Used concentrated coolant not 50-50

[1 SX]

Current status: Worried.

A few years ago found maybe lowest mile sonata (YF) 2.4L in the country with about 1900 total miles or around 300 miles a year for the first 7 years of it life... It was the typical grandma owned/operated... go to church on Sunday vehicle and parked in garage for the rest of the week... She had oil changes done about every 10 months or around 260-300 total miles like clock work. This was documented on Carfax also.

At the time of purchase the coolant in the overflow reservoir was about 90% to the full mark, but figured it would be a good idea to have some on hand and to top it off to full. I called the Hyundai dealer and asked for coolant after giving them the vin. "Sure come in a pick it up" it was over $30 from what I remember for the gallon... and at the time I did not think anything of it because I thought I was just paying an OEM price....

Fast forward a couple years and 75,000 or so miles and more specifically the last couple (3ish) oil changes the Sonata is BLOWING through coolant and oil.. The oil REEKS of fuel, and turns pitch black within 700-1000 miles of a OC and I have to add a qt by the 2500 mark... As I am again topping off the coolant getting more concerned every time I check the oil and coolant, I use the rest of the original gallon of coolant that I bought for the sonata 75K miles ago.. I look at the bottle as I am putting the cap on and to my HORROR it is 100% straight concentrated coolant NOT 50-50.... I froze.. After removing the radiator cap, only 2 drips of coolant came off of the cap because the fluid is so "Thick". It also looks 100% pure coolant and a super dark green, not the light green like the kias..

I have some serious concerns at the moment because of the oil usage, and the coolant the burns off.

I am hoping that the oil is burning off because the engine is running way to hot, and there is not actually engine damage...
I am also hoping the coolant is burning off way faster also because it is now maybe a 80-20 or higher mix not a 50-50.

The dealer parts are closed at the moment, but this upcoming week I plan on flushing the coolant system and putting in pre mix 50-50 oem coolant plus change the oil.. Should I also replace the T-stat if it has been running so hot? What do you think my odds are I escaped major engine damage? The temp gauge never went above normal, but we all know they are mostly dummy gauges anyway....

 

[John105]

How much did you actually put in, of the jug? You can go up to 70% coolant and 30% distilled water. Beyond that the anti freeze properties diminish while the anti boil keeps increasing.

I would always want 100% concentrate when available, but it’s not with Toyota pink.

Imho it’s perfectly ok to top off with 100%. The alternative is to mix one’s own 50/50…

Edit Ps I bought a 10 yo Lexus in 2016. Drove 2 days and when I got home, THERE WAS ZERO COOLANT IN THE OVERFLOW AND ZERO COOLANT TO BE SEEN IN THE RADIATOR.

Here it is 2023 and the car is fine. That was 10 years of evaporation. Because Toyota’s first interval was 10/100 (I have also seen 10/120 I could check the manual). Even though dealer serviced no one in its life had ever checked. I thought blown head gaskets for sure at the time. Temp never was high in my driving. Also the design of this car requires the plastic air intake to be removed to get to the overflow.

Imho good chance you’re ok or at least the concentration didn’t harm anything

 

[1 SX]

How much did you actually put in, of the jug? You can go up to 70% coolant and 30% distilled water. Beyond that the anti freeze properties diminish while the anti boil keeps increasing.

I would always want 100% concentrate when available, but it’s not with Toyota pink.

Imho it’s perfectly ok to top off with 100%. The alternative is to mix one’s own 50/50…

I topped the coolant off over the 75K miles with concentrated not knowing it was concentrated. in other words I used the whole gallon of concentrated coolant over time in the sonatas cooling system.

 

[John105]

I topped the coolant off over the 75K miles with concentrated not knowing it was concentrated. in other words I used the whole gallon of concentrated coolant over time in the sonatas cooling system.

I still don’t think any harm was done. Worst case is it freezes above -34F. From memory, 100% antifreeze freezes at +14F….

