered joints) to provide optimum corrosion protection and more importantly to avoid leaching and prevent oxylates from forming. That's why some people prefer to stick with Genuine Volvo coolant designed for the way our car cooling systems were originally constructed. The newer orange DexCool-type coolants designed for primarily aluminum systems are generally not appropriate for our old Volvos.

        Extended life antifreeze, claiming adequate corrosion protection for 5 or even 10 years, is what I tend to use, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with using everyday 2-3 year antifreeze if you're willing to change it frequently.

        You should always do a thorough flush before changing coolant type, in fact always best to do a thorough flush every time you change the coolant, but I can also sympathise with the OP not getting too excited about perfectly maintaining an older car not worth overly caring about.

        One other tip I'll add here. It's best to use concentrate rather than using 50/50 pre-mix, especially in extremely cold or extremely hot climates where it's best to try optimizing freeze protection and boil over protection. Because the cooling system is rarely fully drained, and this is especially true after a flush, there may be a lot of residual water or old dead coolant still in the system (especially the block and heater core). Sometimes as little as only 5-6 litres needs to be added to top up a 9.5 litre capacity system. If you were to use 50/50 pre-mix for the whole system, you might end up with as little as a 30% concentration. To best achieve the recommended 50/50 mix, you start by adding one half the cooling system capacity (4.75 litres =5 qts US) of concentrate then top up with water. Distilled, de-mineralized or soft potable tap water (such as adequately filtered and treated water from rain fed lakes and streams) is preferred, and in that order of peference. Always avoid using hard tap water (such as from ground water fed systems and wells) to prevent mineralization. Absolutely avoid using de-ionized water to prevent leaching. And that's not to even mention that buying concentrate is generally a lot less cheaper than buying pre-mix for the job, even when it's on sale.
        --
        Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now








        •   REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

          Green Coolant?

          I will *never* use the official Volvo coolant again. I did, and it ate the brand new lead solder out of a repaired radiator within a month.

          The coolant from dealerships is not the same as was intended for our cars and is not compatible with lead solders.

          The aluminum radiators are far superior to the old brass/copper, and hold quite a lot less in volume. I would guess we're talking a drop of over 2 liters from just the change.







<< < > >>



©Jarrod Stenberg 1997-2022. All material except where indicated.


All participants agree to these terms.

Brickboard.com is not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc. or Ford Motor Company. Brickboard.com is a Volvo owner/enthusiast site, similar to a club, and does not intend to pose as an official Volvo site. The official Volvo site can be found here.