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Antifreeze

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Antifreeze

Hi. Valid timely question..!!

The reason it is telatively cheap.

Older coolants were
ETHYLENE GLYCOL.. coloured BLUE

Modern systems run OAT coolant ( more friendly to the environment.. ) these tend to be RED..or orange..

THE 2 TYPES DO NOT MIX..!!

YOU CAN drain and flush a 2000's FIAT that was on BLUE .. And refill with OAT RED coolant though..

Both my FIRE engined cars have been treated in his way.

The OAT has a longer service life... @5 years generally.
Blue is 2 or 3 years
 
Thanks! So really poor advertising on their part with the ‘Suitable for all engine types’, as will likely be unsuitable for most cars on the road now? To use this I take it you would need to completely drain the red fluid?
 
MattHarris19872016 said:
Thanks! So really poor advertising on their part with the ‘Suitable for all engine types’, as will likely be unsuitable for most cars on the road now? To use this I take it you would need to completely drain the red fluid?
Click to expand...


It would work in most engines.. but is supposedly an inferior antifreeze.

You COULD drain your car.. flush with water.. then refill with this stuff.. but your OAT coolant could just be topped up.

(Word of warning)
Like brake fluid.. the antifreeze :coolant level should barely drop over months and thousands of miles of driving.


Any noticable drop should be thoroughly investigated..

Damp carpets... steamy windows
 
varesecrazy said:
Hi. Valid timely question..!!

The reason it is telatively cheap.

Older coolants were
ETHYLENE GLYCOL.. coloured BLUE

Modern systems run OAT coolant ( more friendly to the environment.. ) these tend to be RED..or orange..

THE 2 TYPES DO NOT MIX..!!

YOU CAN drain and flush a 2000's FIAT that was on BLUE .. And refill with OAT RED coolant though..

Both my FIRE engined cars have been treated in his way.

The OAT has a longer service life... @5 years generally.
Blue is 2 or 3 years
Click to expand...
I agree. a very topical subject.

I got quite involved in this just recently as my daughter-in-law's Jazz needed a small top up. The existing coolant is blue so I thought "that's fine, because I've got some of that left over from Felicity (our old '92 Panda)" Whenever I buy something like antifreeze or brake fluid I write the date I opened it on the tin and this antifreeze was well past it's date! I popped round to the factor to buy a 5 litre of concentrate and mentioned that it was going into the Jazz. But that blue stuff is a silicate IAT formulation he says, surely you need an OAT type? Well, we looked through the parts references and the recommended coolant is OAT but all his OAT spec are red! So, didn't buy and phoned our local Honda independent chap when I got home. Yes the Honda "type 2" coolant is blue. He is pretty sure it is OAT as Honda say you can leave it in for extended intervals (he changes it at 5 years but he says he thinks he remembers Honda say you can leave it in for 10!) Long and short of it, He says if just topping up buy the Honda stuff which is only available from Honda. However if you're doing a complete drain and flush then you can refill with any OAT you like - then, of course it will be red! He thought you could probably top up with a generic red coloured OAT but you'ld end up with a "muddy" coloured coolant which would look alarming and he thought that would be best avoided. I agree! The factor's charts recommend the red stuff and he says he sells it on that recommendation and has had no come backs - still don't fancy Muddy coolant though!

Up 'till now I had always thought the blue (or sometimes green) antifreeze was the old Silicate IAT stuff which is not now commonly used - I last saw it in our old Panda and my Hillman Husky. Red, Orange, and possibly Pink (never personally used pink though) is OAT organic technology and I've found that in all the family cars presently in service, except the Jazz of course. Now I find my new (2 year old) Ibiza is running a purplish tinted fluid which I guess is the new HOAT stuff?

So. Up until about a couple of weeks ago I felt really sure that coolant type could be identified by colour. Now, after my Honda experience, I'm not so sure any more! Anyway, taking the advice of the Honda chap, I'm off to buy a litre of the Blue stuff from the dealer (no doubt at an exorbitantly inflated price). Or maybe the wee independent Honda chap would put some in a "pop" bottle for me? The Jazz will be needing a coolant change next summer so I'll just drain, flush and refill with generic (probably Comma or TradeTEC) red stuff!

There you are then, something which I thought I knew all about and have never "worried" about for years suddenly jumps out and bites you in the bum!
Regards to all
Jock
 
Pugglt Auld Jock said:
I agree. a very topical subject.