At the same time, normally, coolant really doesn’t require tipping off…

 

[eljefino]

I am hoping that the oil is burning off because the engine is running way to hot, and there is not actually engine damage...
I am also hoping the coolant is burning off way faster also because it is now maybe a 80-20 or higher mix not a 50-50.

That would be good news. Sad to think though you've got real engine problems. The antifreeze was not the source of them.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

You've got engine problems, but they aren't related to the coolant you used. It sure sounds as though you have a head gasket and a blowby issue. Normally coolant loss/use should be zero. You should not have a strong smell of fuel in the oil either.

Is this one of the Hyundai/Kia problem engines known to fail at low mileage?

 

[D60]

Yeah......you've got problems but your straight coolant had nothing to do with it. Your logic is like equating knee pain to a flight of stairs you climbed three years ago.

Also, I thought it was normal for H/K engines to fail early? Sounds normal to me??

In all seriousness if you're losing substantial oil and coolant you've got something like head gasket problems....not sure how the fuel-smelling oil comes into play unless misfires maybe....? Either way the problem is 100% H/K and 0% concentrated coolant.

 

[Dave9]

Agree with everyone else, problem is its a hyundai, engine, not the rich coolant mix.

You have a second Kia time bomb as well. These are 10 yr, 100K mi vehicles, anything over that is on borrowed time.

 

[John105]

Come to think of it my parents had a 2000 Elantra that failed catastrophically at 110k due to cooling, and it was sudden as all else was good on the car. My maxima lower rad support collapsed, yet the Hyundai was fine.

 

[Drifter]

Coolant should be fine . I have topped with non mixed a few times when I had no distilled water on hand. Small amounts mind you. Watch\Work or whatever on the other issues first.

 

[JHZR2]

Glycol doesn’t transfer heat as well as water. It still transfers heat. Either you have a cooling system issue or you don’t. You should know which is it - yes or no? The temperature gauge or a dummy light is all that’s needed to decide that.

Beyond that the engine sure could have issues. But the relationship to this seems dubious.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Your coolant is going somewhere. You need to figure that out.

Yes you can run up to 70/30 glycol/water mix - but 50/50 is more ideal unless your in Siberia. What is the total cooling system capacity - should say in your owners manual.

 

[1 SX]

I did not even think about the Hyundai/Kia Engine "issue". The Sonata is a 2013 with the lifetime 2.4L "warranty" and the knock sensor update.. It "only" has a touch over 80K, I would be really disappointed if the engine was going out as I took extremely good care of the sonata's 2.4L. with over 16 oil changes since purchase, not including the 7 or so from the original owner.. I also ran 5W30 not 5W20 and OEM filter with every 5.9qt Mobil-1 oil change around every 5K miles... the Sonata 2.4L also has the "revised orange dipstick"

But now since we are going down this path, maybe I am trying to justify "ME" doing something wrong (although, I do not feel great about the wrong ratio coolant....) and not a manufacturer defect, as personally, I have never had a 2.4L "blow up", (I have read, heard, and know someone of someone, but never first hand)

Maybe before I go messing with anything, I should make a appt and have the engine looked over as this might be way more serious than I originally thought.... I was thinking, drain and put in correct ratio of coolant, change oil, and magically all issues will disappear.....

thanks for the feedback.

 

[Plawan]

I did not even think about the Hyundai/Kia Engine "issue". The Sonata is a 2013 with the lifetime 2.4L "warranty" and the knock sensor update.. It "only" has a touch over 80K, I would be really disappointed if the engine was going out as I took extremely good care of the sonata's 2.4L. with over 16 oil changes since purchase, not including the 7 or so from the original owner.. I also ran 5W30 not 5W20 and OEM filter with every 5.9qt Mobil-1 oil change around every 5K miles... the Sonata 2.4L also has the "revised orange dipstick"

But now since we are going down this path, maybe I am trying to justify "ME" doing something wrong (although, I do not feel great about the wrong ratio coolant....) and not a manufacturer defect, as personally, I have never had a 2.4L "blow up", (I have read, heard, and know someone of someone, but never first hand)

Maybe before I go messing with anything, I should make a appt and have the engine looked over as this might be way more serious than I originally thought.... I was thinking, drain and put in correct ratio of coolant, change oil, and magically all issues will disappear.....

thanks for the feedback.

