I'm not sure about the corrosion inhibitors being less effective, but I also
started using Red Line Water Wetter when I switched over and don't hesitate
recommending this product to anyone.
Have a look at these few pages as they will shed some light on this issue:
http://www.pecuniary.com/synthetics/antifreeze.html
http://www.jag-lovers.org/lumps/coolant.htm
http://autos.yahoo.com/repair/results/ques012.html
-P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lro@Works.Team.Net [mailto:owner-lro@Works.Team.Net]On
> Behalf Of Faure, Marin
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 11:10 PM
> To: 'Land Rover Mail Group'
> Subject: LRO: Re: Changing RR coolant
>
>
> (Perrone Ford stated that he uses environmentally
> friendly coolant in his Range Rover now.)
>
> As it was explained to me, an environmentally-
> friendly coolant like Sierra does not have the same
> degree of corrosion-inhibiting qualities as the
> nasty stuff like Prestone, etc. The three diesels in
> our trawler had Sierra as their coolant when we
> bought the boat in California. When we got it
> to Bellingham, WA, I had a very reputable engine
> shop go over all three engines for a complete service.
> One of the first things they said was, the Sierra's got
> to go. The reason given was that it has pretty much
> no corrosion combatant properties. The diesel
> shop recommended changing to a coolant marketed
> under the Caterpillar name (Cat doesn't make it, of course),
> which is formulated specially for marine engines, with an
> even higher corrosion inhibiting factor that "normal "
> coolant. We had them make the switch, but in the discussion,
> they described what they'd come across in marine engines that
> had used Sierra or Sierra-type coolant for a period of time, and
> they said the end result wasn't pretty and was pretty expensive to
> fix, and in some extreme cases, ruined the engine.
>
> Given the aluminum nature of the Rover V-8, I would be leery
> of using a coolant type that does not provide a high degree of
> corrosion protection. There may be anti-freezes on the market
> that are both environmentally friendly and do a good job of
> corrosion protection. But I was certainly given the impression
> by people I figure should know that the two are mutually exclusive.
> I'm not implying that the Rover V-8 should be fed a coolant that's
> been formulated for the marine environment, which admittedly is
> tougher in terms of corrosion than the automotive environment.
> But everything I've been told (so far) seems to suggest that while
> the environmentally friendly coolants are certainly better for the
> environment, they are not better for an engine.
>
> Perhaps someone here with more knowledge of coolant
> properties can reinforce or refute my understanding.
> ___________________________
> C. Marin Faure
> (original owner)
> 1973 Land Rover Series III-88
> 1991 Range Rover Vogue SE
> Seattle
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Apr 11 2001 - 01:47:40 EDT