Topping up coolant?

hewhoisnotintheknow

scotsman4th wrote: »

Assuming the mixture was right in the first place. Winters acomin!

When lidl/aldi were doing their cheap tools, they done a thing to tell you the antifreeze mix in your cooling system for £3-£4.

halfords sell the little testers for 1.99

It would have to be very weak already if a small top up of water was to push it over the edge, also the car would have to be sat for a good couple of days before its coolant with begin to freeze

goldspanners

as has been said if its less than a litre i would top up with water.
it isn't recommended to mix the blue and pink anti freeze together (well thats what VW told us and thats what they state in thier engine manuals). if it has pink in it then buy the pink stuff, the pink stuff is now widely available so should be easy to get a hold of if you need it.

cyclonebri1

Sod the colour just read the spec on the can. If it matches that specified in the handbook then all is fine.

The colour code is very often used by manufacturers just to ensure you continue to buy their product at 4x rates.

At a very minimum I would top up with the normal dilution, don't forget as well as freeze protection this stuff stops your engine rotting from the inside out, be safe. ;)

Quinny_2

My wifes 2000 Astra 1.4 gets the pink stuff from Autovaux at Wakefield.

Genuine VX parts, at a fraction of the dealer price.

vikingaero

I would stick with either pink or blue coolant and not mix it. The reason: if there's a problem then you'll see the pink or blue coolant change colour. If you mix the coolant then it'll go a funny dark green colour and be harder to see if anythings wrong.

Wig

I would go to a vaux dealer, and buy 5 litres of pink stuff, split it into two halves, and fill the 5 litre container (now half full) to the top with water (it will now be ready for pouring into the engine). It is not expensive from Vx dealers, and you'll get a little off the price just by telling them you are a taxi driver.

Premier_2

You really should have the cooling sytem checked out to find out the cause of the loss in the first place.

cyclonebri1

vikingaero wrote: »

I would stick with either pink or blue coolant and not mix it. The reason: if there's a problem then you'll see the pink or blue coolant change colour. If you mix the coolant then it'll go a funny dark green colour and be harder to see if anythings wrong.

Thats actually a good point, :Tbut many are a funny dark green to start with. All are similar spec + dye.

From what the OP said the level wasn't checked after the work done had settled, ie, airlocks released, so pretty safe to say the level was left too low.

goldspanners

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Thats actually a good point, :Tbut many are a funny dark green to start with. All are similar spec + dye.

vw's g12 pink stuff is different,they dont recommed it to be used where the old blue stuff usually goes in. and vice versa.

anewman

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

From what the OP said the level wasn't checked after the work done had settled, ie, airlocks released, so pretty safe to say the level was left too low.

Yep guess it's too much to ask to expect a mechanic to run the engine a few minutes with the cap off, let it cool down, and top up to the correct level