coolant issues

[wrxhoon]

if u r cooling system is 100% u shouldnt have to top up fo r a year or so but in the long run u could loose a little like 1/2 lt in in a couple of years .

dont overfill though ur waisting coolant thats all , just fill the radiator to the top and the bottle to the max mark . if u flshed u r system when u refilling fill to the top ( radiator ) bottle to max run the car to normal temp let it cool down then fill again to the above levels , run to normal temp cool down and check again this time it should be full .

[Nrage33]

Thanks for all the info guys...I'm gonna try out what wrxhoon has suggested. I can't see any staining though in the engine bay. may get it properly looked at if it persists

[Guest RedLineGTR]

keep us updated anyways.

[Nrage33]

the coolant's gone down again, nearly bone dry...this would be the 3rd time in 3 weeks i would've had to fill the bottle up. It's not leaking to the ground at all, and i still can't see any staining around the assembly.

just to make sure, the container i'm lookin at is the overflow bottle, the excess coming from the radiator?

I'm not really familiar with radiator systems, but this is weird!!

[wrxhoon]

are u sure ur radiator cap is the right pressure ? have u had it checked ?if u dont have a leak somewhere ( my guess is that u have ) then the cap is not the correct pressure so it lets the coolant out in to the bottle and then it goes out through the overlfow .

u say the bottle is bone dry what about the radiator ? when the engine is cold check that as well .

the bottle in the coolong system is there to take the coolant when its very hot and it expands then it gets sucked in the radiator when it cools down again . if u didnt have the bottle there u would have to top up the radiator like every week .

[51jay]

What is this square hole JimX?? if the radiator is open to atmosphere you don't have a pressurised sustem and it will pump coolant out every time you run the engine

[Craved]

51jay, i'm sure jimx was referring to the square hole on the top of the overflow bottle, overflow for the overflow

i had 3 litres blow of that hole at a track day, temp stayed at 3/4 the whole time too.... lucky !!!

[JimX]

What Craved said The hole in the top of the overflow bottle is just there so it doesn't explode should too much coolant come out of the radiator. But it also gives an avenue for the water/coolant to evaporate from.

I wish I had some spare coolant, I would top it up and see if that disappeared as quickly (well, not that it goes too quickly from mine). If it disappears slower, then it must be evaporating out the hole because coolant has a higher boiling temp than water.

I might convince one of my housemates to do a coolant replacement and then scab some of their coolant

[wrxhoon]

jimx , i hope u dont have water in ur cooling system , never add water to it its a sure way to corode all ur pipes the block and eat the cil head . old coolant would be almost as bad . go to a repco store , they have a 10 lt with their name on it for about $25 , make sure u get the one thats 33% not the one that doesnt say on it . ( that one is about $21 ) . i cange my coolant every 2 years on all my cars and always use 33% ready mixed , if u buy concentrate 100% u can mix with water but must be demineralised so it will end up costing u more , thats way i use ready mixed its cheaper .

i never have to add collant in the system for 2 years but if u fill to the top u r going to loose some , only fill to the max mark on the bottle and u dont have to add untill it goes bellow the min mark .

[JimX]

I put in 50% coolant and 50% water. This is that expensive Nulon coolant which you can mix at 33% or 50% depending on how good you want it to be, cost around $40 a bottle I think. I only put water into the overflow bottle because I forgot to fill it up with coolant when I did my radiator flush.

The radiator is always full whenever I check it, but then the overflow bottle never gets empty either so it would always be full.

[wrxhoon]

dont use water as it has minerals in it that corode the steel pipes and the block, buy the ready mixed stuff. if u want to use concentrate u must buy the water too , its much easier to use ready mixed though and cheaper .

the radiator should be always full to the top ( 1 cm down is fine )

the bottle u'll find it finds a level and it stops there it doesnt go down anymore , as long as it is above the min mark its fine , if u fill right to the top ( above max ) u will loose it very quick .

never use old coolant either its not worth it u try to save $20 and u 'll spend a lot more changing pipes .

i'm doing an rb 25 det cil head at the moment that had water in the cooling system at some stage , u shoul see the rust in it !!!

[JimX]

Water itself will corrode steel whether or not it has minerals in it. One of the things about good coolant is it contains corrosion inhibitors that help stop this from happening. Normal tap water will be slightly worse for corrosion due the crap already in it, but not fundamentally so and the coolant will help prevent most of it. If it prevented all of it you'd never have to change your coolant.

I actually bought 2 bottles of distilled water for my radiator for this reason, but when I put in the coolant I found that it was totally full even after bleeding. There must have been some water left in there from the flush that didn't all drain back out. So my engine now has some tap water in it with the coolant.

[Craved]

The coolant i used was a concentrate and could be mixed OR used straight giving different boiling points!!! So i just used it straight, but im sure there would have been some left in the engine etc, but less is better by the sounds of things!!

[wrxhoon]

well its almost imposible to get all the coolant out : here is how i do it . undo the plug on the bottom of radiator ,undo the top and bottom radiator hoses , undo the plug on the cil block ( that lets all the coolant out fron the block ) and finaly undo the 2 heater hoses .put the water hose in the heater hose then the top radiator hose then radiator when im happy that all is clean then i use compressed air to get rid aff all the water out of radiator , block and heater that way very little is left in there . the reason u have to change coolant is because over time it looses its efectiveness . if u mix coolant with distilled water thats fine but as u have to buy the water why not buy it ready mixed and dont use any water , its cheaper !

for normal use 33% is fine if u want it to be more efective u can buy 50% ready mixed as well . i always use 33% , if u use 50 % u could change every 3 years .

[supra]

is it alright to mix coolants? like I have no idea what brand it is in it already, my bootle is below the min mark as well! so I am going out there to buy some ready mixed green stuff.

The radiator is full. I've checked...

I don't know, I didn't get over heat or anything yet! but I wont' risk it! I have to top it up soon!

[wrxhoon]

no problem mixing them but dont buy the $5 stuff ( its nothing more than water and colour ) buy 33% if you go to the snow 50 % will give you better protection .

repco have their own brand for about $27 for 10 lt but carefull they have a cheaper one as well dont buy that .

[Craved]

The coolant i used was a concentrate and could be mixed OR used straight giving different boiling points!!! So i just used it straight, but im sure there would have been some left in the engine etc, but less is better by the sounds of things!!

hmmmm check this out afterwards.... and it isn't good to have all coolant as the collant doesn't make it cool better, just increases boiling points and freezing point thresholds!!

[RTHRTY3]

So basically wat brand coolant is best?

*Nulon

*Castrol

*Tectaloy

*Other brands...?

Personally i use the ready mix RadiCool by Castrol with the 33% ethylene glycol level.

Any suggestions anyone?

[supra]

I think any brand will do for coolants. Not an expert at it but it's a fairly basic chemical that has higher boiling point then water. Easy enough for manufacturer to make so there should be no real "best" formula.

[JimX]

Yeah I think most coolant is glycol with a some rust inhibitor. Unless the glycol itself is the rust inhibitor, I dunno. Nulon is meant to be a high mileage coolant, so it might last longer than some cheapass brands, but if you change it regularly anyway it shouldn't matter.