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Coolent/antifreeze ?'s

tuxxj

NAXJA Member #368
Location
Roy, Utah
It's getting to be time to change my antifreeze. Any suggestions on what kind to use?
Is there a writeup or a link for backflushing a 93? I think it has a unpressurised reservoir.
Thanx
 
How old is the radiator in there? If original, I'd say it's time to at least have the radiator rodded out if not replaced outright. Refill with distilled water and coolant, not tap water....clean out the crud at the bottom of that reservoir - I did mine this weekend and it was FUNKY. Don't forget to reconnect the aux fan when you're buttoning everything back up; it runs much cooler that way. For that matter, drop a newer fan in from the junkyard if yours is still the old-style with straight blades. The new one pulls more air.

Backflushing-specific questions? Like with one of those Prestone kits that taps into your heater hose? I ran one of those on my 89 and while it worked, I didn't like the restriction it made in those hoses so it's been a few years since I've seen one now. I think Eagle has mentioned them a few times though - do a search for Prestone[/] or backflush
 
For non-diesel automotive use I have been happy with the Dexcool type antifreeze (the orange stuff - learned after a GM dealer, no less, refilled my Grand Am with the green stuff after a head gasket change - shortly thereafter I bought a heater core and a radiator in rapid succession, and another month down the road THEY bought a new cylinder head). Probably not all that important on an earlier Jeep with it's iron engine and no plastic & aluminum cores & such, but having been around a lot of recent GM stuff I got into the habit of just buying orange. When doing a flush & refill I also like to use a little bottle of Bars Leaks, usually the semi-liquid form that comes in the grey bottle. I very recently did my '87 and tried their Goldenseal powder this time. Hard to tell whether either of those products work as a preventative - did it not spring a leak because of the Bars Leaks or because it never was going to anyway? They say manufacturers (which ones?) put their stuff in on the initial fill, I dunno. It's cheap and it can't hurt.

But like the others upthread say make sure everything's good and clean and the radiator and hoses are in good shape. Hoses seem to last a lot longer than they used to. I think my '87 has it's original hoses (but a brand new radiator) at 200,000 MI, and I KNOW 100% of the cooling system on my bought new '83 S-10 is original, and it all looks fine. If all else is good, heat-cool cycles will get to any radiator eventually, so I'm probably just lucky with that S-10.
 
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