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Help with coolant/water mix please

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  • 13-04-2007 6:21pm
    #1
    johnplayerblue
    Registered Users Posts: 747 ✭✭✭


    Hi
    I need some advise please. I want to change the coolant/water in a mk3 1.4 93 golf. I've drained the water from the car, there was about 2 and half liters and i have a lL of coolant. Should i mix the 1 liter of coolant with 1ltr of water so i have a 50/50 mix? the water that came out wasn't to brown at all but she was over heating today a little and i have since found that the fan wasn't kicking in but its the mix i need to know about at the moment.


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    #2
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    50/50 is about ideal for Ireland.

    Mike.


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    #3
    crosstownk
    Registered Users Posts: 12,863 ✭✭✭✭crosstownk


    mike65 wrote:
    50/50 is about ideal for Ireland.

    Mike.

    Yeah - 50/50 is good. You'd probably be ok with a bit less coolant - 60/40. With a 1993 Golf you can use either G11 or G12, but it's not a good idea to mix the two. Coolant is not just an anti-freeze, it also protects the engine from corrosion.
    Untitled Image




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    #4
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Use only pre-mixed coolant, that already is 50:50.

    Unless you can get your hands on pure distilled water.

    The salts and other impurities in tap water will eventually corrode your cooling system and you'll end up with a stuck thermostat, or leaky radiator etc.


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    #5
    Darragh29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,097 ✭✭✭Darragh29


    johnplayerblue wrote:
    Hi
    I need some advise please. I want to change the coolant/water in a mk3 1.4 93 golf. I've drained the water from the car, there was about 2 and half liters and i have a lL of coolant. Should i mix the 1 liter of coolant with 1ltr of water so i have a 50/50 mix? the water that came out wasn't to brown at all but she was over heating today a little and i have since found that the fan wasn't kicking in but its the mix i need to know about at the moment.

    50:50 mix is more than enough for Ireland. This will protect you down to approximately -15-20 degrees celcius minimum, which you are unlikely to see in Ireland in the summer.

    Having said that, anti-freeze is not just an anti-freeze product but also has anti corrosion properties. If you have replaced your coolant, and your car is now overheating, the most likely problem is that you have not bled the system after draining the old coolant and adding the new. It's not usually as simple as draining out old coolant and putting in new coolant. You normally have to open a bleed valve on a top hose to let air out when it builds up, this can be a time consuming task.

    If your fan is not kicking in, this is a problem, most likely the temp switch in the radiator but before you go replacing this, make sure the fan is working by running a 12 volt supply directly to the fan motor and test for functionality. I recently had a similar problem, same car and mark/age and it was the cooling fan motor burnt out.


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    #6
    Darragh29
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,097 ✭✭✭Darragh29


    Darragh29 wrote:
    50:50 mix is more than enough for Ireland. This will protect you down to approximately -15-20 degrees celcius minimum, which you are unlikely to see in Ireland in the summer.

    Having said that, anti-freeze is not just an anti-freeze product but also has anti corrosion properties. If you have replaced your coolant, and your car is now overheating, the most likely problem is that you have not bled the system after draining the old coolant and adding the new. It's not usually as simple as draining out old coolant and putting in new coolant. You normally have to open a bleed valve on a top hose to let air out when it builds up, this can be a time consuming task.

    If your fan is not kicking in, this is a problem, most likely the temp switch in the radiator but before you go replacing this, make sure the fan is working by running a 12 volt supply directly to the fan motor and test for functionality. I recently had a similar problem, same car and mark/age and it was the cooling fan motor burnt out.

    "Coolant" ony matters when its cold. In the summer, for diagnosis purposes, you can use all water, but only to diagnose a problem. If your car is overheating in the summer, just ignore how much "coolant" is in the equation, treat all the coolant as water, which is quite ok, its either:


    (1) Might be a cooling fan problem, (test this first using a 12V independent supply to the fan motor ).

    (2) A lack of coolant in the system, an airlock in the cooling system or a coolant leak,

    (3) A head gasket problem (causing a coolant leak at (1) above, or a thermostat fault problem.


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