is it OK to add straight coolant first??
- Thread starter lucerne06
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Yes. It will mix as soon as you start the engine
Kestas
Staff member
Yes, you'd hate to run out of room and have too weak of a solution. There's always water left over in the system from a flush.
Before aluminum blocks and heads and the distilled OM recommendation(s), I used to use a flushing tee (worked great) and tap water to refill. Now however I use distilled water, cheap relatively speaking @ ~$0.90/gal at Wally. I suppose if your water is fairly soft, using tap water should/would be ok.
Unless you have very hard water, the stuff from the tap is fine.
Originally Posted By: lucerne06
thank you all, and one more think..Is plain old tap water OK to use as well, or does it have to be flushed and filled with distilled...I will be using dex cool.
That depends on the quality of the tap water. Very hard water will reduce the coolant life and facilitate deposits forming.
Personally after years of experience I shifted over to distilled water for both the flush and the fill - why add minerals to the mix?
thank you all, and one more think..Is plain old tap water OK to use as well, or does it have to be flushed and filled with distilled...I will be using dex cool.
That depends on the quality of the tap water. Very hard water will reduce the coolant life and facilitate deposits forming.
Personally after years of experience I shifted over to distilled water for both the flush and the fill - why add minerals to the mix?
We are surrounded by cement plants and quaries here. They are here because of the limestone under ground. Our tap water will plug a shower head in 6 weeks.it will also destroy the addatives in antifreeze in short order. Distilled only here!
This is why I keep a couple empty antifreeze bottles around. Take the new bottle, pour half of it in an empty bottle, and fill them up with water. Then you have 2 gallons of 50/50 mix.
But do not add the water component first. True they will mix no matter what but if your not correct about how much of each you system can take you can end up with more water than coolant. Better to end up with more coolant than water.
You really have to get the proportions right these days, that's for sure. My owner's manual is adamant that you are not to guess about the overall percentage mixture. I guess that's why we see coolant already pre-mixed 50-50 in the stores.
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
.... My owner's manual is adamant that you are not to guess about the overall percentage mixture. I guess that's why we see coolant already pre-mixed 50-50 in the stores.
It would be nice to be able to believe that is 'the' reason for the increase in premixed coolants. However being cynical, I have a feeling that profit margin is the greater impetus for this phenomenon. Selling half water in jug is great way to boost profits.
And if one knows the overall system capacity, usually listed in the OM, it's really not that difficult to determine and obtain a ~50% coolant concentration. But as mentioned, if that's as issue, using some old milk jugs with half full strength AF and half distilled water easily works too. My .02
.... My owner's manual is adamant that you are not to guess about the overall percentage mixture. I guess that's why we see coolant already pre-mixed 50-50 in the stores.
It would be nice to be able to believe that is 'the' reason for the increase in premixed coolants. However being cynical, I have a feeling that profit margin is the greater impetus for this phenomenon. Selling half water in jug is great way to boost profits.
And if one knows the overall system capacity, usually listed in the OM, it's really not that difficult to determine and obtain a ~50% coolant concentration. But as mentioned, if that's as issue, using some old milk jugs with half full strength AF and half distilled water easily works too. My .02
Originally Posted By: sayjac
It would be nice to be able to believe that is 'the' reason for the increase in premixed coolants. However being cynical, I have a feeling that profit margin is the greater impetus for this phenomenon. Selling half water in jug is great way to boost profits.
Exactly. When I wanted premix for the taxi fleets, I took an empty coolant jug, tore the label off, and mixed it 50/50 and marked it as such. And, with the taxis, whenever something was done to the cooling system necessitating a drain, coolant to the proper volume was added, then water to bring it to 50/50 or 60/40 or whatever.
It would be nice to be able to believe that is 'the' reason for the increase in premixed coolants. However being cynical, I have a feeling that profit margin is the greater impetus for this phenomenon. Selling half water in jug is great way to boost profits.
Exactly. When I wanted premix for the taxi fleets, I took an empty coolant jug, tore the label off, and mixed it 50/50 and marked it as such. And, with the taxis, whenever something was done to the cooling system necessitating a drain, coolant to the proper volume was added, then water to bring it to 50/50 or 60/40 or whatever.
You can be off 10-15% in either direction with little I'll effect unless you experience Arctic temperatures. Too much antifreeze without enough water will cause over heating. The water holds more heat and transfers it much faster. You would actually benefit from more water in certain climates and engines.
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
You can be off 10-15% in either direction with little I'll effect unless you experience Arctic temperatures. Too much antifreeze without enough water will cause over heating. The water holds more heat and transfers it much faster. You would actually benefit from more water in certain climates and engines.
Yep, pretty much every coolant concentrate I've seen shows the different values for 40/60, 50/50, and 60/40. Being off by a bit won't really cause a problem.
You can be off 10-15% in either direction with little I'll effect unless you experience Arctic temperatures. Too much antifreeze without enough water will cause over heating. The water holds more heat and transfers it much faster. You would actually benefit from more water in certain climates and engines.
Yep, pretty much every coolant concentrate I've seen shows the different values for 40/60, 50/50, and 60/40. Being off by a bit won't really cause a problem.
I do this often when working on my family's cars . I get a gallon jug of distilled water from a local pharmacy, and I get a gallon jug of coolant concentrate. After draining everything, I add about 10% of the coolant in, then 10% of the water in, and repeat the cycle until the cooling system is full.
It might not be perfect, but the cooling system stays clean in those cars, so I don't worry.
It might not be perfect, but the cooling system stays clean in those cars, so I don't worry.
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