You can buy a cheap coolant tester to get an accurate idea of % of coolant to water ratio. You might find it’s not even enough at an unacceptable ratio? Even if it is a little heavy with antifreeze I seriously doubt it’s the cause of the issue your having. You could remove some of the mix and refill with distilled water until it’s 50/50 or whatever you want.
you can have some used oil analyzed to check for coolant (high sodium and potassium).
We don’t usually have to add a lot of coolant in our vehicles so that’s sorta concerning. Might wanna make sure you have everything up to date and all maintenance wise and take it in to be looked at. Possible warranty claim so don’t give them any excuses to deny.

 

[1 SX]

A little update on this:

(First drain of coolant)

I did flush the coolant system 3 times with distilled water and twice with the correct ratio genuine 50/50 coolant, cleaned the butterfly/throttlebody, followed up by a "Direct injection Intake & Valve cleaner" via the intake and a 1.5 hour "heat soak" of said cleaner than a good run to burn it off. Cleaned the map sensor and reset ODB-2 computer. Also this was a very short OC as I ran a mild engine cleaner in the 5W30 Synthetic engine oil for about the last 1,500 miles, so let that drain for well over 2 hours, filled it back up with 5.9 qts of Mobil-1 ESP Euro grade 5w30 & OEM filter.

Results:
It "might" be a little premature to say oil and coolant consumption are fixed as its only been a few hundred miles since the fluid exchanges and cleanings, but my initial thought is this: The oil even after a few hundred miles looks brand new and perfectly clear also it did not go down a single CM on the dipstick, ditto with coolant reservoir. That in its self is a huge improvement. Also some how along the line the "normal" heat range I thought was "normal" is NOT in the middle of the LCD display, but actually one click below the middle of lcd heat bar as displayed below, so the Sonata was definitely running warm.

I optimistic that the engine is still very healthy, and fixed the coolant ratio issue before any real long term engine damage was done.

I will keep this thread update with the longer term results.

 

[D60]

{snip}
I optimistic that the engine is still very healthy, and fixed the coolant ratio issue before any real long term engine damage was done.

I will keep this thread update with the longer term results.

What real long term damage was that again?

I think believing bars on a temp gauge is questionable. For one thing, resolution isn't there - at some point it has to engage the next bar. Say hypothetically at 200 it's 4 bars but 200.1 it's 5 bars and yet bar 6 doesn't come into play until 210.

Secondly I have to wonder about minor programming differences triggering additional bars at different points over the years of manufacture of the vehicle. At some point a computer has to "decide" when the next bar illuminates.

You need real numbers which I would hope would be available thru live data on a scanner.

 

[D60]

And here you post you just power washed condenser and were surprised at the amount of debris:

What are you working on today?

Worked on some of the Cali cousins electrical issues. One switch was wired wrong, another switch the ground was touching the traveler.. on top of that the thermal cutoff was bad in the light. That was a adventure. Changed out another switch and tried to figure out a couple switches that are off...

bobistheoilguy.com

Now that could actually explain slightly lower operating temperature.

 

[SHOZ]

Hyundai's cooling fans come on at 204F and shut off at 194F. The ECUs on older Hyundai's (
FWIW.

Got 189k and 138k miles on my Hundais and it won't be the engines that kills them. Just Illinois rust.

 

[cptbarkey]

I am not familiar with the radiator design, but perhaps there is cross contamination going on with either a built in oil cooler, or transmission cooler.

 

[1 SX]

And here you post you just power washed condenser and were surprised at the amount of debris:

What are you working on today?

Worked on some of the Cali cousins electrical issues. One switch was wired wrong, another switch the ground was touching the traveler.. on top of that the thermal cutoff was bad in the light. That was a adventure. Changed out another switch and tried to figure out a couple switches that are off...

bobistheoilguy.com

Now that could actually explain slightly lower operating temperature.

two different vehicles