Coolant additives tech article for discussion.

[Cp1]

Originally Posted by RETed

Don't take this the wrong way (although you will probably anyways) - I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here.

I personally think your tests are borderline unusable...

As objective as you were trying to be, the test conditions are way off versus their real world application.
You're missing pressure in these tests, and heat exchange simulation is not quite applicable.
If you had used a heat exchanger, then the results would be more digestible.

I dunno if the tech has changed, but back in the day when all of this stuff first started coming out, the major additive was DETERGENT.
Detergents have the desirable properties of being a surfactant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant
To combat the "foaming" nature of detergents, an anti-foaming agent is added to combat the bubbles.
This was the basic formula for these cooling additives.

It's a reasonable assumption that Royal Purple's Purple Ice would be a bad choice due to the amount of bubbles it produced, but compared to what baseline?
If you added another test where you use off-the-shelf (dishwashing) detergent (and water) and tested how long the bubbles lasted...
I'd put money the Purple Ice would beat that detergent by a wide margin?
This is what I mean by baseline.

Side note, I dunno why you would claim the Ford coolant is the best.
I'd be suspicious of anyone recommending to put ANY Ford part into my cars.
When I was doing my research on the subject, Mercedes Benz type coolant came out on top.
Try do a search on Mercedezs Benz coolant?


-Ted

You make valid points and like i said they are probably the best tests that could be done at home with what i have available for a direct comparison. as for the bubble test i will say that the container with purple ice STILL has bubbles even this morning from yesterdays test lol.

I say use ford coolant because under the Ford/mazda partnership deal ford was the sole manufacturer of mazda consumables like coolant, so mazda/ford do indeed design their motors to use this coolant. and most coolants are incompatible with each other and can cause a multitude of adverse effects like "clouding," (which is a micro foaming) and premature acidity.

I dont doubt that there are some that claim mercedes coolant to be the best but i would like to know why they think that or what that opinion is based on... you read everyday how people prefer one product over another without any real basis of comparison, just read through a honda forum and youll swear vinyl stickers add power. or that they added some crap to their oil and 'seemed' to gain 20 horses

ive been assured by my research chemist friend that our method for measuring surface tension is as accurate a test as any especially since using lab equipment(containers and eyedrops)... by measuring the curve of either a meniscus or the dome formed by liquid in a container.

But yes you are ultimately right in saying the last two of these tests are not real world condition data, but they are simple and do show that in no way are these two products identical competitors and if they do ultimately accomplish the same advertised thing in the real world, they do it in very different ways.

Originally Posted by vex

I think distilled water should be the base line.

It should be noted that in all tests i only used De-Ionized distilled water, sorry.

[RETed]

Originally Posted by Cp1

I dont doubt that there are some that claim mercedes coolant to be the best but i would like to know why they think that or what that opinion is based on...

FWIW:
http://www.thesaabsite.com/Coolantinfo.htm

ive been assured by my research chemist friend that our method for measuring surface tension is as accurate a test as any especially since using lab equipment(containers and eyedrops)... by measuring the curve of either a meniscus or the dome formed by liquid in a container.

I have no problems with this part of the test.
In fact, I had to do those sames tests in organic chem classes that I took eons ago...


-Ted

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by Cp1

That would actually seem counter intuitive. all manufacturers coolant like GMs Dex-cool for example, is formulated specifically to lengthen the lifespan of their seals and other rubber components. however, all antifreeze if not changed periodically will turn acidic, and start to eat away at these things and even metal, and that is what i suspect is happening. The only real way to test this is to place a new seal in some solution and come back after a few months to see whats happened. My guess would be not much. In my experience seal corrosion is mainly because of an owners inattention to basic maintenance. i flush the coolant about once a year while some people dont believe you ever have to, they just keep topping it up when it seems low, which is a terrible practice.

I would do this immediately as I have a friend that did it and the RedLine ate into the seals and destroyed them in a matter of hours.

However, You would not want to use new seals, you would want to use old used seals as they have been bombarded with hydrocarbons and assembly lube etc etc and would more accurately represent seals in the engine.

Originally Posted by RETed

Side note, I dunno why you would claim the Ford coolant is the best.
I'd be suspicious of anyone recommending to put ANY Ford part into my cars.-Ted