antifreeze advice

[Mike Brewer]

Hi all. My car had green anti freeze when bought. I have topped it up with blue anti freeze, is this ok? The garage told me it had a slight weep, so they put in some k seal. Or should i flush the system and use red antifreeze. Also going to add water wetter. What do you guys think? Thanks, Mike.

[adam quantrill]

Isn't red antifreeze an ingredient of the "Rusty Nail"???

I use either blue or green randomly depending on what I get hold of.

Water wetter is a waste of money IMHO.

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Mate..not sure about red for your car but there is a lot of debate around for this subject and i read that green and blue can be mixed as they contain nearly the same percentages of conditioner and minerals..how true this is still remains debatable..I know you should never mix red with green or blue as it can gel up apparently..I bought some from halfords earlier which is a comma product and is bluey green?..i had green in mine and was told to top up with the same colour but no-one seemed to have the green and i mixed blue in with it..But now im not sure if this caused my issue of water loss and over heating..Some time using rad flush can cause more issues and leaks as i found out with previous cars..Hope this helps..Cheers..ziga

[Mike Brewer]

Thanks for the replys.My mate read a article saying that the red antifreeze is harsh on engine seals.But was advised by the garage who do a lot of performance cars to use red anti freeze.Not sure if the rad needs to be recored i think its ok .it looks a bit of a job to get out after reading some old threads.Thanks Mike

[dixiebabes]

Red is the way forward as the others are being phased out eventually and it lasts for 5 years where as blue or green needs to be changed every 2 IIRC.

Dix

[plushuit]

dixiebabes said:

Red is the way forward as the others are being phased out eventually and it lasts for 5 years where as blue or green needs to be changed every 2 IIRC.

Dix

Correct. Orange (red?) long life coolant. long life at a 50-50 mixture (coolant-distilled water) with a bottle of Water Wetter. Contrary to the comment above I tried it, positive it going to prove itself horse-poop. Same road, speeds, and ambient temps. 3C better with the Red Line Water Wetter. That is good enough for me for me to use it.

It is very unwise to mix different colored coolant these days. If you are low, add distilled water.

[Mike Brewer]

Thanks for the advice.i have redone anti freeze.And i will try water wetter...Thanks Mike

[wedgeinald]

You can mix the different anti freezes but you will reduce the life to that of the shortest lived one.

I put some water wetter in my Wedge and it dropped the coolant temp quite drastically.

I also found runing it on higher octane fuel had a similar effect (I think using 95 ron was causing it to run hot even though it has the timing set to use 95) runs MUCH better on 95 + Lead substitue/octane booster than it does on super unleaded (97 or 99) for some reason too.

Maybe it enjoys whatever is in the lead substitute.

Both water wetter and the fuel made a difference of about 10-15F in the temp acheived under "normal" conditions.

I'm actually considering (to help with cooling in really hot weather) putting some guides either side of the radiator to force more of the air through the rad that would normally go round it.

Any issues with doing the above that i need to be aware of?

I have a viscous fan assisted by an electric fan when I'm in slow traffic and hot weather, that copes well but the temp still rises up in stop start traffic but no longer gets into the REALLY hot section on the guage.

[Mike Brewer]

Interesting reading thanks.i was also thinking of useing a octane booster.Cheers Mike

[Avroflyer]

Hi Wedgeinald

Ref your desire to block the gaps either side of the rad to channel more air through the rad, when I took the leaky rad out of my 400SE to have it recored, there was evidence of rubber flaps that looked as if they were there to do just that but they had long since rotted away. So on reassembly, I replaced them with some 3mm rubber sheet cut to size. Seemed like a good idea as there is quite a leakage of ram air through the gaps between the rad side tanks and the tunnel wall.

Will try and attach a picture of the finished product - here goes...



It's just a string of text as I type but maybe it'll turn into a link when I submit...

Hey, it worked - the photo, that is.

AF