coolant question
 

Hi guys,

a few weeks back, I found out my frs had coolant very low in the reservoir tank (I think it's called over flow reservoir?). Back then I added distilled water (~0.5L, definitely less than a liter) in the overflow reservoir.

Now the winter has come, it may fall -30C or under during the season, which hasn't happened yet. The previous owner kept the car parked outside all the time, so the coolant itself seems fine. Anyways, I was worried that adding distilled water would dilute the coolant, but as far as I looked up, if there was any liquid that has evaporated, 'only' water would have been but the actual coolant would have remained, so adding distilled water wouldn't hurt?

I thought of checking out the coolant itself with the squeeze up bottle thingy with a dial in the middle (the thing that tells you the freezing point lol don't know the proper name for it), but I'm not sure where I can stick the tube and suck up the coolant in the first place.


I wonder what you guys think.


Thanks.

Get it out of the overflow bottle and put it back afterwards if you`re not sure

get a bottle of super blue to keep on hand, toss some in to the right fill line, and go with it.

https://smile.amazon.com/Genuine-Sub...7877850&sr=8-1

the water is going to evaporate over time from hot/cold cycles, as it's not an entirely closed system, so just keep it topped up, and it'll be fine.

Squeeze bottle coolant tester thingy is a good tool. If you check it from the radiator cap, make sure the check valve on the cap is nice and clean before you reinstall it. 99.5% of the "I'm slowly losing coolant" issues are due to a leaky check valve.

After a few heat cycles, fluid in the reservoir is pretty much the same as what's in the system.

Just drive it, you'll be fine.

And like soundman said, if it goes low again, top off with proper antifreeze.

i used to buy the non-diluted stuff so i didn't need to pay for half-water, but after realizing my captain-n-cokes that ought to be around 50/50 are really about 90/10, i figured i'm not enough of a mixologist to do a proper job, so i ought to let someone else handle the mixture!

Hydrometer.

It'll usually take a few heat cycles for whatever is in the coolant overflow to mix with the rest of the system. Considering that you put in distilled water a few weeks ago, I'm assuming it's been enough time to not worry about it.

However, since you have a hydrometer on hand, just stick it into the overflow tank and take a reading.

Thanks for the feedback people.

Maybe what I wrote earlier wasn't so detailed. I put in distilled water like 2 months ago, so no doubt that it's been all mixed up with the rest of coolant. Albeit small amount (~0.5L), my main concern was the increase in the freezing point of the coolant since I'm living in Alberta, Canada where it drops below -30C from time to time, which hasn't happened yet thankfully.

I don't have a hydrometer with me yet but will buy it at the end of the week and see if I can pull out some of the coolant to test out.

IN CASE I HAPPENED TO FIND THE FREEZING POINT IS HIGHER THAN WHAT I WANT, is there a third party undiluted antifreeze that I can mix to lower the freezing point? From everything I read from this forum and other websites, they all recommend the OEM coolant, which is right, but it protects as low as -37C, which seems like a borderline to me..


Again, thanks for the comments people!

If you see near -40 I have no Idea:eyebulge: I know a higher concentration of coolant lowers the freezing point but reduces the systems efficiency. Scary to be honest

In you case I would go to the dealership and get a flush and fill. It's cheap and can't hurt. I've lived in AB and -40C is no joke. You must use a block heater, no?

Yup, I have a block heater. On the other hand, I might be just overthinking, considering I've been ok with other cars in the past. I'll try the hydrometer to see how the antifreeze is in the coolant and see if I need to flush, which I doubt I need to because it's still a low mileage car (~60000km). I looked up the coolant exchange process, and it seems doable. I'll see how it goes.

Thanks.

The 50/50 blue says it’s good to -62F. So you diluted it a bit. Maybe to be safe, just do your own refresh. No flush, just replace fluid in reservoir and drain radiator and replace with new 50/50 blue. All said maybe 1hr of work in your drive way. Make sure you burp the system (run the car with the heat on, until the fans come on), using a coolant overflow attachment. This will remove all the air from the system.

Most anyone is capable of doing a flush. Most wouldn't want to do it at -20C :confused0068: