Tip of the week.

[Tony Fearn]

Hi Pat.
What do you do with the heater control when you are re-filling the system? Tony.

[Keith Clements]

When they have fermented, save me a bottle or two!

[Keith Andrews]

Its that time of year again,if your antifreeze is over two years old it is time for draining and flushing the system,unless you use a long life type.

ANY engine should be flushed at least once a yr... Bottom hoses inspected and replaced if they have coils inside and ANY sign of corrosion.
Old water/anti freeze can be reused...note: like oil this should not be poured down drains into the enviroment. Proplene glygol is poisonus and doesnt break down.
Radiator headers removed each 5 to 7 yrs, and cores manually cleaned, assuming yearly flushes have taken place. This should also be std practice when rebuilding a new engine. see note below
Antifreeze should be used on ALL engines that have Aluminium blocks/heads/manifolds....

For flushing...
remove and save the old antifreeze/water mix..
Fill with fresh water, pressure test. and a 1/2 cup of laundry powder concentate (dont the normal type that has 'fillers'
Run for 20 to 30 miles, Drain and flush till no more bubbles appear.
Replace with orginal antifreeze mix, carefull not to pour in debris that has settled to the bottom...do not reuse if there are signs of oil or oil sludge.
Top up with antifreeze.

Removing header tanks and manual flush when rebuilding and engine is too often over looked....A raditor is generally garanteed to have a couple core blocked that flushing will not clear. and a couple more partly blocked, possibly a piece of wire coil from the bottom hose.
Old raditors (unlike new cars) where over built, and these restrictions and blockages are not enough to effect cooling efficiency...but u can count on the odd small gasket sealant compound to break off, get caught on one cores partly blocked or even block off a couple themselves, enough to effect the efficiency of the cooling system.

So often a new engine runs a little hotter, with ppl chassing lean mixtures, timing, thermostats and taking the actual cooling system for granted.

[Forumadmin]

It is probably because you come from a soft or acid water area...none of that carbonate to clog the pores.
Not many people have enough distilled water to fill a car cooling system; but save all that freezer ice and take Pat's advice.

[Keith Andrews]

Lets look at actually what is in Anti freeze and how it works
Made up of:
Cooling/ anti freeze component
This is Propylene Glycol mixed At 50/50 or Ethylene Glycol mixed at 70/30
It is not recomended to mix the 2 types
level of anti freeze is measured with a refractometer.
This doesnt break down with use and able to be reused.

The Corrosion Inhibitor component...
this is made up of salts of borate, phosphate and silicate that give an alkaline sol'n of approx pH 10.5 with a chemical buffering effect

How does it work?
With the different metals in an engine, Al , Fe, Cu it acts like a mini battery exchanging ions with the Al being the sacrifical material. The silicates are deposited on the walls of the metals, in particular the Al. And a buffering effect. There is enough of these salts in modern anti freeze to last around 5 yrs in a well looked after system...in that time the salts decrease and so does the protection...
This varies between brands/countries and the dilution of the antifreeze, so dont buy cheap diluted stuff.

Also oxygen (leaks) and exhaust gases (head gasket) introduced into the cooling system will break down (use up) the Corrosion Inhibitors very quickly by reducing the pH. Thu recommended to replace anti freeze under these circumstances, the required amount of in hibitors is small, adding another 2 to 5% will give protection for another 2 to 3 yrs...
Also when reusing after flush, adding another 2% will rebuild the levels of inhibitors to a level more than enough for protection

Distilled water...this is over kill....
A good supply of tap water is fine, NOT Hard water high in calcuim and magnesuim (bore water) These react with the phosphates to form scale and crud, in effect forming an insulation on the surfaces reducing conductivity of of heat into the water and block up cores etc.
Also water sofeners should not be used to soften hard water, as these contain soduim that substututes the disolved calcuim salts with soduim salts...soduim salts are corrosive to the system.

There are several types of antifreeze on the market these days, distinguished by colour
Green: this is silcate based salts, and sometimes low levels of phospate salts
Red: a phosphate salt based
Both of these work just as well in the right application
Yellow/blue /pink: these are specialist anti freeze products that contain no phoshpates and are designed to work with Hard water that is usual in Europe.
All ove the above can be mixed withoiut any problems

Orange:This is very different from the above inorganic salts and pH... A new idea dreamed up by the Yanks a while back using organic salts and lower pH. On no account should this have ANY TRACE of inorganic salt antifreezes above. It has had it problems over the yrs, and best advoided.

Over the period of 5 yrs, depending on the condition of the engine, oils, heavy metals, and other impurities get disolved into the mix...It is at this time the antifreeze should be changed and the old soln sent of for recycling rather than "topping up". Not because it will not work, but simply to refresh the system.

I am a chemist by trade, bit rusty now, but hope I have kept things in a laymans terms.
I hope this expains why reusing of antifreeze is acceptable, why distilled water is Not needed, and what sort of anti freeze to use in your area to prevent scaling.

Steps.
Also note, the water cooling system is only a small part of the overall cooling design of an engine...the oiling system accounts for 30 to 60% of cooling depending on the design of the engine.

[Keith Andrews]

Radiator headers removed each 5 to 7 yrs,
Sorry but thats an overkill

yes most properly....for a well maintained vechicle...And I do it every 20 odd yrs, or on an engine rebuild as good practice.
But lets face it How many check the lower water hose spring? and if they dont how many of those have replaced them with aftermarket Stainless?
How many actually bother to flush the system at least once a yr? my experiance they are just topped up yr after yr...

Cripes my headers have never been off and the rad cores are still running ok as they left the factory 56years ago,

So what you are saying, you do not actually KNOW if you do have any blocked cores, assuming that you dont.

A raditor is generally garanteed to have a couple core blocked that flushing will not clear. and a couple more partly blocked, possibly a piece of wire coil from the bottom hose.
Old raditors (unlike new cars) where over built, and these restrictions and blockages are not enough to effect cooling efficiency

[paul wilks]

I'd greatly appreciate some guidance on the brand name and type of anti-freeze used by other Javelin owners- something which can be obtained easily at say Halfords as opposed to the more specialist automotive suppliers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Paul

[paul wilks]

Thanks Pat. I'll head on to my local Halfords!

PS Sorry to pester you, Pat, but I asked you a question in my ongoing brake topic about the effect of silicone fluid on stainless (steel?) sleeved cylinders. I have updated my contribution and thought you might like (?) to see the latest development in this saga.
Paul

[Forumadmin]

Of course it isn't. Silicone is a very benign chemical, isn't it Resident Chemist? If it does not attack alluminium and copper that make up most of the braking system it ain't going to touch stainless.