Antifreeze

[pincorpete]

Does anyone know if the antifreeze used in the liquid cooled engines is supposed to be a mix (50/50, 60/40) or just put in straight up? It appears that it's got pure antifreeze in the radiator, but I just wanted to check with y'all.

[jeepersmitty]

The one we have where I worked had a Kaw engine and used a 50 50 mix.

[Dude11]

In all the instructions I've read it's 70%,back in the day we went 50%.I guess 70% is to be sure of protection.Watch when you buy because I've seen a lot of "pre-mixed"on the shelf at local stores.Cut that and your at 25%:00000060: :00000060: ,not good.Remember that sitting in driveway,32deg.is 32deg.BUT when whissing at 70mph,the temp.drops a bunch,windchill and all that good stuff.:bannana: Dude11

[BigD]

In all of the engines I have, they use a 50/50 mix. Sometimes the diesel engines use a slightly different antifreeze (low silicone - Cummins ISB, or anti cavatition types) than gas engines, but I always use a 50/50 mix.

[wraight]

about 35 years ago a ford engineer told me the worst thing you can do to the cooling system is to put water in it. I took that advise, and I don't have any problems. think about it. 50/50 = rust and high parts sales 5/95 = money in your pocket. remember they want your money.

[Dude11]

Wraight,How often do you change the 95/5 mixture?Or if your running it that rich,does it ever need changing??Dude11

[Greenster]

50/50 is the best mixture. Glycol is NOT a good conductor of heat, so too much of it can cause the engine to potentially overheat. If you are in very cold climates, then 60/40 might be recommended. The antifreeze is only there to condition the water so 1) it won't freeze 2) and protect the metal parts from corrosion.

[Greenster]

about 35 years ago a ford engineer told me the worst thing you can do to the cooling system is to put water in it. I took that advise, and I don't have any problems. think about it. 50/50 = rust and high parts sales 5/95 = money in your pocket. remember they want your money.

He would be absolutely wrong. Pure water is the best conductor of heat. Read the label, you would never use 100%.

[Dude11]

Ok,I'll second that one.I peronally,do the 50% to 70% thing.It's worked good so far.:congrats: Dude11

[Milwaukee]

I have see many chevy 350 in truck or wagon came to our school. We was shock to see rust coolant in it. They say last time they did was 6 years ago.

It clog cooling system which got nearby 1 hours of push gunk of rust out engine with water hose.

I notice that our ford 601's coolant look to be bright green so I think my grandpa uncle put full coolant with no water. I notice sometime in summer it would pop radiator's cap to release pressure it would drip coolant to ground by black hose but outside was pretty hot.

When we did first time change coolant on my f150 I am lucky it not crack block because coolant rate 35oF but outside was 10oF that day. Now it is rate -40 that is better plus heat work good.


I have question about ford 601. I saw stuff in coolant it look to white like cloud in it. it would stir when I pour coolant in or run engine very hot. It look cloud is that bad? Do I need change that immediately before risk water pump due dirty coolant??

[Greenster]

I have see many chevy 350 in truck or wagon came to our school. We was shock to see rust coolant in it. They say last time they did was 6 years ago.

It clog cooling system which got nearby 1 hours of push gunk of rust out engine with water hose.

I notice that our ford 601's coolant look to be bright green so I think my grandpa uncle put full coolant with no water. I notice sometime in summer it would pop radiator's cap to release pressure it would drip coolant to ground by black hose but outside was pretty hot.

When we did first time change coolant on my f150 I am lucky it not crack block because coolant rate 35oF but outside was 10oF that day. Now it is rate -40 that is better plus heat work good.


I have question about ford 601. I saw stuff in coolant it look to white like cloud in it. it would stir when I pour coolant in or run engine very hot. It look cloud is that bad? Do I need change that immediately before risk water pump due dirty coolant??

I would say, on average, that the cooling system is only 2nd to the brake system and the most abused and poorly maintained system on any car. Most people don't bother to change their radiator fluid until they have a thermostat go bad or a leaking water pump. Radiator fluid gets 'used up' overtime and loses the chemical properties that provide protection. I would say that if the radiator fluid does not look good, flush the system out and change it. It's cheap!! It just takes your time (or someone elses). So many water pumps could be saved if the owners would just change the fluid!

[wraight]

50/50 is not the best mix, I flush 50/50 mud from cars all the time. I see 4 year old coolant turn BROWN with only 30,000 miles on them. In my car it's green, and I have not changed it since 1991. 140,000 miles, yup and it does not over heat. same water pump, thermostat, radiator, and hose's. explain that!

[Husqvarnas traktorer]

Mix 50/50 with distilled water this will stop any corrosion. Also remember the mix will need to be changed out every 2 years. Most people forget to change this until the have radiator problems. After 2 years the anti freeze starts to turn into an acid from heating and cooling cycle.

[wraight]

Wrong

[wraight]

how would you know if you never tried it?

[wraight]

Didn't you read my post, 17 years. I am not making this up.

[pincorpete]

Thanks for the info guys. I should have clarified earlier, but I was really looking for the mix ratio as it pertains to Honda liquid cooled engines as used on the 3813, 4514 and 4518. I have the owners manual for the 3813, but it doesn't say what ratio to use and because the old coolant was bright green (like straight coolant) I just wanted to post up and get a second opinion. Maybe this info is in the shop manual? Anyone have one of those?

