How To Choose Antifreeze For Your Vehicle

There are so many different varieties of antifreeze on the shelves these days; it's hard to choose the right one for your car

. You might consider really sitting down to educate yourself on what your car needs or taking a trip to a local Utah auto repair store to ask assistance there. Everyone has their favorites, as will you soon enough.

My first question when I became an auto owner was "what is antifreeze?" While you might get an incredulous look from a Utah auto repair clerk for such a question, the answer is simple. Antifreeze, or engine coolant, is a liquid that runs all around your engine, taking away heat and keeping things nice and cool.

The main ingredients used in antifreeze are known as propylene glycol and ethylene. Both of these chemicals have freezing points that are lower than water letting the coolant move easily in even the coldest weather. With a boiling point that is higher than water, it does the same in the hot summer months.

Antifreeze was once a very simple product. There were minimal choices on the market and they were always green. With the simplified formula came a simplified job of just keeping the engine cool, carrying heat to the radiator and preventing corrosion within the engine.

Standard green formula antifreeze is the type that most vehicles used until extended-life coolants were introduced back in the mid-1990s. This type of coolant contains fast-acting silicate and phosphate corrosion inhibitors that protect cast iron engines, bi-metal engines, copper/brass and aluminum radiators. While this type of antifreeze is primarily for vehicles made pre-1996, it can also be used in virtually any vehicle regardless of year, provided all of the old coolant is completely flushed and replaced with new.

Organic Acid Technology or OAT is a coolant with organic acids and without phosphates or silicates. This coolant is orange in color and has a service life of 150,000 miles or up to five years. The corrosion inhibitors in OAT antifreeze act slower than that of its old school green formula counterpart, but it has a much longer life.

It doesn't matter what make, model or year your car is if you want to use a Universal formula antifreeze. This OAT-based coolant has corrosion inhibitors with organic acids that give excellent coverage in your engine. Universal formula is almost always a yellow or amber color.

Any decent Utah auto repair store will carry these three types of antifreeze. Make sure the correct kind is your car and you will be adding years to your automobile. If still unsure of what kind to buy, ask a sales clerk for help or check out the owner's manual for the kind best recommended for the long life of your car.

by: Ace Winget

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