'01 Pathfinder, what antifreeze?

which antifreeze?

Odd. You ask a question after the answer to that question:)

CD

What's equivalent? The dealer is a long way away and quite pricey.

which antifreeze?

Do not use Red, Orange color or Dexcool.

If you do not use Nissan expensive stuff; The "equivalent" is green antifreeze. Prestone or Peak green antifreeze is OK.

Long Life antifreeze is somewhat of a misnomer. All antifreeze should be changed out every 24 to 36 months. Most owner manuals call for an antifreeze change at 80/100K miles or 48/60 months and then go on to say after that it should be changed every 24 months. Go figure.

Odd. You ask a question after the answer to that question:)

CD

OK, I would add that you make sure it is silicate free. Prestone green has silicates, but will work. In the long run, though, your water pump may fail sooner than later. On a car like the Maxima where the water pump job is a bit pricey, like $500, the extra expense of Nissan fluid is usually worth it.

CD

According to the spec sheets Prestone has additives to protect the water pump. I believe that you will find most antifreeze contains some level of silicates for protection of all the aluminium parts. Silicates are not need in cast iron blocks or heads. There is a school of thought that says getting rid of silicates stops water pump seal erosion. In its place they use phosphates. IMO if you use a good brand of antifreeze you should not have a problem.

OK, I would add that you make sure it is silicate free. Prestone green has silicates, but will work. In the long run, though, your water pump may fail sooner than later. On a car like the Maxima where the water pump job is a bit pricey, like $500, the extra expense of Nissan fluid is usually worth it.

CD

Yes, most american coolants have silicates. You will find that most japanese coolants do not. Because of that I tend to go against the well known brand that makes its coolant to fit every car and lean towards the coolant that was formulated with the particular car or model line-up in mind.

In other words, if I owned and american vehicle, prestone it is. Japanese? OEM or as much silicate free coolant as possible, and most definitely NOT the orange silicate free Prestone.

CD

Any particular reason for avoiding certain silicate-free coolants?

John

Thanks for the pointers. A gunch of Googling indicatest that this is a complex enough issue that I want to go with the Nissan LongLife Coolant. The decision was made easier by haveing to be near a dealer to day (he didn't have it), and two more dealers on Wed.

pump. I believe that you will find most antifreeze

Silicates are not need in cast iron blocks or heads.

pump seal erosion. In its place they use phosphates.

coolants do not. Because of that I tend to go against

the coolant that was formulated with the particular

or as much silicate free coolant as possible, and

Orange type coolants are completely in-compatible with green type coolants. If mixed, they react and make the coolant useless.

Check out this googled lookup

OK, I understand where you're coming from. I changed my Nissan over to one of the new organic acid type coolants (nitrite, phosphate, borate and silicate free) over 12 months ago. But I did a very thorough flush with demineralised water first.

John

You need to use the correct coolant. Since dealers usually only charge a couple dollars more than the discounts houses for it, it often makes sense to use the factory recommenced coolant and avoid the learning curve. It's not worth going "long life" with a coolant the manufacturer didn't recommend.

That said, if you want to know more... Prestone developed the first anti-corrosion additives for coolant 40 years ago. They used silicates. Prestone green is a high-silicate formula.

There are a variety of other coolants on the market using new technologies.

The "Long Life" coolants are generally carboxyilic based like Dexcool. No phosphates, no silicates, but big problems. You should NOT use these coolants as they have serious "contamination" issues. Google GM and Dexcool for more info - find cars with corrosion problems at 16K miles. Dexcool requires an incredibly clean starting point and contaminants cause them to cause corrosion. Contaminants known to cause problems include factory sealer, solder, and believe it or not,

It's told that some folks (Valvoline is one) have developed a *long life* carbooxy without the contamination issues that plagued Dexcool. I'm wary, even though I like the guys in the Valvoline research department. (FYI - Valvoline OEM's a lot of coolant for other companies and the drums you see in the garages & dealers).

The other new coolants use a similar carbooxylic base but are not the long life type like Dex. Valvoline markets these as G-48 and G-05. They are in use by Ford, Damilier/Chrysler and some Euro cars. They have a LOW silicate but higher phosphate design. Not bad for your Nissan but not ideal.

Lastly there are NO silicate coolants from Japanese manufacturers. As far as I know, there are no commercial (non dealer) equivalents to these. Nissan recommends a NO silicate formula. Japanese cars are know to wear water pumps early and silicates are the perceived cause.

Despite another 10lbs of research I've done into this, I've decided the it's not worth the time to keep up any more. I just go to the dealer, spend a couple extra bucks, and get the factory coolant. All done, and I sleep and night.

Thank you for your concern - all of which is well worth saying in this forum for the benefit of others.

I also did my research well, and found a reasonable consensus (among those who should know) roughly in agreement with your assessment.

Except no phosphate is used in the Euro formulations of these "hybrid" coolants. They're generally low-silicate, free of phosphate and nitrite, but with benzoic acid. Because I'm more conservative with other peoples' property than my own, I use one of these (Motul "Inugel Expert") in the older family cars which I service but do not own myself.

Higher-phosphate is a largely a Japanese compromise, and one which I do not feel entirely at ease with.

As I mentioned, I decided to switch my own Nissan over to a full OAT coolant. Since I had already switched my VW over to VW G12+ coolant (mixes with many silicate-based coolants without problems), that's what I now use in the Nissan too. Given that G12+ is now the recommended coolant for old engines like pre-VAG (VW automotive group) Skodas, Audis, Seats and so on, I am more than happy to do the experiment.

John