Ihave 2014 gt with 29,800mi. and I figure it is time to change antifreeze. It looks good but should I do a complete flush job,or just drain radiator and change? Also,prestone concetrate is $5.00 cheaper per gal. than motorcraft per gal.
I'm cheap when it comes to antifreeze, I buy whatever is on sale-as long as it isn't dexcool or whatever that GM crap is. These days I just run distilled water and water wetter as it is a fairweather toy-when it is actually on the road.
If memory serves me well, antifreeze and water wetter reduces engine temps about 10 degrees. Water wetter and distilled water reduces temps 30 degrees. I recommend using distilled water and water wetter.
By parking it in the garage until spring. Where I live, it is rarely below freezing during the day until December and by March it is the same thing. Car stays off the road from December until early March-or whenever the street sweeper cleans up the sand and gravel from the winter. I don't take it out of town after the end of October due to requiring winter tires for the mountain passes to go to just about any other place in BC.
IN my neck of the woods, unless the garage is heated the blocks would crack from coolant freezing solid. Usually before December was over. I didn't realize it is so mild in B.C. in the winter.
The Okanagan has overall the best weather in Canada. We do get snow but it rarely sticks until mid December and most years it is gone in mid to late February. It is warmer in the winter down at the coast but they pay for it with the rain. We have lots of snow in the mountains for skiing-not my favorite activity though, I hate winter. My garage is attached to the house and is well insulated, it would take a heck of a cold snap to get my garage below freezing.
Challenge accepted... Niagara Peninsula is hands down the best climate in Canada. Even better that 30 miles in any direction sees the winter fuckery in full force. 'specially those suckers in Buffalo getting whalloped with Lake Erie snowstorms. Go Bills
I’ve been running water weter and distilled water in my block and intercooler for almost two years. Definitely runs cooler but I have noticed a little corrosion around fittings and joints that were not there when I ran Prestone. Car is stored in a heated garage through the winter. You know, that -40*F bullshit.
Okanagan is nice, my first ever trip to Canada was to Vernon in January. I’ve been to Prince George, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Collingwood, Ft. McMurray, Sydney N.S etc in January and February. My two worst snowstorms in all my travels were one between Syracuse and Buffalo that stranded me on the freeway for a couple of hours near Rochester and one above Red Deer headed to Wetaskiwin. It’s the only job that I ever turned away from. Good thing, because they had a 100 car pileup 20 km from where I turned back for Calgary! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The NYS Thruway is a dividing line for winter storms for some reason. Almost it's whole length from the West edn at the PA/NY border to about the other side of Syracuse can be really bad in the winter. Lake Erie dumps on it up and past Buffalo where Lake Ontario takes over and dumps snow on it all the way to Syracuse. Off the East end of Lake Ontario is an area called the Tug Hill Plateau that gets an average of more than 200" of annual snowfall and 300" is not unheard off. That's 25 feet of snow over the coarse of a winter!
I've heard multiple people having corrosion issues using only WW and water. Not having any antifreeze can also cause pump bearing issues. Personally, I'd run a minimum of 25% antifreeze for the lubrication and anti-corrosive properties. I don't think too many folks are running their cars hard enough to warrant the small additional thermal efficiency gained from using straight water instead of 25% antifreeze. Only reason race cars don't use antifreeze is because it's slippery and you don't want it on track.
