I realise this must be a common newbie question but I havn\'t been able to find anyone asking it !!
Could someone please tell me which antifreeze and the quantity I need for my 99 FD please?
Any ethylene glycol based coolant should do the trick - Roughly 8 liters :)
I\'m changing mine at week end, i am toying with the idea of running it with neat Antifreeze in, Is the any reason apart from cost i shouldn\'t do it?
BTW this is in the wrong section ;)
Antifreeze works in 3 ways:
The first is the obvious one, and that is to reduce the freezing point.
The second is to act as a coolant, thus raising the boiling point.
The third is to reduce corrosion in the engine.
The antifreeze is essentially Ethylene Glycol and this when added to water disrupts the hydrogen bonds reducing the efficiency to forming a crystal structure...ie freezing.
Normal mixture is 50:50, but the best results are actually seen at 70:30 mix. After that and the the freezing point actually increases.
50:50 will freeze at -34 degs C
70:30 will freeze at -51 degs C
100:0 will freeze at -23 degs C
If however you are purely using it to increase the boiling point...then 100:0 mix is the best!
As a word of warning...and something I doubt most will do. If you don\'t change your fluid after 2 years, your system becomes a battery! :o The additives, which keep the liquid neutral, will break down, and the old coolant will start to develop an electric charge as it passes over the dissimilar metals. Think how a simple battery is made, copper and zinc probes put into a potato.
It can actually start welding bolts to your engine, as well as cause holes in the radiator and housings.
A simple check on this is to put the negative probe of a multimeter on the earth and the positive probe in the coolant. Anything more than a reading of 0.2 volts....and you are starting to do damage to your engine
Running a mixture of water is actually necessary for the the
....!!! Didn\'t know that!