• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Correct antifreeze

Share this page

Look for the new type of antifreeze that changes color when it begins to loose its heat transfer properties.
Water is what mechanics first discovered at the same time they discovered oak wood made solid frames.
Any national brand of antifreeze will perform if you follow instructions. However, if the engine has never been flushed in 40 years and the car is winterized each year, some of the ducking can be obstrued by gum by as much as 70%, thus reducing the heat dissipation capacity of your rad because of a lessened quantity of coolant forced against the honeycomb.

Get a professional flushing, ceplace the rad cap with the right psi pressure and your Temp gauge will hardly ever reach mid point.

Best regards and keep cool.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Water is what mechanics first discovered at the same time they discovered oak wood made solid frames.[/QUOTE]
Water transfers heat much better than antifreeze. The only reasons to not run pure water are...

1. If you need freeze protection (very cold climates only)
2. Water pump lubrication
3. Rust prevention

In a warm climate, 75% water, 25% antifreeze is more than adequate. In the Summer I run even less antifreeze and only for the lubrication. I also add a dash of Water Wetter to increase heat transfer. It seems to help a little.
 
The water wetter is indeed a good idea and your water to antifreeze ratio is same as mine. I use purified water to try and avoid chlorine and other chemicals.
Good comment.
 
I wouldnt have thought water wetter is worth using as everything is controlled by the thermostat so has to get up to temperature.
 
the thermostat only controls the lowest permissible temperature. When the temperature begins to climb above that, the coolant begins to take over. Water Wetter may help reduce your running temperatures by a few degrees on a hot day. If you have no problems running hot, then there is no reason to use it. Here in Southern California the temperature occasionally climbs to 115-degrees F. At that point a classic car can use all the help it can get!
 
Don't use Dex-cool. It doesn't play nicely with systems not designed for it. Stick to the generic green stuff (Prestone, Zerex, etc.) and you'll be fine.
 
sparkydave, could you elaborate a little. I put Dex-cool in my Lotus. It wasn't 5 minutes later that I started wondering if I'd made a huge mistake, but haven't driven it enough to know.
 
DJThom said:
sparkydave, could you elaborate a little. I put Dex-cool in my Lotus. It wasn't 5 minutes later that I started wondering if I'd made a huge mistake, but haven't driven it enough to know.
Click to expand...

DJ, your not the first one who picked up a container of the new type antifreeze thinking it was better. To me, the differences are not advertised enough. If it compatible to your engine, to use the new stuff your system should be flushed thoroughly as the old (green) and the new (yellow) won't mix properly. Don't use it unless your engine is designed for it. It offers no advantage in an older engine.
 
DJThom said:
sparkydave, could you elaborate a little. I put Dex-cool in my Lotus. It wasn't 5 minutes later that I started wondering if I'd made a huge mistake, but haven't driven it enough to know.
Click to expand...

I had wondered if I could use Dex-cool in my Midget when I was resurrecting it, but from what I was finding, Dex-cool caused some big problems when it was introduced, making sludge among other things. If you do a search on Dex-cool you'll find some of the problems, especially on Chevrolet Blazers. No, I don't know the exact cause, but when I had asked around the prevailing advice was "don't use Dex-cool in systems not designed for it". Reading some of the horror stories was enough to get me turned off of it.
 
Go here for some startling news on Dex-Cool! Use the old green stuff, it's been around for years and will be around for many more. The link below is manly on GM engines, but the problems overflow, (no pun intended), in other areas. I stay away from the stuff like the plague!

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/gm_dexcool.html
Consumer complaints about DexCool in GM Engines
 
I'm still using the standard Green stuff that my wife's Grandfather bought like 20 years ago when the Plant explosion occurred. (remember when everyone freaked out about the prices going up) Often wonder how long this stuff will last in the plastic bottle.
 
So I guess Steve should stick with the Water Wetter for the IV, sounds like that Dex-Cool could mess up yer internals pretty good.
 
vping said:
I'm still using the standard Green stuff that my wife's Grandfather bought like 20 years ago when the Plant explosion occurred. (remember when everyone freaked out about the prices going up) Often wonder how long this stuff will last in the plastic bottle.
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll have a problem storing the green antifreeze in a plastic container Vince. But the Dex-Cool would probably eat through eventually as it seems to prey on plastic based and standard material gaskets and seals.
 
I bought a sealed gal of the green stuff at a garage sale for fifty cents a couple of years ago. Hate to say what I paid at the mart.
 
I drained my rad anyway to do some cosmetic stuff in the nose cone. I think I'll take this opportunity to flush well in the spring and refill with the good ole stuff. Main issue with dex-cool is compatability with foam gasketing on the intake manifolds which our cards don't have(I own one of the susceptable engines). Still I don't want to risk in an old engine.
 
Back
Top