Which Coolant?

Wig

Fiat Lancia Twin Cam engine from the 80s

I have drained and flushed the engine... any harm in using Vauxhall/GM pink coolant?

There has been an opinion expressed that anything other than "blue antifreeze" will corrode the head....????

Moto2

Drop the guys at comma a line or give them a call, they're always happy to advise

http://www.commaoil.com/contact

loskie

try asking on Pistonheads

force_ten

have you looked at the waterless coolants?

evans_power_cool_180 is the one that springs to mind they are expensive but they do a great job

or the

evans_auto_cool_180

as i said they are expensive but have an expected life of twenty years

EdGasket

Just use what is recommended for your car; probably the two-year blue ethylene/glycol stuff. You can never flush everything out and if you mix different types of antifreeze, they can gel and clog up the system.

BTW I've had two cars with those engines, a Lancia Beta 2.0 and a Fiat Argenta also 2.0. Great engines but the rest of the car was rubbish.

Strider590

Use the old stuff, usually Blue or Green.

OAT is long life anti-freeze, designed for newer systems and alloy engine/heads. It shouldn't be used in vehicles that did not have it from the factory.

Also, mixing OAT with the blue/green stuff can cause a reaction, where the whole lot foams up, creating air locks and risking HG failure.

Wig

It is well and truly flushed out, being run with clean water and changed.... and changed again.

I'm going ahead with the GM.

The Evans Power Cool was interesting, but how would I get ALL the water out of the engine?

AdrianC

Red coolant certainly won't corrode worse than blue/green will - quite the opposite, although neither will corrode until they're ignored for too long.

If it's all been cleaned through, then change. If there's a suspicion of the risk of mixing, then run plain water through - up to fan-kicking-in temp - a couple of times first. The mixture may cause gelling.

I wouldn't bother with the waterless - apart from being much poorer at heat transfer, it's flammable.

Iceweasel

Wig wrote: »

It is well and truly flushed out, being run with clean water and changed.... and changed again.

I'm going ahead with the GM.

The Evans Power Cool was interesting, but how would I get ALL the water out of the engine?

Being drained then filled up - run up to temperature and then drained out - as you have done is the best way to clear out all traces of previous coolant.

I did that 4 times on my 204 320d engine before I was satisfied that all traces of old antifreeze was gone.

I use it 50/50 mix - good for -34°C

There are plenty of folks who will warn against using OAT in an older engine.

https://citroenclassics.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/what-is-the-right-coolant-to-use-in-our-older-cars/

Wig

Hmm, maybe I'll look for some of that Propylene Glycol... sounds good..

force_ten

Wig wrote: »

It is well and truly flushed out, being run with clean water and changed.... and changed again.

I'm going ahead with the GM.

The Evans Power Cool was interesting, but how would I get ALL the water out of the engine?

the 7 lt pack comes with 2 lts of Evans hygroscopic Prep Fluid that you uase to flush the system prior to adding the waterless coolant

there are cheaper versions of waterless coolant about so may be worth a google search