Champagne bubbles...more info please!

[ro284]

That is why my engine needed a rebuild! there is no way of knowing what Inhibitor has been, or not been used in our cars over the years, The engine still had a few thousand miles in it, it didn\'t fail mechanically,Time to think about getting ready for the winter, with good a mix of Antifreeze and with a good corrosion inhibitor in it,
Cheers Bob

[Jono FD3]

Cheers for that guys, my butt cheeks are a bit more relaxed after hearing it\'s a common thing during the winter!!
But goin to chainge the oil aswell cos the stuff isn\'t up to mutch so going back to GTX
to be on the safe side!!

Jono

[Martiny]

Jono its definitely nothing to worry about. I think we nearly all have this. Basically , moisture (from condensation) cant escape because the sump and the oil system dont really have a "breather", (to keep the greenies happy).

[RobbieRX-7]

i remember reading on this forum that you should not use red antifreeze :xconfused

[gsb876]

i remember reading on this forum that you should not use red antifreeze :xconfused

Was just about to ask this as i have the green stuff put in by Pip

[fro]

blue or green - engine clean
pink or red - engine dead

[andrewrx7]

blue or green - engine clean
pink or red - engine dead

Why??

Is there any hard facts for backing up this kind of statement - or is it just chinese whispers that become legends and everyone then sticks by?? :confused:

Personally I went with Mobil Advanced, I think it was, a pink OAT ethylene glycol based coolant, that had an orangy tinge when diluted! If nothing else, it made the changing of the coolant more interesting!  So by the little ditty above, I have a dead engine? I used this, \'cos I couldn\'t find any evidence to say otherwise.

As far as I can tell, different manufacturers use different colourings anyway, so the colour of a coolant is no indication as to the chemical composition of it. Someone with any further info - please post!  

[Initial-D]

I\'m using a red one that goes pink too, after taking my block apart which had run on a blue coolant (sorry I can\'t remember the brand) I was told that it may have not been kind to my block hence the swap to another coolant.

As Andrew says I believe it\'s only a colouring and not an indication of chemical content. As long as it\'s kind to ally blocks it should be fine.

[Initial-D]

I also try not to run too high a concentrate due to the cooling effitientcy as described above (as long as it doesn\'t freeze in winter)!

[Initial-D]

I\'ll have to find out what RE Amemiya / Feed / Panspeed recommend coolant-wise.

[fro]

the colouring does give an indication of composition. The red/pink/orange colour indicates organic acids used in the \'advanced\' or \'long life\' coolants specced in VAG cars as standard. Blue and Green coolants do not contain these additives. At least not in this country.

[iaint]

My understanding is that Glycol coolants should be avoided as it does nasty things to the seals over time.

I know that WGT & Shy use a green coolant...

would\'ve thought Shy would find a Yellow one if they could though!

[Jono FD3]

I\'m running a day glow pink stuff which I borrowed from my local Audi dealership (Through a freind) think it was a 1.5L tub I put in her. water looks clear as if there is no anti freeze in it?  Weird!!

Jono

[Mave]

The specific heat of water is 1.0. This is the common chemistry yardstick that says that it takes 1 BTU to raise 1 pound of water 1° F and is assigned the 1.0 specific heat number. A 50/50 mix of ethylene glycol (the green stuff) has a tested specific heat number of 0.5 and of propylene glycol of 0.3. What this means is that it take twice the amount, in the case of the green stuff (and over three times for the red stuff) of BTUs to raise the same amount of water 1 degree!! This means that pure water will remove double the amount of heat and carry that heat away from the source per unit volume. Now, do the arithmetic and you will find out that the more pure water...the more heat gets taken away!

I think that\'s about right, but not the whole story. The pure water has the capacity to take away twice as much heat energy as the 50/50 mix for a given temperature rise, but the actual heat transfer is governed by different physical properties. The 50/50 mix reduced the surface tension of the coolant, which means that for a given metal / coolant temperature situation, it takes away more heat from the engine than pure water. You then end up getting higher coolant temperatures with 50/50 for two reasons; higher heat transfer from the metalwork, and lower specific heat capacity. So, you get hotter coolant pre-radiator but a cooler engine. I\'m not sure how the corrosion resistance varies with concentration, but I would have thought that the bets place to be thermally is wherever you get teh best combination of heat transfer / boiling performance.

[andrewrx7]

I think that\'s about right, but not the whole story. The pure water has the capacity to take away twice as much heat energy as the 50/50 mix for a given temperature rise, but the actual heat transfer is governed by different physical properties. The 50/50 mix reduced the surface tension of the coolant, which means that for a given metal / coolant temperature situation, it takes away more heat from the engine than pure water. You then end up getting higher coolant temperatures with 50/50 for two reasons; higher heat transfer from the metalwork, and lower specific heat capacity. So, you get hotter coolant pre-radiator but a cooler engine. I\'m not sure how the corrosion resistance varies with concentration, but I would have thought that the bets place to be thermally is wherever you get teh best combination of heat transfer / boiling performance.

Nicely explained. Quite agree, reducing the surface tension and ensuring a better and higher contact area between the water/coolant and the engine housings is how the coolant works. Wetting agents like Gary mentioned above, are meant to aid this to.