20v and coolant level

[strap-on]

before the forum police get on my back i HAVE done a search and i did take note of bens sticky post and used the word "and" in my search, however it came up negative so im gonna post it here.

i just changed my thermostat and topped up my radiator, however i think i lost more antifreeze than i should have, i used a test strip and it didnt even change colour

so yeah the water was a pretty reddy browny dirty colour so im thinking it might need changing anyway, so wats the deal, ive seen cooling systems flushed before so i know its a pretty simple operation, im just wondering how much antifreeze and how much water the 20v is supposed to take,

mark said for his integra it was 2l of antifreeze with 3 litres of water, would my engine be about the same?

cheers for the help

[Ae92typeX]

When you buy the antifreze check the instructions as many have different ratio levels. You could then pre mix the ratio into a bottle and fill from there. Once done run car, fut heater on to make sure it all runs through there nad you have no bubbles. easy pezy.

[CozmoNz]

more water than anti? bah, heck no.

antifreeze is the best shit in the world, most of it can go 70% anti 30% water, not advised, but its not bad for your engine.

(will take longer to heat).

just mix a 3L to 3L mix of anti and water, and mix it, therefore you have 6L of 5050 mix. pour as much in as you can, if it takes the lot (probably wont), but if it does, top up with antifreeze.

i suggest you use the toyota red antifreeze

[AceSniper]

yea dont want to much anti freeze as it dosnt cool aswell as water.

when u buy the anti freeze it should say on the back... its the same for all cars... think 50-50% is around normal but u can go upto 70% freeze from memory

[CozmoNz]

you just repeated what i said !

but yeh, hes right , its not that hard to do.... i gotta do it on my car soon, cept i dont have $40 for coolant X_X

[Ae92typeX]

I'd still follow the instructions to be safe. To much antifreeze can be just as bad as not enough:

"Using too much antifreeze or water can harm your vehicle. Up to 40% of engine failure is attributed to antifreeze mixing mistakes.

Using too much antifreeze can cause problems including corrosion, water pump failure, and increased engine wear. Increasing the concentration of ethylene glycol above 60% actually hurts the engine's freezing and overheating protection. More is not better!

Adding too much water to the cooling system causes the loss of corrosion protection"

Sourced from http://www.eetcorp.com/antifreeze/antifreeze-faq.htm#q6
But there is pleanty of written material about it in books etc to back it up.

[CozmoNz]

but on the back of most anti freeze containers it has the aproperate mixtures.

50:50 and 70:30 are there.... (anti/water), showing the freezing level and boiling level..... so whats up with that?

[Lloyd]

50:50 is what most manufacturers will recommend. As far as red antifreeze goes, make you sure you flush every last bit of green out if you want to use the red stuff (long life) as they aren't supposed to work well together (not mixing and whatnot)

[Dori_85]

your average 1-2 row radiator will only need 1L of antifreeze, anything 3-4 row will need around 2L. more is not always better.

[strap-on]

my coolant looked pretty red to me does this mean i might have red stuff in there?

[Lloyd]

Depends if it looks like red coolant or if its rusty

[strap-on]

so can anyone give me a definite amount on how much my radiator will hold ( ie both antifreeze and water) i just got two litres of antifreeze and i intend to try for the 50:50 mix

[Dori_85]

providing u flush all the old antifreeze/crap out of your engine, u will only need 1.5L antifreeze and the rest water.

[strap-on]

which equals how much in total?

[JT]

Shesh, it's not a life and death matter. Just mix up 2L, 50/50 split. Pour that in and mix up 1/2 litre at a time after that, that way you only waste a little anti-freeze if you have too much.

[Lloyd]

Drain the radiator out at the bottom until there is nothing left in it, poke the hose in the top and run it til it comes out clean out the bottom, put the bung back in the hole, chuck 2L of antifreeze in, top right up with water, run for 3 or 4 mins, check level is still fine, put cap on and you're done.

[kingcorolla]

sorry guys,
but i would like to know why it took 16 posts to figure out how to replace coolant???

[strap-on]

beacuse no1 could give me a definite answer to my question......

im asking if anyone knows how much my radiator will take in total in order to work out how much antifreeze i need, bnut i think i will just do wat hrt just said to do, makes the most sense to me

[Dr-X]

mate it doesnt matter what exact amount it holds. Just fill the damn thing up. Your ratios arent too important either, just dont go too far either way. Just pour in 4L 50/50 and top the rest up with water, if there's some left to top up.

No one knows what the water capacity is because no one gives a crap.

If you're already using green coolant (most likely) dont bother switching to red, there's no compelling reason to change.

[Mr Revhead]

we always put a 50/50 ratio in toyotas,unless its got a dodgy rad then a little less, for an ae101 mix up 6l of coolant (3l anti, 3l water) thats how its done by toyota