Antifreeze recommendations

[Hood]

I'm overdue for a coolant change.  Prestone, Peak...any brand better than the other? Does the color matter?

I've used Prestone in the past (green color) but products are continually being upgraded. Any recommendations would be appreciated.  Thanks

[Huskidrive]

I use Peak Long Life. It's been in there 5 years.It's still as clean as when I put it in.NO cooling issues....1970 383 4 row copper brass radiator.....

[moreparts]

I'm getting ready to change the fluid to one of my cars too.  I'm going with a long life too.  5 year / 150k.

[Dmod1974]

Color doesn't matter since there is so much overlap of the same color with totally different formulas that it is meaningless now.  Case in point, traditional "green" is NOT good for more than 2 years, but the market is flooded with green(ish) long life universal coolants that are actually Dexcool derived formulas like the one above.  Peak, Prestone, and virtually all house brand universal coolants are Dexclones.

Assuming you are stockish with iron block, brass radiator, etc. the requirements won't be too picky.  TRUE green like John Deere or similar, the universal coolants, and HD diesel coolants will all work fine.

Dexcool got a bad rap when it came out decades ago, but that was because GM did a crappy job specing gasket materials and designing the cooling systems on those older engines.  Fastforward to today and there are probably millions of vehicles running out there with Dexcool derived coolant.  GM (Dexcool), Ford (Specialty Orange), some Euro OEM's, and anybody using universal coolants are actually running Dexcool and probably don't know it.

Some of the other newer chemistries may not be ideal since they are formulated for modern engines that are all or mostly aluminum with very little copper, brass, and iron in them.

Freeze protection doesn't change as coolant ages unless you dilute it with water, but the corrosion protection does deplete and it will become acidic.  It can look perfectly fine and still be eating away at your cooling system.  Don't wait until it looks like crap to change it.  There are several different test strips that you could use, or just change it at the recommended intervals - earlier won't hurt either.

[moreparts]

Color doesn't matter since there is so much overlap of the same color with totally different formulas that it is meaningless now.  Case in point, traditional "green" is NOT good for more than 2 years, but the market is flooded with green(ish) long life universal coolants that are actually Dexcool derived formulas like the one above. 

The one above is not an OAT coolant.  It's good ole fashioned IAT.

[Hood]

I'm getting ready to change the fluid to one of my cars too.  I'm going with a long life too.  5 year / 150k.

Is that a 50/50 mix or concentrated?

[chargerdon]

Traditional wisdom calls for a 50/50 mix for your car and that provides protection to about -25 and lots of anti-corrosion.  However, if you live in a warmer climate like i do in eastern NC where the temperature rarely drops below +20 degrees you can use a much lower percentage to protect from freezing.   However, that means that you have less anti-corrosion protection.   

Simple fact is that plain water is about 30 percent better than a 50/50 mix for heat extraction.  So, with my 360/408  I use a 20/80 mix of antifreeze and water and then add in a bottle of Purple ICE anti-corrosion solution.  It definitely helps keep the system below 220F when driving in parades here in NC.   I

[moreparts]

I'm getting ready to change the fluid to one of my cars too.  I'm going with a long life too.  5 year / 150k.

Is that a 50/50 mix or concentrated?

They sell it both ways.  I bought the concentrate.  Why pay more for water?

[61K T/A]

I use Rotella ELC. Very safe for aluminium parts. Also when I had Bob at Glenn Ray build me a rad for my Cuda I asked him to install (next to the drain valve) a fitting for a sacrificial anode.

[Jay Bee]

I use Prestone All Vehicles in both the Barracuda and Avalon.

[YellowThumper]

I use Rotella ELC. Very safe for aluminium parts. Also when I had Bob at Glenn Ray build me a rad for my Cuda I asked him to install (next to the drain valve) a fitting for a sacrificial anode.

X2 on the Rotella. I have been using this now for 7+ years in several "classics" zero evidence of corrosion.
Challenger and 2 others all have aluminum radiators.
They do also sit for months at a time as well.