Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water?

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Sun 4 Dec 2016 05:37
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - edlithgow

My home-made-from-garden-hose radiator hose has done a few hundred K without any sign of failure, but had a slight leak under pressure where it joins the radiator, perhaps because its a little too wide, and or isn't as soft/compliant as the real thing.

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Since I've now got the right hose, and there was rust where it was leaking, I flushed the system (forgetting to do the heater, so I'll have to do it again, DUH!) replaced the coolant (with "green stuff", possibly RT-Mart own-brand. labelling all Chinese with no recognisable specs on it, so I'll have to regard it as short-life) and replaced the hose. There was fine rusty sludge in the coolant, and a few scale flakes flushed out of the bottom of the radiator.

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While I was doing this I noticed another teacher here with the bonnet (hood) up on her Skoda. This is so unusual in Taiwan I went over to see that she was topping up with plain water. She said it'd had a slight untracable leak after being hit by a motorcycle. They replaced the radiator (can't imagine anything else would be vulnerable to a bike strike) but the leak persists. Since I think I saw her doing this about three years ago, it seems likely that the system has been running plain water for some time. Of course there's no need for anti-freeze here, but I'd think there'd be a risk of long term corrosion damage.

If I had an unfixable leak on a truly disposable car I might put a pinch of washing machine powder in it from time to time, but its hard for me to regard a shiny 10-year old Skoda as quite that disposable, even though that's as old as Taiwan cars usually get.

Might offer her my old coolant once the rust has settled out of it (hence the question). The shock-horror-disgust effect of that might induce her to get the leak fixed.

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Sun 4 Dec 2016 18:53
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - Railroad.

Anti-freeze serves four main purposes.

1. Lowers the freezing point of the coolant

2. Raises the boiling point of the coolant .

3. Contains an anti-corrosion inhibitor.

4. Contains a wetting agent.

Considering the above points you should make your own decision.

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 00:15
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - edlithgow

Sure, I know that.

But I don't know if Old Coolant is better or worse than water, though I'd think probably better.

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 18:25
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - Bolt

Personally I would put the old stuff back in, at least you have some protection against corrosion, but then I know of people that have re`used and not had any problems, so it cant be that bad....

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 00:32
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - edlithgow

For WIW voltage measurements a couple of weeks prior to changing the coolant didn't indicate any electrolysis.

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 08:26
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - skidpan

Why are we even discussing this. Antfreeze is at most about £4 a litre for the traditional stuff, more for the long life stuff. Whichever type, it has a max life after which its stops doing all its supposed to do. So for the sake of a few pints of booze or a bottle of decent wine get some new antifreeze and throw the old coolant away (correctly of course since is poisonous).

And I appreciate you live in a hot climate but you still need the anti corrosion and coolant properties. Don't forget it also lubricates the water pump and that costs more than a bottle of wine to replace.

Are you really going to risk your engine for a few quid (or whatever your currency is).

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 08:44
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - gordonbennet

I suspect the supply of things we take for granted is rather different where the OP lives, possibly supply of things arn't helped by the politics of the long running situation there, which the OP isn't going to say too much or complain about for obvious, to me, reasons.

Forgetting the ant freeze properties, i'd be inclined to investigate alternative anti corrosion agents that might be available and stick that in with the water if no coolant available, i'd also have some sort of home made condensor set up at home to gradually build up my own supply of distilled water to use in radiators.

Intersting top hose there, nothing wrong with that, its a home made highly reinforced pipe, probably stand far more than the original fitment would.

Why is ten years a good age for cars Edlithgow, is it damp causing corrosion or other reasons, and which cars pray last longest there on average?

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Mon 5 Dec 2016 09:30
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - nortones2
Termites and fungus?
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Mon 5 Dec 2016 22:38
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - Peter.N.

On older engines many head gasket failures were precipitated by lack of proper coolant so even in a warm climate don't run with a weaker than specified coolant/antifreeze mixture.

Edited by Peter.N. on 05/12/2016 at 22:39

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Tue 6 Dec 2016 06:33
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - madf

If your car engine has a mixture of aluminium castings and iron, you need protection against corrosion. Normal chemical and elcrtrical reactions with plain water will corrode teh aluminium quickly. The results may be porous castings or silted up waterways - with subsequent overheating.

So old coolant with some protection is better than plain water.

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Tue 6 Dec 2016 12:45
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - Cyd

If you have no need for anti freeze there, then you would be better off running plain (distilled or deionised if you can) water with a combined wetting agent / corrosion protection product.

Millers do one called ‘Extra Cool’ and Red Line’s is called ‘Water Wetter’. I would think eBay would be your friend here, there are plenty of similar products available.

Note that ethylene glycol reduces the specific heat capacity of water in proportion to the mix concentrate. So, for example, to get the improved cooling racers use water and one of the products mentioned above. Probably of benefit in hotter climates on a standard car too (especially a petrol turbo).

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Tue 6 Dec 2016 14:05
Any water cooled engine - Is Old Coolant better or worse than water? - edlithgow

Some good points above, though also some apparent confusion. Just to repeat, I've replaced my coolant and radiator hose.

The issue was whether I should offer the old coolant (and the bit of fresh I have left over) to another teacher with a leaky system in her Skoda, on the basis that it would be better than water.

I've reluctantly concluded not to do that, since I might get the blame if it fails, and since its probably been running water only for several years, its quite likely to fail.

It is generally hard to get automotive stuff here, since there is essentially no DIY and the trade is a closed shop. You generally have to buy parts through a "friendly" mechanic, which is how I got the hose. Friendly because a lot of them can't be bothered if you aren't giving them the work, and if they do order stuff for you are likely to stick you with a sizable mark-up.

Consumables like coolant, oil and filters are exceptions, since you can buy them in some supermarkets and "Furry Dice" accessory stores. I couldn't find anything with a known brand or labelling in English but I have seen Shell and Peak in the past.

I have not, unfortunately, seen any non-antifreeze corrosion protection products here. They would seem to be appropriate for this market, but lack of informed consumers may mean there is no demand. Ebay sellers won't usually deliver to Taiwan and shipping charges would be high if they did.

Cars die early here, at around 10 years, for cultural reasons, notably poor maintenance and "face" (status) considerations which make people reluctant to run old cars. My car is 30 years old, but its been in foreign ownership for a lot of that time.

German cars (and probably Skoda by association) are said to fare especially badly, partly because of especially degradable plastics which don't stand up to the heat.

Toyota's are said to last best, which is a global truism, or was until recently.

The home-made radiator hose was garden hose reinforced with a spiral of glassfibe-reinforced polythene box tape, applied onto impact adhesive, with an outer layer of electrical wire applied as common whipping. It was quite neat but I butchered it a bit when I shortened it. It showed no sign of failure but it was leaking a little where it joined the radiator.

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