When changing the oil cooler lines I had to pull the bottom radiator hose off because it was in the way.
I pulled it off and them unscrewed the rad cap so the system emptied itself. (there\'s still a little in the rad tho, as I can see it at the bottom connector).
Now, Obviously I now need to flush the remainder and re-fill the system.
I have searched etc, but I couldn\'t find an idiots guide, and when it comes to this stuff I am an idiot! .... lol.
I need to know what to do now (to flush the rest), then what to do to fill it up again. Also, what I can use to do it.
What coolant, what mixture of coolant/water etc?
This may have been posted a million times, if so.. I\'m sorry. But any advice would be greatfully received! :)
My car had green stuff in it.... do I use green stuff again, or do I use the red stuff that Halfords sell??
Also... do I just chuck it in or do I need to do anything else? I\'ve rear about "burping" somewhere in the past?
How much does it take to fill the system??
Please... I need a "Jim is an idiot" guide to coolant... lol. :D
http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/index.htm
here ya go some bed time reading and its Jim proof :yes
Is there anyway I can get away without flushing it?? I\'ve just read you need to flush it with EG?? Which can be expensive?
Quote from: interloper393http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/index.htm
here ya go some bed time reading and its Jim proof :yes
lol.... cheers mate. Will have a read! :D
can you not flush it with boiled water?
Do you really need to flush? Or just change the coolant regularly and use distilled water? After a couple of years it\'ll be nice an clean ;)
I don\'t know about the flushing thing. I just read you need to flush if you\'re not using the same coolant?? I had green stuff... but was gonna get stuff from halfords, which isn\'t green.
How do I fill, burp etc?
you flush it to get the right mix dont ya? plus to remove all the old crap if its been in there a while... just pop the hose onit and blow it all out lol
A dunno... not got a hose... lol
Filling.. burping? ....
did you read the how to on that site lol? think you fill the ast first, them the middle tank..
yeah mate... read it.
So you say...
fill the AST, then the middle, then the other one. Then run for 3 mins, burp.. and should be fine?
This is while watching for oil pishing out of the new oil cooler lines I fitted. lol
flushing mainly gets rid of scale from the system. do it every second coolant change
OK, will flush next time ;)
When I changed my coolant what really helped with me was to pull the coolant line off of the throttle body at the back and point it upwards, then slowly fill the system, I mean really slow!!! Then you\'ll hear most of the air escape from that hose. I had no problems with air locks so worked for me :D
Also I just emptied the rad (from the plastic screw in the bottom) and then the block from the small bolt under the spark plugs. Then just run some water through and refilled.
But my next one I\'ll do a full flush I guess.
Am I best to buy the ready mixed stuff? Then I can just chuck it in as is surely, without the need to faff about with distilled water etc?? (is that right?)
needs to be a 50/50 mix bud.. just use a waterin can
Refill at a pace of no more than one litre per minute. Giving the large rad hoses a firm and repeated squeezing during filling should help push any air out. I found it easiest if a couple of you do it, one filling slowly and the other under/over the car giving the bottom/top rad hoses a good squeezing. Also as above undoing and propping up the throttle body hose should help you squeeze a bit more fluid in.
Can I use the already pre-mixed stuff?
And craig.. I thought 50/50 was excessive and it should be about 30/70 ? More water, the better the cooling?
water expands to much so you use less? heard some people using it neat... but im not 100% sure on that tho.. iv still to flush mine when i fit ma water temp gauges..
Yeah, I was gonna wait until then also. But I had to remove a rad hose when doing the oil cooler pipes.
Ok... flushing.. not a problem, filling... not a problem...
But can someone please advise on what to use??
Halfords sell red, ready mixed stuff. They also sell stuff in blue bottles which says dilute, 1 part coolant to 2 parts water (if I remember).
Are both ok to use? Obviously the red stuff would be easier as it\'s pre-mixed and I can just chuck it in!
Also, how much does the car take to fill it??
Cheers in advance! (yes I am annoying... sorry!)
ive got the Halfords red stuff in my car
You need to buy either the green or blue based coolants, Red coolant has an ingredient which is corrosive to the seals in a Rotary engine.
Ideally you need a 40/60 mix of coolant and distilled water.
The antifreeze you use should not be alcohol or methanol based due to there being aluminium parts in the engine. Therefore you should only use ethylene glycol based coolants.
