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240 Any recommendations for 240 coolant?

Elvolvito

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Location
Florida
Title pretty much sums it up. I have an ?88 244 & it?s very low on coolant. Hasn?t been changed since I acquired the car around 2 months ago & now I?m looking for good recommendations I could get somewhere near me (Autozone, Walmart, etc). I live in Florida and the temperature is pretty hot all the time.
 
Walmart Universal, Full strength and a gallon of water. Works out to $4 a gallon or so of 50/50, can't beat it.
 
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Valvolin...=sem&msclkid=a680a2dce0b510be0a62fd1a8f06fa78

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If you ain't got ~$20 to do it right you need another hobby or go back to riding your skateboard.

:-P
 
If you ain't got ~$20 to do it right you need another hobby or go back to riding your skateboard.

:-P

Why do all the old school guys recommend premix?

Same thing on the land cruiser forums. They all say premixed in unison when someone asks about coolant
 
I always went with the cheap green stuff but after recently pulling the head of a 940 with significant coolant port corrosion damage and clean looking fluid, I think i'll go with something a little better for the next flush.
 
I use green 50/50 premix (whichever brand is available) because it's cheap and convenient.

Anything should work - BUT I would match the composition of whatever's in there when adding. Don't mix two types/colors without giving the system a flush first, or you can get unexpected reactions - Dexcool and green is the famous one which creates a weird sludge.

I always went with the cheap green stuff but after recently pulling the head of a 940 with significant coolant port corrosion damage and clean looking fluid, I think i'll go with something a little better for the next flush.

That says to me more that someone replaced the coolant after running it with water for a while... unless it was your own car. :e-shrug:
 
Drain the system fill, with water and a cooling system cleaner, drive/ run car as per cleaner directions, fill with water run car drain and put in a50/50 mix of the good old green stuff.
 
Usually I don't but distilled water is hard to find right now due to the pandemic.

I haven't flushed my system this year yet so I did not think on piling up distilled water. Time to go looking for some...

I too have been using distilled water since I read in the Mercedes factory repair manual that is what they recommended. Well, my car was old, pre Chrysler mess and special fluid with special markups.
 
I love asian pink


because toyota

This. The red coolant is also good and can be found concentrated, assuming you can find distilled water.

Green coolant should not be used for engines that have aluminum heads.
 
This. The red coolant is also good and can be found concentrated, assuming you can find distilled water.

Green coolant should not be used for engines that have aluminum heads.

Do you know in particular why that is the case?

I am planning to do a flush on my b18 as I have no idea how old the coolant is and what the state of the cooling system is other than that it doesn't overheat.

Any suggestions on coolant for an OHV motor?
 
Do you know in particular why that is the case?

I am planning to do a flush on my b18 as I have no idea how old the coolant is and what the state of the cooling system is other than that it doesn't overheat.

Any suggestions on coolant for an OHV motor?

Green coolant is just too conductive to start with and gets more conductive as it ages, so dissimilar metals will drive a corrosion reaction (pitting aluminum and depositing on iron). Green coolant should be fine on engines that are all iron, but I’d still rather put modern coolants in them. No reason to run straight weight oils in older motors either.

I’d say any modern acid additive coolants should fit the bill, but I’d avoid dexcool because of the coagulation issues. Zyrex Asian coolant, Toyota red or Pink, Honda Blue are all long life coolants that are pretty inexpensive.

Edit: I’m pretty sure all of the coolants recommended above have a recommended service life of 100k or more miles, so with that in mind, much cheaper than the green stuff in the long run. Just change the coolant with your timing belt and water pump and your good!
 
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Green is all they had back then, I never had any problems when used with distilled water. No shortage of that here. Not sure why there would be a shortage anywhere, you shouldn't drink that stuff.
 
Green is all they had back then, I never had any problems when used with distilled water. No shortage of that here. Not sure why there would be a shortage anywhere, you shouldn't drink that stuff.

If you change it on time, it’s not bad. I can say as a former Toyota tech, I never saw any pitting issues with the right coolant. Some vehicles that had green looked pretty ugly on most of the aluminum gasket surfaces, in some cases some that were only 5 or so years old.

There’s nothing magical about Toyota’s that makes them more prone to pitting with green coolant. They, like most other manufacturers switched to acid additive coolants when they started putting aluminum heads on cast iron blocks.
 
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Makes me wonder if the aluminum on those cars was a different composition than the old Volvos. My 79 242 had the original brass radiator up until last year, I exchanged it for a new one but it turns out I didn't have to. I thought it might be clogged up, but the problem was the voltage regulator in the cluster making it look like it was overheating.

But ya, changing the coolant is one of the most overlooked maintenance issues, along with the trans and axle fluid.

Perhaps the new Volvo coolant recommendation? I use Peak Original Equipment Technology for European Vehicles in my modern Volvos, it specifically says "All Volvos". Somehow this is different than the other blue antifreeze they sell, Idk why it is different than Japanese or other cars. Probably isn't all that different.
 
Makes me wonder if the aluminum on those cars was a different composition than the old Volvos. My 79 242 had the original brass radiator up until last year, I exchanged it for a new one but it turns out I didn't have to. I thought it might be clogged up, but the problem was the voltage regulator in the cluster making it look like it was overheating.

But ya, changing the coolant is one of the most overlooked maintenance issues, along with the trans and axle fluid.

Perhaps the new Volvo coolant recommendation? I use Peak Original Equipment Technology for European Vehicles in my modern Volvos, it specifically says "All Volvos". Somehow this is different than the other blue antifreeze they sell, Idk why it is different than Japanese or other cars. Probably isn't all that different.

I know Volvo recommended the pentosin coolant for OHC redblocks. I?ve never wasted my money on that stuff since modern coolants for Asian vehicles are as good if not better and far cheaper.

In regards to the comment about the brass radiator, the proximity of the dissimilar metals is also important to the rate of corrosion. The material of the radiator is unlikely to drive any corrosion because the path length through the radiator hoses is much longer, increasing the resistance of the equivalent circuit.
 
Also, I was starting to second guess myself because I’ve been out of the automotive game professionally for several years now. Apparently, I was confusing propylene glycol for ethylene glycol with the acid technology additives that increase the life. Sorry for the confusion. IAT or OAT coolants are what you want to look for.
 
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