Switching from IAT to G04

use g48 .. and one way to get rid of the old stuff is to do 4 -6 flushes with plain distilled water and see when it gets pretty clean / clear
on last flush ...drain as much as possible ( in fact do every time ) by blowing some air in tank and opening radiators drains and then adding straight G48 ( concentrated) equal to 1/2 the user manual capacity
There are many ways to drain .. the one above is one of the less complicated but not the most quickest
Use a vacuum tool to fill each time

 

Dominick- Personally, I love G05 and have used it for 17 years, especially since they changed the composition to use HOATs. Does need to be changed every 2 years, but if I had a 360, I would be doing it annually to make sure the heat exchanger had not gone south.

 

and g05 has supplemental coolant additive good for anti cavitation an issue reported in some 12 cylinders. Zerex says five years or 150k miles and these cars generally are low mile.

 

Iirc the reason I advise against it in a 360 is wiith all the failures of heat exchange due to either solder or copper degradation coupled with some reports of Ford have issues with the g05 in a similar fashion. I recommend the g48 which was OEM fill, ( also for MB and BMW at that time) has less affect on copper and solder based on manufacturer specs, and has the anti cavitation properties as well
It is used in large diesel trucks as well
That recommendation and the proper gear oil I feel will reduce failures
Everybody has their own their own choices I just give you what I believe is the way to go..in a 360.
I may consider G05 in other models though

 

A little green mixed with g48 will not hurt if that is what is stopping you

Of course the more fully flushed the better

Here is some info from Zerex

Zerex from Valvoline is the #1 selling OEM-approved coolant brand. Zerex G48 Antifreeze/Coolant is proven to maximize engine life in cars and light trucks. Its premium formulation is suitable for BMW, Chrysler 2001 and older, Ford 2002 and older, GM 1996 and older, Mercedes-Benz, Mini and Volvo engines. Specially formulated with NAP-free Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT) in an ethylene glycol-base, Zerex is made for your car and protects better than industry standards against corrosion, leaking, deposits as well as freezing and boiling – the four main causes of cooling system failure, which is the leading cause of engine breakdown. Our lower-silicate, reduced pH, phosphate-free formula with Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT) protects all cooling system metals (including aluminum) from corrosion. It contains nitrates that protects diesel-engine cylinder liners from cavitation, while deposit control additives guard against hardwater deposits and scale. So radiators, water pumps and other metal cooling system parts stay clean and your antifreeze flows and functions properly. Whether you’re topping off your radiator or doing a complete system flush, trust Zerex G48 Antifreeze/Coolant. Made for your car. Made by Valvoline.

 

The motivation between some of the choices is mixed fleet use. For example I have a 550 and a diesel truck. The diesels have known cavitation issues and even user supplemental additives available with a whole test strip system to stay in the right range. The 550 is just a car but there have been some reports of cavitation but does not appear to be a global issue with the fleet. G05 is safe and convenient for me and while g05 does have an SCA for cavitation I still monitor it with test strip and add SCA as needed which is rare. If I had a BMW and a 360 I would probably just use g48. If I had a newer car with an OAT I might switch everything to an OAT so I only have to stock one coolant. For a long time g05 was about as safe and universal as you could get. There are newer coolants which I have not researched but I'll cross that bridge when I get a newer vehicle. Just like blackstone does oil tests they also do coolant test. If your report comes back too much silicates precipitated out then you can switch to low silicone coolant formulations and zero in on what your car needs. With ferraris probably the biggest failure I see in cooling systems are the overflow tank caps. They really suck! The old school generic radiator cap just plain works. I was so tired of Ferrari cap failure I just cut the bung off the tank and welded a generic bung on and use a generic cap. Now it never fails.

 

G48 is made for diesel engines as well and recommended by some manufacturers of big rigs
It has the additive according to the statement I pulled from zerex

 

If you read the product information provided to fleet operators you get very different information. There are only 2 coolants with good additive packages for engines with wet liners and long change intervals (more than 2 years). Caterpillar ELC and Shell Rotella NF ELC. Many advise up to 400,000 miles but changes or additive renewal at either 2 years or for the Cat and Shell ELC, 5 years.

 

Green, yellow, blue, purple red...just change the **** every year during your annual.

My car had shellzone in it, I got a jug of it just for topping off but I don't use it. I personally use G05 when I do it myself. The coolant change is arguably the easiest part of the annual, especially if you have an Airlift, which you should, as it costs less than the fluid you would use on a typical annual.

 

I do not see an advantage in either personal work load or costs. The Rotella for example is a claimed forever oat coolant some call million mile coolant but still is using a test strip and correction fluid similar to the older supplemental coolant additive systems at similar prices and similar recommended test times. A cost advantage would be if the Rotella needs it's correction fluid a intervals greater than older HOAT tech (g05). If the testing is recommended at 2 yrs. I suspect you will need the additive do costs are then moot. I think the goal of extended life OAT like rotella is as much for "green push" for reduction in environmental waste than what is in best interest in how long our vehicles last. The HOAT were a best of both worlds invention who's advantage is slipping because of new additive packages and claimed superior coolant longevity in newer OAT formulas (Rotella). But like all manufacturer claims what's the real truth? Remember the Ford claims on the 7.3 diesels and the ford coolant not performing anywhere close to claims? I would need a reason to change off HOAT chemistry. A switch for me just makes more work with no perceived advantage...at this time.

 

You need to stay up better. Your info is very old.

 

The problem with these names, is we don't know what's in the mix. As a general rule. I prefer OAT wit silicates and cavitation additives. Coolants with silicates do not cool as good as pure OAT, but the silicate protects the aluminium parts.

No point in flushing ten times the system, flushing at regular interval is the best way to keep the system clean. I've got an inline filter on the heater core that grabs the fin debris and a gano filter on the radiator hose. These are collecting debris I never manage to flush through the tiny petcock.

As side note, If I have to fully flush the system, I prefer to remove the thermo switch rather than opening the petcock. As said big debris cannot pass through the petcock aperture, whereas the switch is bolter through a larger hole that sits at the right place, and is much easier to remove than the lower radiator hose.

 

I would only point out that all these coolants made for diesel engines are designed for cast iron blocks with cast iron sleeves, with compression ratios between 14:1 to as high as 25:1. Not exactly what you find in a Ferrari.

 

As an enthusiast car site it is expected that owners go a bit further than the guy who uses is daily driver like his toaster. Those diesel compatible coolants are perfectly fine for Ferraris and have no cost disadvantages while providing added protection and performance enhancement be it extending life of coolant reducing frequent changes and disposal into the environment to potential reduction of possible rare cases of liner cavitation. We can take liner cavitation to another thread but it does happen in wet liner ferrari motors and some cases have been documented on Fchat. The reasons are up for debate but I personally do not think it's a problem in the fleet but there could be contributing factors in the few cases such as ferrari sketchy manufacturing processes and standards in liner production, possible imprecision variations between liner fit to block on effected motors and my personal favorite bad pressure caps not holding specified coolant system pressures. On the manufacturing end take Cummins for example and the 6 cylinder diesel motor produced for decades with very little change. How do the post 2013 cummins motors make the jump to less aggressive additives, taking out nitrates that have served prior cummins motors for millions of miles and OAT coolants? I suspect it's manufacturing tighter tolerances and higher quality liner manufacture like better centrifugal castings. Look at a modern Mahle diesel liner casting today and it's like jewelry. Look at a new ferrari liner and I have seen casting voids on the coolant side.

But yeah...you could use the green stuff changed at regular intervals and be just fine.