Here's a note I received from a friend who has been keeping a Maverick going
for years, as his regular commuter car. It's no beater, looking almost like
new, despite many New England Winters. He's finally started his engine
project, and here's what he found:
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Hi Guys,
Here is a data point on how often to change the antifreeze in your car.
When my 1972 Maverick was new, I decided to change the antifreeze every 2
years on the even years. This would be easy to remember without keeping
records. Of course, after a while I was too busy to change it that often and
sometimes it went 3 or maybe 4 years.
When I did change it, I drained the old and rinsed it out with tap water. The
radiator and engine block drain cocks are accessible and do a good job of
draining out all the coolant. I think one time I used some mild cooling system
cleaner.
Refills were always with Prestone Ethylene Glycol antifreeze in a 50/50
solution with distilled water. I used the water from a dehumidifier which runs
in the basement during the summer. The reason for using distilled water is to
avoid dissolved minerals which can coat the cooling surfaces with lime like
deposits.
After 29 years and 265,000 miles of the above maintenance schedule, I removed
the cylinder head and inspected the inside of the cooling system. I found
virtually no corrosion, no sediment, and no lime deposits on any ofthe water
jacket internal surfaces. There was some corrosion on the external surface of
the water pump suction pipe where the rubber hose slides over the pipe.
The engine is all cast iron, the radiator is brass, the water outlet and water
pump housing are aluminum.
Toby
******************
His commute was about 35 miles each way, which included going the wrong way on
Rt 93 north of Boston ( meaning that he was in the middle of the worst traffic
jams morning and night). He did not have cooling problems.
I can't claim to agree with his source of "distilled water", having looked in
my dehumidifier's collector bin, but it did work.
Stu
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