[wraight]

all gas engine cooling systems are the same that's why they have the specs on the back of the antifreeze jug. not trying to be wise guy but it just ticks me off when I try to help someone out and somebody chimes in like I don't know what I am talking about. but what do I know I'm just the auto tech with 35 years under my belt in the room. PS. oh I forgot to tell you about my old 69 dodge that got back in 1980. in 1983 the radiator rotted out so I went and found a good used one, almost like new. installed in the dodge along with the antifreeze the only water was what was left from before. I just sold it about a year ago and thats right you guest it, it still had the same coolant in it. thats 24 years and the coolant was still green, and the radiator was still perfect. I don't know what else I can say.

[c5rulz]

I don't know what they put in my 5518 from the factory but radiator was shot in 6 years and had to be replaced to the tune of $ 265.:Disgus:

I had a radiator shop fix the old one for a spare, (will sell BTW) but after repair they said it is too far gone from electroylsis.

Way to go HONDA.:Disgus:

[Craftsmanlover24]

Just my $.02 I always heard of running staight antifreeze in Honda mowers

[Bolensbill]

:smilie_fl OOH! sounds like a touchy subject. Just to add my 2 cents to the mix. Most antifreeze manufacturers recommend mixing their product with water ----because---antifreeze has chemicals in it to protect againt rust and corrosion and require water to active that inhibitor package. Peak antifreeze states if you mix 50/50 your're safe to -34, 60/40 safe to -62 and 70/30 safe to -84. No one seems to recommend more than 70% antifreeze as they claim it will deter the effectiveness of the inhibitor package. Now we go on to diesel engines. Not only do you have to worry about the freeze protection, you must also worry about the SCA or supplementary coolant additive levels! The primary function of sca is to stop cavitation erosion (pitting) of the engines cylinder walls in the water jacket. Every time a diesel fires small bubbles form on the cylinder walls then they "pop" taking a small portion of the wall with them. Eventually this will cause a leak, hard to believe but true. Therefore a product called DCA4 is used which coats the interior of the engine and when this "pop" occurs it removes this coating instead of a portion of the cylinder wall.This product is added to the cooling system. 1.5 to 3.0 UPG (units per gallion) is recommended for safe operation. Many engine companys recommend this i.e. ford, cummins, navistar and deere to name a few.We bought ours from a navistar dealer as we had international trucks in our fleet w/cummins engines. We got the test kits from them also. These levels should be checked every 4 months. This would apply to any diesel engine.If interested ask your dealers about this ,they surely can fill you in with more details. Hope this has been informative and helpful.

my best,
retired SR. diesel mechanic
Catt. Co. NY D.P.W.

[rogerb]

The very best mix is 50/50 using distilled water. I would recommend the 150,000 mile stuff as it is pretty pure with no harmful ingredients like silicates,etc. At that mix it does the best cooling as water is a better conductor of heat. I might add that for years I have used Prestone's product called "antifreeze/cooling system treatment".
The reason I use that is because, at one time, I owned a Chrysler with a Mitsubishi 3.0 v-6 and it was hard on water pumps, not to mention very expensive to fix ($215.00 for just the pump). The pump seal would fail prematurely. I found that the Prestone product stopped that problem in it's tracks and pump problems no more. It really works! And my antifreeze mix has never changed colors, ever, nor should it.
I have done it to all my "fleet" and it is cheap insurance.

[larryccf]

i've seen cars go 10+ years and antifreeze still fine, no rust or color change and still showing same freeze protection

on these hondas, the radiators are so oversized plus they're brass with copper cores, makes them better heat exchangers than aluminum - so even running 100% antifreeze, i doubt it'll overheat - just cut my front yard in 94F heat last week - had to climb off the tractor about 4 times and for whatever reason figured while i was down i'd clean the radiator screen - all 4 times it was fully covered and the coolant temp alarm had not gone off (and it's working)
that tells me the frigging tanks (bottom & top) on the radiator are doing most of the cooling

one warning - do not mix the newer pink antifreezes into a system that has been running the older green colored antifreezes - have seen two cases now of systems clogging up with some sort of solidified white calcium that was like cement and even filled the smaller 5/8ths" heater hoses solid with the white calcium cement (don't know if it was calcium, but it was hard as cement and refused to be chiseled out) - same material had formed in the cylinder head and engine block passages

[rogerb]

It would be interesting to do an experiment on antifreeze mixes. To my knowledge straight antifreeze can gel above freezing. Heat transfer is not as good with straight as compared to 50/50. Water is even more efficient at heat transfer compared to 50/50 but can start corrosion but antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors to keep water from damaging aluminum such as cylinders and heads.
I am not sure why antifreeze companies put silicates and phosphates,etc in their mixes because silicates get lodged in pump seals and begin destroying them. And I agree with larryccf to not mix the two types. AND beware the newer 150,000 mile antifreezes come in greens too!

[rogerb]

Come to think of it I can measure the liquid capacity of the head and cylinders to see if the tanks do the cooling. Just thinking; the head and cyl can act as their own heatsink cooled by air too, hmmm.
In the next several days I will measure those and see. I bet Honda did indeed oversize the radiator as larryccf said.