I had the radiator re-cored on my Capri about 3 years ago due to leaking.
All the car has ever seen is conventional green coolant.
For the past 4 or 5 years i've been using a cheap parts store brand conventional green IAT coolant, ( 30% premix )
I noticed back in august when i drained the radiator to replace a hose that the inside of the radiator looked like this :
Nothing strange to see when radiator is full
radiator by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
However when the radiator is empty :
Silicate gelling by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
Silicate gelling by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
I went on a road trip in July, the weather was predictably very hot, on the way back home it was +40C ( 100F ) all the way home which was over 300 miles.
The car got fairly hot once, didn't quite overheat but the temp gauge got nearly up to the red zone, i stopped and let it sit for an hour at a gas station, squeezed some coolant out the filler cap thinking maybe it had too much coolant in it, i went on my way and got home without a problem.
I think this dropout might have something to do with it, i changed the thermostat after the road trip and the coolant ( using a different brand of conventional green )
I've looked into it though and i think i'm going to switch to VW G11 for it, as these don't suffer from the problems of a poorly stabilized conventional green..
All the car has ever seen is conventional green coolant.
For the past 4 or 5 years i've been using a cheap parts store brand conventional green IAT coolant, ( 30% premix )
I noticed back in august when i drained the radiator to replace a hose that the inside of the radiator looked like this :
Nothing strange to see when radiator is full
radiator by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
However when the radiator is empty :
Silicate gelling by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
Silicate gelling by Argentum Enim in Sempiternum, en Flickr
I went on a road trip in July, the weather was predictably very hot, on the way back home it was +40C ( 100F ) all the way home which was over 300 miles.
The car got fairly hot once, didn't quite overheat but the temp gauge got nearly up to the red zone, i stopped and let it sit for an hour at a gas station, squeezed some coolant out the filler cap thinking maybe it had too much coolant in it, i went on my way and got home without a problem.
I think this dropout might have something to do with it, i changed the thermostat after the road trip and the coolant ( using a different brand of conventional green )
I've looked into it though and i think i'm going to switch to VW G11 for it, as these don't suffer from the problems of a poorly stabilized conventional green..