check your antifreeze

Ritchy · 05-01-10, 10:58 PM

most of you will know this but feel i should remind. with even colder weather to set in i advise you check your antifreeze content, espiecially if you have been regularly topping up with water. basically today had a corsa non start, opened up the bonnet, and straight away noticed no antifreeze in the coolant very clear. also sign of imulsification, got it inside tried turning it over by hand and it was solid so removed the plugs and the bores where completely full of oil, so basically what started of as a basic head gasket replacement has gone into a cracked block requiring an engine. a couple of people on here have had this problem already so advise ya doublecheck

Simon's ZS-120 · 05-01-10, 11:43 PM

lol ive sorted mine out and the oil shame about the screen was freezing thanks for the advice

will-w · 06-01-10, 08:30 AM

I completely changed mine beginning of December, always do it without fail!

Problem is I underestimated the amount of coolant still left in the system after draining, so the new coolant is a good 70% proof!

I sat outside Laura's work a few nights back waiting for her to come out, and my coolant temp was actually getting lower by like 5*C every 30 seconds!

Bloody cold weather!

Alan.F · 06-01-10, 11:11 AM

whilst driving in this weather is fine but as soon as i stop, like yesterday while waiting for the wife at work left it ticking over and it actually got colder not hotter lol

will-w · 06-01-10, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan.F

whilst driving in this weather is fine but as soon as i stop, like yesterday while waiting for the wife at work left it ticking over and it actually got colder not hotter lol

Yeah, there's something quite unnerving about watching the temp needle drop rather than rise!

Simon's ZS-120 · 06-01-10, 12:57 PM

last time i was coming home the centre part of the road the snow was high so my bumper was like a plow so my rad was very cold had to keep stoping to remove the snow my temp gage didnt get close to half way all the way home

Ritchy · 06-01-10, 04:43 PM

good way of filling your system up after a coolant change is premix it 50/50 then it doesnt matter too much about whats left in

will-w · 06-01-10, 09:37 PM

Well the manual says that it should be a 50-60% mix all year round, so doesn't matter too much!

Ritchy · 06-01-10, 09:43 PM

tend to just do a litre to a litr at work:/

Martin C · 06-01-10, 09:47 PM

It has probably been said before, but just as reminder for anybody that is not aware.

All Z's were factory filled with OAT (Organic Acid Technology) fluid and not anti-freeze, OAT is red or orange in colour. Anti-freeze being usually green or blue and glycol based.

The two don't mix, well they do, but if you mix them it causes corrosion and sludge.

One should be careful when purchasing OAT, my local Motorist Discount Centre didn't have any and tried to convince me their all year round coolant was fine and mixes with anything, but it was glycol based. When I pointed out it wouldn't mix with OAT they claimed they'd never heard of OAT? Halfords sell it in ready made 50/50 mix in 5 litre bottles.

Sorry if I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs, but there might be some who don't know.