Antifreeze

[Martin J]

As we head towards Winter it has got me thinking How often should antifreeze be replaced? Mine has been in there coming up to three years (sigma) since the rad last leaked

Of coarse it's primarily to stop freezing but the corrosion preventing properties on an all alloy engine are vital. Does it degrade with time & had I better just replace it? It isn't that expensive after all.

[Cookie Monster]

Don't know the answer to the question but can I ask a supplementary question: what ratio/ how much should be used? Mines a K series.

Sorry for the slight hi-jack

[BBL]

I run 50/50 coolant (antifreeze) mixed with distilled water.

 

edit -- Oh yeah, the original question... I remember as a young 'un being told to flush (not just change, but flush) the coolant system every 3 years or 30K miles, but I don't know for sure if this is still valid today.

 

Edited by - BBL on 20 Sep 2011 06:19:30

[Steve, Carol and little Cl]

It used to contain methanol, which evaporated through the vented radiator cap (see the wiki web page). It's now made of ethylene glycol.

 

There most probably is a shelf life to antifreeze, although I don't know what it is. Try looking at your tin top service book to see when they change it...it may give you an indication as to roughly when you should be doing it. Of course, the only consequence of changing it too often is the extra cost (and the work). There are more consequences to not changing it often enough.

 

As for the ratio, it should state on the bottle how much you need to use to lower the freezing point of the coolant down to a certain temperature. Just mix accordingly.

 

Steve

 

P.S.

 

3 years sounds like a good piece of advice, I can't imagine it being more often than that.

[mav]

OAT coolant supposedly should be changed every 5 years. I change mine every 4. Use the ready mixed stuff from either your local motor factor or Halfords...

 

[Frying Pan]

I've got some new antifreeze for mine (Comma pre-mixed) and hope to spend some time on the car at the weekend.

 

How do you flush - is it just a case of draining the old, filling with water and draining that, or do you need to be more thorough (i.e. warm the engine so the thermostat opens etc.)?

[Mort]

IIRC the Caterham red stuff is used neat - which is what I have in my K-Series. The red stuff (i.e. Caterham) is rated for 5 years and the rest is generally rated for 3 years. Don't mix colours as it can cause corrosion.

 

If it were me I'd replace it with the stuff that Caterham supply. It isn't actually necessary to replace it every 5 years. Any garage should be able to test what you have and advise whether to replace.

 

Edited to provide a linky.

 

Edited by - Mort on 20 Sep 2011 15:15:21

[Martin J]

thanks everyone

*arrowup*The caterham pink antifreeze is comma & they make a premixed one which you can pour in neat & also one to dilute (preferably with distilled or nice soft water) don't pour the latter in neat otherwise you will be super concentrated.

[jackb_ms]

don't pour the latter in neat otherwise you will be super concentrated.

 

What problem wouldn that cause to the engine?

 

Jack

[David Lynch]

A long time ago my car had been serviced with undiluted blue coolant poured in through the expansion tank (then diluted ). It dyed the tank so never been able to see the level without removing the pressure cap ☹️. To be fair easily done and at least made me check levels regualrly.

[Mort]

The Caterham stuff is indeed Comma Xstream G30, which is pre-mixed (see link). The reason that I suggested Caterham is that they supply it at a pretty good price, and are reputable.

[jimh]

Caterham's service info sheet for the CSR says drain and replace the coolant every 24,000 miles.

[Martin J]

Quoting jimh: 

Caterham's service info sheet for the CSR says drain and replace the coolant every 24,000 miles.

Some caterham's will take many many years to rack up that sort of mileage, so replacing antifreeze will be more time based than mileage I would suggest