Hope that helps
Barry
ive heard before that you have to use green or blue and not to use red/pink
Is there somewhere I can order the correct coolant from??
I just noticed that Rotaryart sell Royal Purple, Purple Ice coolant.
It\'s available in 16oz bottles (however much that is), I think it\'s 1/2 litre? If so that\'s not much and it costs about £15 a bottle. (but how much is needed? Obviously you dilute it!)
Argh.... ?!?
Seriously, someone just point me in the direction of where I can buy what I need!.. lol.
ANY Green or Blue in colour coolant will be perfect. Just avoid the red.
ok... where can I get it from??!
err..all motor factors should stock it...its very common...if not halfords try any other local motor factor...
Hi Jim
I use Comma\'s Xstream Green, which most good motor factors will have. Cost about £12 for 5 litres. The standard cooling system has 8.7 litre capacity so this will be plenty for you at a 50/50 mix.
Barry
I havn\'t done my coolant yet but will do soon.
The long life coolant (usually red) starts to turn acidic after a while which is no good to aluminium components so you need to use an ethylene glycol based coolant which is friendly to aluminium. The Halfords blue stuff is the friendly stuff - just read the label on the back and it will tell you that it contains ethylene glycol.
Ricco :)
ethylene glycol is the one that halford sell but its red
They sell the 2 - the red and the blue - they are both ethylene glycol but the red is the long life which I personally wouldn\'t use. Also if you change every year there is no point to the long life (but then as it turns acidic over time you minimise that risk also)
Quote from: fletcher9017ethylene glycol is the one that halford sell but its red
I\'m at work at the moment (Toyota dealership) & just checked our pre mixed coolant. The Green, Red & Pink stuff we sell all contain ethylene glycol. Bit confused as you are, coz mine could do with a coolant change & their seems to be alot of conflicting views on which is the safe stuff.
i\'ve heard to avoid the non ethelyne glycol coolants in rotarys, so when i recently changed mine (a week ago) i used the halfords pink summer ready-mixed - it is ethylene glycol based. Seemed a lot simpler than getting distilled water and making a mix up. iirc Carl from Haywards said it was ok. Presumably if you change it regularly, it wont have time to go acidic. I\'ll change it again towards wintertime, unless anyone has any hard evidence i should change it tomorrow morning!
Ah....
So I can use the pre-mixed stuff as long as it\'s EG based and I change yearly?
If so, like yourself ashc, it seems simpler.
But you said it\'s summer mix?... so should it be changed for winter?
Quote from: barmarHi Jim
I use Comma\'s Xstream Green, which most good motor factors will have. Cost about £12 for 5 litres. The standard cooling system has 8.7 litre capacity so this will be plenty for you at a 50/50 mix.
Barry
This the stuff??.....
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/880/mia/d/comma+xstream+green+concentrated+5+litres/pid/696652
well, perhaps i\'ll use \'better\' stuff when i next do it. Quite honestly, it was a doddle that took about 20mins to do. After draining it, I took the hose off the back of the plenum, undid all the caps and filled very slowly until it bubbled out the plenum hose and the filler was full - so apart from the expense, no problem. I didn\'t have any trouble with \'burping\', \'air pockets\' or nowt. Maybe just first time luck though?
-- next time a modified coke bottle funnel filler would be helpful as per robinettes site (loads of post about it on rx7club.com) which allows for speedier filling.
Quote from: Jim_rx7Ah....
So I can use the pre-mixed stuff as long as it\'s EG based and I change yearly?
If so, like yourself ashc, it seems simpler.
But you said it\'s summer mix?... so should it be changed for winter?
supposedly if you remove the hose from the back of the plenum, it does help take alot of the air out.
Anyone got a pic of the hose that needs to be removed, and where to remove it from etc?
really easy, theres one obvious hose on the right, right at the back of the plenum quite superfical at the top. Cant miss it! comes off a short stubby takeoff and disappears somewhere *inside*
you can remove this hose all together and simplify the coolant system :)
Ok.... the coolant that Halfords sells that you can use is the stuff in the light blue bottles. This coolant is blue.
The dark blue bottles is orange coolant and the other is red.
I\'m a halfords store manager and without opening them all it actually took me a while to track down this info!!!
Quick question.... what\'s the best way to flush it? Simply throw some distilled water in there and let it drain out the radiator at the bottom?