Radiator Coolant Mixing With Water

[hrm]

Hi,

I have a pretty basic thing to clarify from you guys. I was putting normal water to my car radiator until last service. At the service station they have flushed the radiator and added a coolant. Since I could see coolant is effectively doing its job at high revs especially when driving in E01, thought of using coolant regurarly instead of water.

At service they used a 4 Litre can to top-up and I was using the remainder bit of the can until yesterday to top-up during mornings and it was emptied now. So I bought a new can today (pure coolant). Do I need to mix it 50 - 50 with water before using as the instructions say? coz at the service station they didn't mix it with water.

Thanks !

[Davy]

Some coolants can be used without being diluted while others need to be. Follow the instructions on the can, if the can says 50 - 50, then that's the way the manufacturer intended it to be used.

The service center guys didn't dilute with water probably because of their ignorance or because they wanted to dump an entire 4L can of coolant on you.

[Sylvi]

hrm,

It is very impotent to use coolant in all modern engines never use plain water.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[hrm]

Thanks guys ! I think at the service they used a diluted version(some unpopular brand) coz I didn't find any instruction to mix it with water in that can. Only the latest can has that which is C*LTex.

@Sylvi, my car is 1994 with 4g15 engine . thanks for the advice btw.

[hasmax]

I have a small Q regarding that. Few days back i put coolent to my radiator ( C*lt*x ) and i asked them to put it without mixing with water as i was assuming that i can get better results by not mixing and they did so ultimately leading me for 3000 Rs bill. After reading this thread i realized that it can be mixed and even in the bottle, it was mentioned so. Well my problem is that will it lead to some adverse effects on my car ?? thanks in advance

[razordj]

  On 7/28/2012 at 2:43 PM, hrm said:

At the service station they have flushed the radiator...

Since I could see coolant is effectively doing its job at high revs especially when driving in E01...

You're so lucky IMO. If that radiator is old as the car, it could give lot of trouble if there were holes in it which got cleared when flushing the radiator.

Btw, by doing it's job at high revs doesn't mean that the engine dropped its temperature heavily on E01 right? (i.e. it shouldn't get increased, or decreased) If so, its bad.

[hrm]

  On 7/30/2012 at 8:34 AM, razordj said:

You're so lucky IMO. If that radiator is old as the car, it could give lot of trouble if there were holes in it which got cleared when flushing the radiator.

Btw, by doing it's job at high revs doesn't mean that the engine dropped its temperature heavily on E01 right? (i.e. it shouldn't get increased, or decreased) If so, its bad.

Nope. Temp remained at the middle. I was trying to say that it didn't got over heated.

[YALA]

  On 7/28/2012 at 2:43 PM, hrm said:

Hi,

I have a pretty basic thing to clarify from you guys. I was putting normal water to my car radiator until last service. At the service station they have flushed the radiator and added a coolant. Since I could see coolant is effectively doing its job at high revs especially when driving in E01, thought of using coolant regurarly instead of water.

At service they used a 4 Litre can to top-up and I was using the remainder bit of the can until yesterday to top-up during mornings and it was emptied now. So I bought a new can today (pure coolant). Do I need to mix it 50 - 50 with water before using as the instructions say? coz at the service station they didn't mix it with water.

Thanks !

check wuts recommended for your car and engine and then go ahead with using coolant...if you have a owners manual it should say what sought of coolant, grade and mix you should use

[The Don]

Guys, while using coolant is helpful particularly in slowing down oxidisation, it is not absolutely necessary (So I disagree with Sylvi). Plain old water is fine to be used as a coolant (and has been used for over a century now). Coolant can increase the boiling point of water and slow down the corrosion of the radiator and pipes but its not some sort of a wonder liquid which can solve all issues.

It certainly wont help manage your engine temperature more efficiently. That is managed via a thermostatic valve and fan.

So while I encourage people to use coolant in their radiators, I think a lot of the time it is being used as a method of making more money out of unsuspecting motorists at service stations.

Also coolant is generic. You need to follow the instructions given by the coolant manufacturer. You are probably not going to find anything helpful in the user manual other than a recommended coolant (a company who has paid the car company to recommend their coolants).

Edited July 30, 2012 by The Don

[hrm]

Thanks guys for comments !!

[Crosswind]

  On 7/30/2012 at 11:09 AM, The Don said:

Guys, while using coolant is helpful particularly in slowing down oxidisation, it is not absolutely necessary (So I disagree with Sylvi). Plain old water is fine to be used as a coolant (and has been used for over a century now). Coolant can increase the boiling point of water and slow down the corrosion of the radiator and pipes but its not some sort of a wonder liquid which can solve all issues.

It certainly wont help manage your engine temperature more efficiently. That is managed via a thermostatic valve and fan.

So while I encourage people to use coolant in their radiators, I think a lot of the time it is being used as a method of making more money out of unsuspecting motorists at service stations.

Also coolant is generic. You need to follow the instructions given by the coolant manufacturer. You are probably not going to find anything helpful in the user manual other than a recommended coolant (a company who has paid the car company to recommend their coolants).

at last some common sense...

[hrm]

  On 7/30/2012 at 4:23 PM, Crosswind said:

at last some common sense...

common sense

[The Don]

They say common sense is not common

[maheshw]

i have seen some people are using bottled drinking water for radiators dont know whther it's good or bad. just thought to share.

[civicferio]

  On 7/29/2012 at 5:28 PM, hasmax said:

I have a small Q regarding that. Few days back i put coolent to my radiator ( C*lt*x ) and i asked them to put it without mixing with water as i was assuming that i can get better results by not mixing and they did so ultimately leading me for 3000 Rs bill. After reading this thread i realized that it can be mixed and even in the bottle, it was mentioned so. Well my problem is that will it lead to some adverse effects on my car ?? thanks in advance

Earlier I also thought like you and used this coolant without mixing water (although they recommended 50:50 proportions). Ultimately during Kandy Colombo run car got heated . I removed some amount of coolant and put water to radiator. Then okay.

[Amila G]

  On 7/31/2012 at 5:30 PM, civicferio said:

Earlier I also thought like you and used this coolant without mixing water (although they recommended 50:50 proportions). Ultimately during Kandy Colombo run car got heated . I removed some amount of coolant and put water to radiator. Then okay.

That's coz coolant has a lesser heat carrying capacity than the water. The more coolant you have it'll carry less heat . By mixing with water you get some of the good heat carrying capability of water and corrosion inhibition of the coolant

[NRX]

have you thought for a moment that why you are losing radiator liquid ? :/