Antifreeze

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Soldato
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Hi guys,

Totally clueless about cars mechanically... How easy is it to add antifreeze myself and how much would it cost to get a mechanic to do it ?


Car is an Mk3 01 Mondeo.

Cheers.
 
Very easy to do.

Not sure where the drain plug is on the mondeo rad, but you can do it two ways.

1. Bodge, drain out a few litres of water, then add the anti freeze to the expansion tank and let the engine mix them together as it runs.

2. Correct, drain the whole system, maybe flush it out with a hosepipe, then add your antifreeze/water mix to the system and bleed the air out.

Mechanic will either as a tenner because it's a simple job or change you an hours labour depending on how bored they are.
 
does engine coolant in the radiator not already have antifreeze in it if you buy the pre mixed stuff ?

Well, yes, but premixed is ridiculously expensive compared to what you get as concentrate.

Also, if you are preparing to go somewhere extremely cold (such as me to the Alps in January), you want a mix of higher concentration compared to the pre-mixed stuff we get in the likes of Halford's.
 
iirc, it's bad to mix certain types of coolant and they can form a sludge..

not sure if this is right or not, I read it somewhere online
 
iirc, it's bad to mix certain types of coolant and they can form a sludge..

not sure if this is right or not, I read it somewhere online

youre right. you can cause loads of hassle of you mix the wrong ones

iirc (and i have limited experience with fords) they like using their own orange anti freeze

@ OP. how willing are you to roll your sleeves up?
 
I think we first need to ask the op why he wants to do this. You shouldn't need to add anti freeze to a Mondeo with long life coolant in, it already has some..
 
Basically in short the are two (main) types of antifreeze, the IAT (inorganic) and OAT (organic) types, IAT is usually recommended for cars made before 1997 and OAT for cars after but check the cars manual, i.e my car is the 97-01 model but uses the same engine/coolant system as the 91-96 model so I need IAT not OAT.

The colour doesn't mean anything (except perhaps don't drink this retard) its just added by the maker of the antifreeze and the is no standard (though most use different colours for their OAT/IAT products), you can get red/blue/green/yellow/etc and the type it is changes for each manufacturer.

Don't mix OAT and IAT antifreeze.
 
Empty the lot
and start fresh, Antifreeze goes off over time (even long life stuff).

If you dont want to do it get it done by a pro.
 
If you are not confident, get it done by someone.

the proper way to flush the coolant out requires a longish process of

jack car up from front (this will help with air not getting stuck in engine block)

1. draining radiator
2. filling with just water (dis-stilled water)
3. run car until radiator fan spins 2 times (until it is warm and the coolant has circulated from the block back to the radiator) LET THE CAR COOL DOWN BEFORE PROCEEDING
4. drain the radiator again.
5. now fill with a concentrate of anti-freeze/coolant
6. you need to now bleed the air out, the way to do this is to have radiator cap and expansion bottle cap off, start car and let the air escape, as you see the coolant go down in the radiator, top up with anti-freeze/coolant.

bleeding will take about 5 minutes, maybe longer, just make sure no air is left.

there are other ways (longer process) but this seems to do the trick for me
 
If he's not long had the car, it may be a pre-winter precaution in case a previous owner has used a mainly water solution in the past.
 
[TW]Fox;17799598 said:
I think we first need to ask the op why he wants to do this. You shouldn't need to add anti freeze to a Mondeo with long life coolant in, it already has some..

Long life doesn't mean infinite life though.
 
Replace the coolant when it needs replacing according to the service schedule

If you're not sure about the concentration thats in it (service hisory should show when it was last done), it can be tested.

If you're not sure when it was last done, replace it
 
there are other ways (longer process)

Heres one..... :D

The Swedish method.....

As per a Scania workshop .pdf

Internal cleaning of cooling system.

Removing oil and grease

- If possible, run the engine until it has reached
operating temperature and then drain the
cooling system.

- Remove the thermostat(s).

- Fill the system with clean, hot water mixed
with liquid dishwasher detergent intended for
household machines.

Concentration 1% (0.1/10 l).

- Run the engine for approximately 20-30 minutes until it has reached operating temperature. Do not forget the cab heating
system (if fitted).

- Drain the cooling system.

- Fill the system again using clean, hot water and run the engine for about 20-30 minutes.

- Drain the water from the system.

- Reinstall the thermostat(s).

- Fill the system with coolant.

Note: The cooling system must never be
cleaned with caustic soda. There is
a risk of damage to aluminium parts.

Removing deposits.

- If possible, run the engine until it has reached operating temperature and then drain the cooling system.

- Remove the thermostat(s).

- Fill the system with clean, hot water mixed with some of the radiator cleaning agent available on the market which is based on sulphamic acid and contains dispersing agents.

- Follow the manufacturer's instructions for the concentration and cleaning period.

- Run the engine for the specified time and then drain the cooling system.

- Refill the system with hot water and run the engine for about 20-30 minutes.

- Drain the water from the system.

- Reinstall the thermostat(s).

- Fill the system with coolant.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...3dtbtl&sig=AHIEtbS5LHLmnDV1YAjgESzAJx73eqVIjQ
 
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