Antifreeze

[ChrisHC]

Once upon a time there was just antifreeze, now there seem to be about five different sorts and life is more complicated. I have been told to use blue, not green, but is there more to it than that? What makes do people use?

[paultv]

I've been using pink stuff in mine, however this was after a full flush out, radiator out and all that -it's free of all that phosphate stuff and lasts 5 years - but not if you top up with it/add to existing coolant in the car - best wash out your system if you want to start afresh.

-18 C last winter, no worries, now plus 35 C in town, standing in traffic - totally OK.

As it happens, I fitted a CPS today, so to route the cable I drained the car and took out the radiator, fan and so on, coolant was clean, a couple of little bits of crap, filtered it and put it back - good to go.

Paul

[biffer]

Am about to change the stuff in my M20 from blue to red Comma longlife

Will be removing the radiator and reverse-flushing both it and the heater-matrix,and generally making sure all the old blue fluid is gone.

The water going in will be de-ionised,it's only a few quid from Asda for 5-litres.

[DHFiS]

I use blue in mine because it was blue when I bought the car but this article explains the difference between colours.

Copied from holtsauto.com

Older coolants that used Inorganic Additive Technology (IAT) were usually blue or green in colour. With these types of coolants, you’d normally have to change them every two years, or every 60,000 miles.

Next came Organic Acid Technology (OAT) coolants, whose chemical make-up offered better protection for cooling systems, and extended the life of the coolant. These ”˜Extended Life Coolants’ (ELC), were usually orange in colour and offered a five-year or 100,000-mile change interval. They could be a blend of IAT and OAT chemicals, and were therefore named ”˜Hybrids’.

Newer coolants such as Prestone, based solely on the OAT chemical make-up, now offer a 10-year or 150,000-mile change interval thanks to their superior corrosion protection. Prestone is yellow, but many other coolant manufacturers use different colours.

These days, there’s no real reason for a coolant manufacturer to use a certain colour, so it’s not easy to know what chemicals are in the coolant just by seeing whether it’s blue, green, yellow or orange.

[DanThe]

I use Mannol green as it looks better than blue IMO

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cooling-Liqu ... m570.l1313

[Cloggy Saint]

I use blue because it matches the screen wash

[Brdjo]

I use http://autodjelovi.me/wp-content/upload ... mmerce.jpg

change every 2-3 years, no problems so far..