Ethylene-Glycol Anti-Freeze

[BobPalma]

Forum members may remember the anti-freeze formula discussion from the July 2007 Turning Wheels Co-Operator. I've continued reading everything I can find on this subject and my position remains as it was a couple months ago: I'm staying with ethylene-glycol-based anti freeze for the time being.

Unfortunately, that is becoming harder to do because the product, at least in central Indiana, is disappearing. Local Wal-Mart stores now have only new, universal "any car / any color" anti-freeze, regardless of brand name. Even their house brand is the new universal material. Ditto K-Mart, at least here.

Auto Zone continues to offer ethylene-glycol anti-freeze, but only in their Valucraft product line. "Valuecraft" may be subjective, here: The price is up to $9.99 a gallon! (Even at that, it is cheaper than the new universal formula...again, at least in central Indiana.)

[u]The reason for this post </u>is to alert Forum members to a sale at Menard's this week. It may continue into next week. The everyday price of Menard's house brand ethylene-glycol anti-freeze was $8.99 last week, but it is on sale for $6.99 a gallon right now. And the first two gallons qualify for a $1.50 per gallon mail-in rebate. (The rebate is in the form of a merchandise credit check at Menard's, so you have to return to Menard's to "spend" your rebate.)

I had already bought a case at Auto Zone to hedge against further price and availability issues, but went to Menard's today and bought a case of theirs on sale, too. After checking around, I'll be buying a couple more cases at $6.99 per gallon at Menard's before the week's end. (Interestingly, I'll bet both the Auto Zone and Menard's products are the same product, made in the same plant but packaged differently. The jugs are identical, although different colors, and the six-gallon cartons the same unique design. Further, the detailed lists of ingredients on each product's label are identical.)

Currently, then, conventional ethylene-glycol antifreeze is cheaper than the new universal formulas, but it looks like the former is being phased out. When that happens, price will be immaterial. Stock up. (With our laid-in supplies of CI and CI-4 Plus motor oil and, now, ethylene-glycol anti-freeze, many of our garages are going to start looking like jobber warehouses!) BP

[StudeRich]

Does anyone know if this Menard's is "hooked-up" with any West Coast Stores? Is it a "K" Mart type store or a Auto Parts type store?

We do not even have more than about 3 or 4 of those AutoZone stores in the entire State, they are hard to find, no advertising and unknown up here like they are hiding, but I hear you guys talking about them like they are everywhere like the CSK (Checker, Schucks, Kragen) stores are!

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[StudeRich]

Does anyone know if this Menard's is "hooked-up" with any West Coast Stores? Is it a "K" Mart type store or a Auto Parts type store?

We do not even have more than about 3 or 4 of those AutoZone stores in the entire State, they are hard to find, no advertising and unknown up here like they are hiding, but I hear you guys talking about them like they are everywhere like the CSK (Checker, Schucks, Kragen) stores are!

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[bob40]

Menards started life as a chain of lumber yards that has morphed into a store similar to Home Depot or Lowes.

[bob40]

Menards started life as a chain of lumber yards that has morphed into a store similar to Home Depot or Lowes.

[Bredehoft]

also, Menards is Wisconsin-based and a mid-west store. Strangely, my son works there while he goes to college.

--george

[Bredehoft]

also, Menards is Wisconsin-based and a mid-west store. Strangely, my son works there while he goes to college.

--george

[jnewkirk77]

Bob, thanks for the helpful info. I've been buying the "universal" stuff, premixed, from Wal-Mart for my Ford pickup. Since I'm not privy to the TWCO discussion (as I let my membership lapse a few years back ... d'oh!), should I be on the alert for problems? Heaven knows I don't need any more of those with the old bucket! Just ask me about the replacement tire fiasco at Wal-Mart ...

Jacob Newkirk - Owensboro, KY

Currently driving an '87 Ford F-150, but I dream of having a Hawk one day. Don't we all?

[jnewkirk77]

Bob, thanks for the helpful info. I've been buying the "universal" stuff, premixed, from Wal-Mart for my Ford pickup. Since I'm not privy to the TWCO discussion (as I let my membership lapse a few years back ... d'oh!), should I be on the alert for problems? Heaven knows I don't need any more of those with the old bucket! Just ask me about the replacement tire fiasco at Wal-Mart ...

Jacob Newkirk - Owensboro, KY

Currently driving an '87 Ford F-150, but I dream of having a Hawk one day. Don't we all?

[bams50]

I make my own anti-freeze...

How? Take away her nightgown[)]

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

[bams50]

I make my own anti-freeze...

How? Take away her nightgown[)]

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

[Blue 15G]

What is the shelf life of the old style ethylene glycol antifreeze? Even if the container is unopened, would the chemicals and/or additives in it deteriorate over time?

Dave Bonn
'54 Champion Starliner

[Blue 15G]

What is the shelf life of the old style ethylene glycol antifreeze? Even if the container is unopened, would the chemicals and/or additives in it deteriorate over time?

Dave Bonn
'54 Champion Starliner

[BobPalma]

Auto Zone, O'Reilly's, and Advance Auto Parts are the primary auto-supply retailers (plus NAPA, of course) in the central Indiana market. It would help if others checked out ethylene-glycol prices and availability in their markets and posted accordingly.

Jacob: The new universal coolants seem to be OK for daily-use vehicles. The questionable element is what happens to cooling system innards when vehicles are stored for long periods of time and infrequently used, as are most of our Studebakers. There's no reason to worry about using new formulations in daily-driven vehicles, providing normal cooling system maintenance is continued.

There's no substitute for observing the results of a long-term cooling system maintenance procedure/practice, so here it is. I've owned three of my seven collector cars ('64 Daytona hardtop, '71 Barracuda convertible, '73 Mustang convertible) over 30 years each. To avoid the mess of semi-annual cooling systems flushes, I've used the following annual procedure with all of them (and other cars added to the collection along the way) during that time:

Every fall, I drain only the radiators and discard the draining. (Of course, this means some of the coolant in the engine gets drained out as well, depending on how much makes its way through the water pump and down the lower hose while the radiator petcock is open.) I then add a bottle of Cooling System Anti-Rust and refill what was drained out with fresh 50/50 ethylene-glycol coolant mix. Then I drive each car several miles to circulate the new mix...and the Sta-bil that's been added to the gasoline.

In thirty years of doing this every fall, I've had to replace the big by-pass hose on the Barracuda (it's a 318), one by-pass hose on the Mustang, and one core plug on the Daytona (just this fall, as a matter of fact, and little rust came out when I flushed it through the block with the core hole open.) That's not much cooling system repair over a 30-year period, so the partial replacement with a fresh bottle of anti-rust every year seems to have worked. (Of course, the guys at Auto Zone look at you kind of funny when you buy 7 bottles of premium anti-rust at the same time!) [^] BP

[BobPalma]

Auto Zone, O'Reilly's, and Advance Auto Parts are the primary auto-supply retailers (plus NAPA, of course) in the central Indiana market. It would help if others checked out ethylene-glycol prices and availability in their markets and posted accordingly.

Jacob: The new universal coolants seem to be OK for daily-use vehicles. The questionable element is what happens to cooling system innards when vehicles are stored for long periods of time and infrequently used, as are most of our Studebakers. There's no reason to worry about using new formulations in daily-driven vehicles, providing normal cooling system maintenance is continued.

There's no substitute for observing the results of a long-term cooling system maintenance procedure/practice, so here it is. I've owned three of my seven collector cars ('64 Daytona hardtop, '71 Barracuda convertible, '73 Mustang convertible) over 30 years each. To avoid the mess of semi-annual cooling systems flushes, I've used the following annual procedure with all of them (and other cars added to the collection along the way) during that time:

Every fall, I drain only the radiators and discard the draining. (Of course, this means some of the coolant in the engine gets drained out as well, depending on how much makes its way through the water pump and down the lower hose while the radiator petcock is open.) I then add a bottle of Cooling System Anti-Rust and refill what was drained out with fresh 50/50 ethylene-glycol coolant mix. Then I drive each car several miles to circulate the new mix...and the Sta-bil that's been added to the gasoline.

In thirty years of doing this every fall, I've had to replace the big by-pass hose on the Barracuda (it's a 318), one by-pass hose on the Mustang, and one core plug on the Daytona (just this fall, as a matter of fact, and little rust came out when I flushed it through the block with the core hole open.) That's not much cooling system repair over a 30-year period, so the partial replacement with a fresh bottle of anti-rust every year seems to have worked. (Of course, the guys at Auto Zone look at you kind of funny when you buy 7 bottles of premium anti-rust at the same time!) [^] BP