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Anything & Everything About Coolant......


seejaylk

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Did a flush using the STP brand yesterday. did the following....

1. Drained the old water

2. filled it with the STP or STR (don't remember the brand) radiator flush & topped it up with water

3. ran the engine (with heater fully on) for abt 10 mins

4. drained the flush

5. plugged the garden hose into the radiator & ran the engine for another 5 mins (while drain tap was off so that water from the garden hose will flush the radiator flush completely... :) .. i'm being a bit paranoid i think )

6. STP flush felt like soap to the hand.. so once the water coming out of the drain tap stopped feeling like soap :) .. removed the garden hose, put the drain plug back & filled the radiator with W@rth coolant (1:2 was the recommendation).

7. topped it up this morning when the engine was cold....

You have followed all the instructions precisely :)..nice work

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  • 1 month later...

I have a small question related to the coolant.

During the early days when I bought car, the radiator was always full and the coolant level on the bottle was at the top line (engine switched off).

After about a year it dropped down just above the below line in the bottle but on the radiator it was always full.

Couple of weeks back at the service I changed the coolant coz I felt it will be good to change it (Don't ask me why? :D)

The guy at the service used the same method above (using radiator flush, new coolant added with 50:50 water etc..)

Since then I didn't have any issue or any sort. During routine checks the radiator is always full with the coolant.

But since then there is nothing in the bottle and its empty(engine switched off). With the engine on also it was much the same.

Is this normal or do I need to check up on that?

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This is normal after a radiator flush and a refill. When you drain a radiator and if you do it properly according to what is mentioned in the service manual, most of the water in water lines and the engine itself comes out. And at the refill stage you only pour water into the radiator and you are unable to force water into empty water lines.

Once the engine is started water pump will pump water through the whole system and fill up all the water lines, etc that were empty after the drain. As result the radiator water level would go down and to compensate for this it would take more water from the water reservoir. This could be the reason why you don’t see any water in the reservoir. Fill it up to the top mark with the correct combination of water and coolant and use the car for a day (this should give it enough cooling down and heating up cycles). You might have to do this once or twice and then you’d be fine. If the problem continues, take it back. There could be a coolant leak somewhere.

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A fiend's dad has got a VW Polo

There is pink coolant innit below the minimum line.

As the manual says not to mix this (G12) with others ans since that is not available in any shops (agents should), what is the alternative to that?

Is any type of coolant ok?

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Hey guys I,m having a small pro..In my Bj 43 there wasn't a extra coolant tank.There for I bought one & got it fixed...but in my radiater coolant level goes down & it goes to the extra coolant tank.....

but it never take coolant back from that tank to the radiater...that tank gets filled thats all...............

pls advice..

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Hey guys I,m having a small pro..In my Bj 43 there wasn't a extra coolant tank.There for I bought one & got it fixed...but in my radiater coolant level goes down & it goes to the extra coolant tank.....

but it never take coolant back from that tank to the radiater...that tank gets filled thats all...............

pls advice..

first check ur radiator cap,if the rubber has damages,cz my Sera had the same problem,but after changing the radiator cap it solved the problem

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This is normal after a radiator flush and a refill. When you drain a radiator and if you do it properly according to what is mentioned in the service manual, most of the water in water lines and the engine itself comes out. And at the refill stage you only pour water into the radiator and you are unable to force water into empty water lines.

Once the engine is started water pump will pump water through the whole system and fill up all the water lines, etc that were empty after the drain. As result the radiator water level would go down and to compensate for this it would take more water from the water reservoir. This could be the reason why you don’t see any water in the reservoir. Fill it up to the top mark with the correct combination of water and coolant and use the car for a day (this should give it enough cooling down and heating up cycles). You might have to do this once or twice and then you’d be fine. If the problem continues, take it back. There could be a coolant leak somewhere.

Thanks for the explanation. Was confused a bit. Will fill it up as u said and see how it goes..

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  • 8 years later...
On 4/5/2010 at 6:02 AM, SeanD said:

Don't ever run your radiator on pure water unless you want to replace the radiator every couple of years and cause other problems in the rest of the cooling system.

There's quite a larger proportion of radiator corrosion in SL than I've seen in other countries, mainly due to this issue, and due to not even using distilled water and instead "topping it off" with normal tap water that's full of rust and impurities.

Most coolant brands like Caltex etc are made according to certain standards, so it shouldn't be a big deal what you put in, but don't mix brands as there is the possibility of silicate forming inside your cooling system, due to compounds in different brands reacting, and also other unpredictable reactions under the heat inside the system. Make sure to fully drain your radiator and then refill it with one brand after flushing with water.

Check on the coolant bottle and see if it says premixed, in which case you can just use that stuff. If not, you will have to do the 50-50 with distilled water. And modern Hondas (and I think Toyotas in the last couple of years) are recommended to run only on their Honda or Toyota brand coolant (claim is that they are formulated to run better with their cooling systems- there is some debate about this so you'll have to do your own research). I put the genuine Honda stuff in my Honda as the price difference is very small, and my Nissan runs on whatever A*W puts in it. For any other brands try and go with the green coolant, as using the orange stuff makes it hard to determine whether it's rust or whether it's coolant stains you're seeing in your system. The genuine Honda stuff is Blue, and the Toyota is red or pink.

You shouldn't have to replace the coolant more than once a year (sometimes a couple of years or even more) depending on your driving habits. Pay attention to the level that your coolant reservoir bottle is at when the engine has just been turned off (hot), and that should be about the level you're at when the coolant has expanded. When the engine is cold that level may drop as it's sucked back into the cooling system. Don't overfill it as the bottle could explode when the engine is hot.

Thank you for the info....much appreciated :appl: 

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11 minutes ago, noddy said:

there are many garages that they insist blue, green, pink coolant etc.is there any truth in this - i think if you have a leak if will show more.

please clarify this as as some say put blue coolant etc.

 

  

The main reason for different coloring is to avoid people mixing different kinds of coolant.

There are several kinds of coolant - IAT, OAT, HOAT, Recycled, etc etc. Mixing 2 kinds of coolant is not recommended. 

Refer to your users manual to select the proper coolant for your car. It should say something like this: (This is the recommendation for my car, yours could differ) 

"Ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrate and non-borate coolant with long-life hybrid organic acid technology (HOAT)."

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hey.. small question to the community..

Au*mrj guys removed all my coolant.. ran water through the system until uncolored water dripped down from the bottom.. and filled my viva elite up with only coolant.. I said many times if a 50/50 mix is needed.. they kept insisting of going full coolant.. what's up with that?? my first ever service of a second hand car btw..

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