Diluting engine coolant

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Is it ok to dilute coolant 50/50 with water. This is coolant as opposed to anti freeze.

DublinDilbert

In an emergency yes its ok, if your stuck somewhere and need to get home...

Not good in the long term.... you'd be better off topping up with the correct coolant....

I'm not sure about you 50/50 comment, is your car 1/2 empty and your going to top up with water??

peasant

What you call coolant there is effectively anti-freeze already diluted 50/50 with water.

So, diluting it further (especially in winter) is not a good idea, certainly not permanently.

But not only does your correct coolant mix protect your engine against freezing, it also raises the boiling point of the cooling system and protects against corrosion. It is kinda important to have the correct coolant mix.

The anti-freeze im using suggests to mix it 50/50 with water and I have been topping up like this for quite a while as I have a small leak? Should I be using it undiluted?

peasant

Lincoln Thundering Misfortune wrote: »

The anti-freeze im using suggests to mix it 50/50 with water and I have been topping up like this for quite a while as I have a small leak? Should I be using it undiluted?

no, as you are topping up the correct mixture with more of the correct mixture you should be fine ...fix the leak though (small leaks have a habit of becoming big, gushing ones ...usually at three in the morning in the arsehole of nowhere)

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Thanks for the replies fellas. What happened was other halfs car only had water in it so I told her to get 2 litres of anti freeze and i'd put it in before the cold spell. Came home from work Thursday morning decided to do it before hitting the scratcher. Mixed it 50/50 with water and put it in. Only when I'd finished I realised she'd got coolant not antifreeze.

It says on the container its good for up to -38 degrees so does that mean its now good for -19 degrees and as it wont get that cold here should it be ok. Or am I grasping at straws and would it be best to drain the system and refill with new coolant.

peasant

Liam Fluffy Scumbag wrote: »

Thanks for the replies fellas. What happened was other halfs car only had water in it so I told her to get 2 litres of anti freeze and i'd put it in before the cold spell. Came home from work Thursday morning decided to do it before hitting the scratcher. Mixed it 50/50 with water and put it in. Only when I'd finished I realised she'd got coolant not antifreeze.

It says on the container its good for up to -38 degrees so does that mean its now good for -19 degrees and as it wont get that cold here should it be ok. Or am I grasping at straws and would it be best to drain the system and refill with new coolant.

The mixture you put in is 4 liters of coolant good for ca. -19 degrees ..that should be ok.

What is not ok is the unknown quantity of pure water that was already in there. Depending on how much that was, you may have very little frost protection now. But as I said above, proper coolant also has other important properties. A drain and refill with the correct mix would be a good idea in my opinion.

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

peasant wrote: »

The mixture you put in is 4 liters of coolant good for ca. -19 degrees ..that should be ok.

What is not ok is the unknown quantity of pure water that was already in there. Depending on how much that was, you may have very little frost protection now. But as I said above, proper coolant also has other important properties. A drain and refill with the correct mix would be a good idea in my opinion.

I removed the bottom hose and let the water drain before I put in the 50/50 mixture so do you think it should be ok.

peasant

Rather than rely on guesswork, get your car to a garage and get the coolant tested. It's a simple dip test, shouldn't cost much.

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

peasant wrote: »

Rather than rely on guesswork, get your car to a garage and get the coolant tested. It's a simple dip test, shouldn't cost much.

Will do thanks

Darragh29

Liam Fluffy Scumbag wrote: »

Thanks for the replies fellas. What happened was other halfs car only had water in it so I told her to get 2 litres of anti freeze and i'd put it in before the cold spell. Came home from work Thursday morning decided to do it before hitting the scratcher. Mixed it 50/50 with water and put it in. Only when I'd finished I realised she'd got coolant not antifreeze.

It says on the container its good for up to -38 degrees so does that mean its now good for -19 degrees and as it wont get that cold here should it be ok. Or am I grasping at straws and would it be best to drain the system and refill with new coolant.

That's the way it works OP. You can put dishwater in to get you out of a hole but get your leak revolved and put in OEM coolant. We don't see temperatures lower than -5 here, so it isn't as critical as we might think, but it has anti-corrosion properties that has the effect of cleaning your water journals and acting as a rust inhibitor. Opel/GM have a very affordable OEM coolant solution, it looks kind of pink in color and comes in a white plastic container with GM on it, that's what a lot of mechanics use... get 2 one litre containers and put that in, top up with water if necessary, you'll have at least 80-90% coolant density in that...

seclachi

My car had a water pump issue and lost alot of coolant, it kinda self healed for a while, but before i got to that stage I had dilated most of the antifreeze out, the mechanic said it was ok for a short period. Of course it was a few months before it go fixed with one thing or another. Anyway, based on that experiace, its probably alright if your stuck for coolant on a very short term basis. Given the current weather though you`ll really want coolant with proper antifreeze, I can only imagine the damage frozen water could cause.

Paddy001

It would crack the block but you would want black frost for that, as long as you have some nature of anti freeze your grand

Fishtits

"Coolant" contains anti corrosive inhibitors, this is important for example in many VW engines that have an oil cooler that uses said coolant. Use water instead of the approved coolant and that can result in corrosion, leading to water in yer oil and all the horrible consequences that follow.

In short, OK short term, trouble long term.

Darragh29

Fishtits wrote: »

"Coolant" contains anti corrosive inhibitors, this is important for example in many VW engines that have an oil cooler that uses said coolant. Use water instead of the approved coolant and that can result in corrosion, leading to water in yer oil and all the horrible consequences that follow.

In short, OK short term, trouble long term.

Those oil coolers cause trouble anyway and are a well known fault on Passat engines, no matter what coolant is used...