I got quite involved in this just recently as my daughter-in-law's Jazz needed a small top up. The existing coolant is blue so I thought "that's fine, because I've got some of that left over from Felicity (our old '92 Panda)" Whenever I buy something like antifreeze or brake fluid I write the date I opened it on the tin and this antifreeze was well past it's date! I popped round to the factor to buy a 5 litre of concentrate and mentioned that it was going into the Jazz. But that blue stuff is a silicate IAT formulation he says, surely you need an OAT type? Well, we looked through the parts references and the recommended coolant is OAT but all his OAT spec are red! So, didn't buy and phoned our local Honda independent chap when I got home. Yes the Honda "type 2" coolant is blue. He is pretty sure it is OAT as Honda say you can leave it in for extended intervals (he changes it at 5 years but he says he thinks he remembers Honda say you can leave it in for 10!) Long and short of it, He says if just topping up buy the Honda stuff which is only available from Honda. However if you're doing a complete drain and flush then you can refill with any OAT you like - then, of course it will be red! He thought you could probably top up with a generic red coloured OAT but you'ld end up with a "muddy" coloured coolant which would look alarming and he thought that would be best avoided. I agree! The factor's charts recommend the red stuff and he says he sells it on that recommendation and has had no come backs - still don't fancy Muddy coolant though!

Up 'till now I had always thought the blue (or sometimes green) antifreeze was the old Silicate IAT stuff which is not now commonly used - I last saw it in our old Panda and my Hillman Husky. Red, Orange, and possibly Pink (never personally used pink though) is OAT organic technology and I've found that in all the family cars presently in service, except the Jazz of course. Now I find my new (2 year old) Ibiza is running a purplish tinted fluid which I guess is the new HOAT stuff?

So. Up until about a couple of weeks ago I felt really sure that coolant type could be identified by colour. Now, after my Honda experience, I'm not so sure any more! Anyway, taking the advice of the Honda chap, I'm off to buy a litre of the Blue stuff from the dealer (no doubt at an exorbitantly inflated price). Or maybe the wee independent Honda chap would put some in a "pop" bottle for me? The Jazz will be needing a coolant change next summer so I'll just drain, flush and refill with generic (probably Comma or TradeTEC) red stuff!

There you are then, something which I thought I knew all about and have never "worried" about for years suddenly jumps out and bites you in the bum!
Regards to all
Jock
Click to expand...
Oooooh! This has got me going now. Decided to do a bit of reading up on antifreezes as this thread has made me realise there may be a few wee gaps in my knowledge base. So far, apart from the above discussion, I haven't found anything unexpected, except this.

Normally, when I "do" antifreeze, I mix up a 50/50 mix water/antifreeze concentrate in a 2 litre "pop" bottle, which makes it easy to get the right mix ratio and is easy to pour into the rad/expansion tank. For many years I have used distilled water (although our tap water up here in Edinburgh is very soft, no Kettle furring, so probably OK). But for a while now proper distilled water is hard to find having been replaced, it seems, by deionised water. I found Halfords selling 5 litre containers of the stuff, labeled Battery Top Up Water, at a very reasonable price so I've been using it for the last couple of years. The Punto and the Panda were both refilled with this after their cam belts/water pumps were done and the Astra was certainly topped up with it. Now I read, on a site I googled, that you shouldn't use deionised water in cooling systems because the deionised water robs ions from the metals in the engine cooling system which causes accelerated corrosion! The very thing I'm trying to avoid! (The Halfords bottle actually says suitable for topping up cooling systems though). So, not too sure about this. Should I drain and refill with a tap water or proper distilled water based solution? or am I, as usual, worrying about nothing? Opinions anyone?
 
Pugglt Auld Jock said:
Oooooh! This has got me going now. Decided to do a bit of reading up on antifreezes as this thread has made me realise there may be a few wee gaps in my knowledge base. So far, apart from the above discussion, I haven't found anything unexpected, except this.

Normally, when I "do" antifreeze, I mix up a 50/50 mix water/antifreeze concentrate in a 2 litre "pop" bottle, which makes it easy to get the right mix ratio and is easy to pour into the rad/expansion tank. For many years I have used distilled water (although our tap water up here in Edinburgh is very soft, no Kettle furring, so probably OK). But for a while now proper distilled water is hard to find having been replaced, it seems, by deionised water. I found Halfords selling 5 litre containers of the stuff, labeled Battery Top Up Water, at a very reasonable price so I've been using it for the last couple of years. The Punto and the Panda were both refilled with this after their cam belts/water pumps were done and the Astra was certainly topped up with it. Now I read, on a site I googled, that you shouldn't use deionised water in cooling systems because the deionised water robs ions from the metals in the engine cooling system which causes accelerated corrosion! The very thing I'm trying to avoid! (The Halfords bottle actually says suitable for topping up cooling systems though). So, not too sure about this. Should I drain and refill with a tap water or proper distilled water based solution? or am I, as usual, worrying about nothing? Opinions anyone?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge either deionised or distilled water are perfectly fine for coolant it's mainly to avoid a buildup of mineral's Inthe engine e.g limescale mainly
 
De-ionised water is fine for coolant mixing. It will rob ions from the antifreeze if anything.
I had this discussion of distilled V de-ionised about 30 years ago regarding water for washing aircraft gas turbine (jet) engines. Yes you spray water and detergent down the air intake (sometimes crushed walnut shells). We had problems that the supplier of distilled water used the same drums for battery acid and we got contaminated batch. So they were buying it from the chemists instead at great expense. I suggested getting Elgastat de-ioniser and after some debate they went back to the engine manufacturer who agred it was OK to use de-ionised water.


Robert G8RPI.
 
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