The other day I found out my dirt bike had water in it instead of antifreeze. I had some leftover antifreeze from another project and I wondered if it was ok for my dirt bike.
Can you use car antifreeze in a dirt bike? Yes, if the antifreeze does not have silicates. If it has silicates, then you should not put car antifreeze in your dirt bike.
This is just not as simple as whether antifreeze has silicates in it. While researching this topic to ensure my dirt bike is cared for, I came across many arguments for and against putting car antifreeze into your dirt bike.
We’ll break this down for you in what I believe is the best way to go in avoiding silicates.
What do the silicates chemicals do to your dirt bike?
As I just pointed out in the previous paragraph, many individuals believe you can put any antifreeze in your dirt bike. I came across many riders professionally and from a novice perspective who have put many kinds of antifreeze in their dirt bike. They claim they had no problem in over 30 years.
Yet, I see other individuals who talk about specific issues with putting car antifreeze into their dirt bike.
Specifically, antifreeze that contains silicates are hard on the metals in your dirt bike’s system like the aluminum and magnesium parts. From my research it appears those individuals who are proponents for putting any antifreeze in your dirt bike have not done extensive studies or have a background in metallurgy.
The individuals who are naysayers of putting any antifreeze in your dirt bike talk about show it hurts your aluminum and magnesium based parts.
Silicates make the aluminum and magnesium porous. The result makes the seals less effective in preventing engine liquids from leaking out of the motor.
I am not a metallurgist, I think it stands to reason when metals are weekend because they’re porous they tend to not hold up.
You can look at older dirt bike engines for proof of the effects. Specifically, look around the water pump impeller and housing. What you will probably see is a porous nature for these parts. You may even see the application of J-B Weld to restore this weakened area of the engine.
Other internal parts
Imagine what the internal portion of your engine looks like where the cylinders are and you can’t see. If you could take a camera and see the internal water jackets where the coolant flows would you likely see the same thing as the impeller and impeller housing.
What do you think you would see in the head area where the coolant flows?
1992 RM 125 Story
I can remember doing maintenance on my 1992 RM125. In the story’s course you’ll notice that it likely had silicon-based antifreeze. What I don’t know is whether this antifreeze was put in at the dealer where the bike was assembled or if it was done at the assembly plant.
I can tell you the antifreeze was green and very slippery and smelled very similar to a silicon based antifreeze.
I bring this up to play devil’s advocate for those that believe nonsilicate antifreeze is the only option.
It is worth pointing out that antifreeze in cars has changed as many motors and blocks have aluminum parts. It seems more of the newer car antifreeze are doing away with silicates.
Antifreeze In Your Dirt Bike Seals
There was even a subgroup in one forum that discusses the porous in your engine seals. I don’t know if this is true, but I can tell you it stands to reason your seals have to work harder as the metals become more porous.
This may be one reason many seals around water pumps in the impeller housing fail.
To the professional mechanics out there reading this post, you perhaps have your own thoughts on this topic. That’s fine, my aim here is to only bring more awareness to the topic.
Pro-Tips
1.Be careful using just water. Make sure you use distilled water and watch the freezing temperatures outside. The last thing you want is to have your bike in an area that will freeze overnight and cause damage to your radiator or engine.
2. As this article suggests, avoid antifreeze with silicates. Overtime it slowing erodes internal components of your engine.
3. Make sure your antifreeze is mixed 50/50. Sometimes when you buy the antifreeze in a gallon jug is already mixed 50/50. Other times it is not mixed 50/50. In the event, you to mix it, make sure you use distilled water.
How Do I Know If Car Antifreeze Has Silicates In It?
The easiest way to know if your dirt bike antifreeze has silicates in it is to look for ethylene glycol on the ingredients portion of the bottle.
Non silicate antifreeze will have propylene glycol in it.
When you do not find this specific verbiage, I recommend doing two things.
1.. Googling the terms in your radiant section. What does it say about the ingredients are they a derivative of a silicon-based antifreeze? Similar to high fructose syrup and regular old corn syrup. While technically they are different, they still have the same effect on your body.
The same is true for antifreeze.
2. The second thing you can do is call the 1-800 number listed on the bottle as well and ask someone on that end of the line.
3. You can call a parts store and ask them if the antifreeze is silicate-based.
Can Prestone coolant be used in a dirt bike?
As funny as it sounds, I came across this question many times on forums and as a Google search.
A simple answer is yes, you can use Prestone in your dirt bike. However, follow all the guidelines in this post.
Prestone makes silicate and non silicate based antifreeze. It is the dirt bike owner’s responsibility to making sure they choose the right antifreeze.
On a side note, I would recommend you be extra diligent if you find the antifreeze is green or yellow. As I mentioned before in my story about my RM125 antifreeze with green. While I don’t know for sure if it was silicate-based, I’m sure the odds are in my favor that it was.
If you are a fan of Prestone check out their Prestone extended life. This is a silicate free antifreeze.
Pro-Tip: If you pour straight antifreeze without the 50/50 mix into your radiator. There’s a chance it could make your dirt bike overheat.
Environmental Concerns With Antifreeze
Let’s take a few moments and address the environmental concerns with antifreeze. I’m sure there are some of you who do not think there is climate change and I will not engage in that discussion here.
Let’s take a few moments and address the environmental concerns with antifreeze. I’m sure there are some of you who do not think there is climate change and I will not engage in that discussion here.
What does antifreeze have to do with environmental concerns? I will illustrate the point with a quick example. How would you feel if I went into your bedroom and poured antifreeze all over your bed?
I’m sure you would be rather agitated. So why would we take the chance and spill antifreeze that is not environmentally friendly all over the woods and in the beds of those creatures that we partly want to connect with?
I’m sure you see the point right now. Make sure you put environmentally friendly antifreeze into your dirt bike. And guess what?
This means you’ll likely end up using silicate free antifreeze.
You may also wonder about riding on the motocross track.
My view does not change here either. Granted, we are not putting toxic material in the beds of wood animals but those toxins runoff into streams and rivers from which the animals drink.
So unless you’re willing to go pour yourself an enormous glass of silicate-based antifreeze right now, do everyone a favor and put the right antifreeze in your dirt bike.
Silicate Free Antifreeze Details
Be a responsible dirt biker and use propylene glycol based coolants.
As opposed to ethylene glycol (most common antifreeze). Propylene glycol is non toxic and works as good as the Very toxic eth glyc.
It is the same price as the others. (~5-8$ a gal)
Distilled water is about a dollar a gallon in the grocery store.
What is Engine Ice?
Another very intriguing topic and I’ve come across is called Engine Ice. Google it and you’ll find many fans of it on the dirt bike forums.
While I can’t speak from experience in running this in any of my dirt bikes. It seams to perform well based on the user’s in the forms.
I will say the cost is very high compared to traditional antifreeze.
I see that “riders using this product have secured countless National and International Championships.” I can’t confirm the validity of this comment, but I will say I am impressed after coming through their website.
I looked at their FAQ section and found several interesting facts and tidbits.
Many older owner’s manuals call for ethylene glycol to be run on dirt bikes. If you haven’t figured out by now, this is a silicate-based antifreeze which we don’t want. The website notes these standards are outdated.
It appears the United States does not have any regulation on the ethylene glycol or it’s use in dirt bikes in the United States. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me and is rather a disappointment.
The manufacturer of many engines recommends changing your antifreeze one time per year or twice per year if you race. They also recommend using a combination of vinegar and water to flush your radiator.
Hope this information was helpful now it’s time to get out there for a little throttle therapy and let’s ride!
