Antifreeze and your car

[Allmyjunk]

So i learned a valuable lesson, and am about to see if jb weld will hold.  If you are going to run stright water in the summer drain the block too not just the raidaitor.  

[Flatie46]

Yep and the heater core. I've run straight water at times when working thru problems or testing but I hated to leave it in or use it very long because antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors and helps fight rust. We know what happens with straight water and metal. Also I was afraid I would forget about it. I wish ya luck with your repair. Now I must ask, do you have a certification in the JB Welding Process? 

[Plymouthy Adams]

repairing with JB Weld is a smear campaign 

[Robert Horne]

I ran rain water through, and drained several times during the summer.

Before cold weather, I flushed one more time, and added all antifreeze, no water.

The all antifreeze has been in about 4 years now.    I will drain it this year, and

see the condition of rust or not....

[Vin's 49 Plymouth]

Good Idea,

This is one reason why I chose Evans Coolant.

The perfect time to switch is during a restoration.

[RobertKB]

1 hour ago, Robert Horne said:

I ran rain water through, and drained several times during the summer.

Before cold weather, I flushed one more time, and added all antifreeze, no water.

The all antifreeze has been in about 4 years now.    I will drain it this year, and

see the condition of rust or not....

 

A lot of people do not realize that straight antifreeze will freeze long before antifreeze mixed with water. Straight antifreeze is a no-no in cold winter climates. https://superbeefy.com/why-does-straight-antifreeze-freeze-at-a-higher-temperature-than-50-mix-with-water/

[martybose]

1 hour ago, Vin's 49 Plymouth said:

Good Idea,

This is one reason why I chose Evans Coolant.

The perfect time to switch is during a restoration.

I hope you have better luck with it than I did.  While it solved my boiling problem, I was never able to stop it from leaking from an amazing number of places.  Head studs (resealed several times to no effect), Intake bolts, radiator hoses, thermostat housing.  I gave up trying to fix them, and drove for several years just topping it off occasionally.  The guy that bought my car changed the radiator, flushed out the block and changed to conventional antifreeze; problem solved.

 

Marty

[Flatie46]

51 minutes ago, RobertKB said:

 

A lot of people do not realize that straight antifreeze will freeze long before antifreeze mixed with water. Straight antifreeze is a no-no in cold winter climates. https://superbeefy.com/why-does-straight-antifreeze-freeze-at-a-higher-temperature-than-50-mix-with-water/

I had always heard this. A guy I work with said unfortunately he knew from experience it is true. 

[Rickricca]

I tried Evans in my 1961 Mercedes.

Pooped a freeze plug right out of the block after years of never having any kind of problems with 50/50 antifreeze and water.

end of experiment

 

I still have a gallon if anybody wants it (free)

[busycoupe]

A 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water cools better than pure antifreeze.  Water has a higher heat capacity than antifreeze.

[Allmyjunk]

Yeah i hate that it happend and i knew better, its not that big of deal, last year i bought another engne and it runs really good no knocks or smoke when running in the floor of the shop im just kinda lazy and dont feel like putting it in.  The engne in the car has a slight rod knock.  But is way quieter when i replaced the harmonic balancer from the replacement engne.  Im willing to throw 20 bucks worth of j.b. weld at it to see if it works.  

[DJ194950]

8 hours ago, Rickricca said:

I tried Evans in my 1961 Mercedes.

Pooped a freeze plug right out of the block after years of never having any kind of problems with 50/50 antifreeze and water.

end of experiment

 

I still have a gallon if anybody wants it (free)

The new owner of Mary's 47 has a gallon at least  for free also. Shipping only cost. ($45.00 value) 

 Almost enough for the change with both over-minus their recommended flush solution!

Anyone e;else what to what to donate?

 

DJ

[keithb7]

Anti-Freeze. Ah yes. Such a small, yet very important part of our cars. It should be in your cooling system yes, however not ignored. Anti-freeze also degrades over time and should not be ignored. A good flush and re-fill should be part of your car's maintenance schedule. Scale, corrosion and rust are often major contributors to overheating problems. Not just old cars either.  Even new cars are susceptible, if you own one long enough.

 

This winter a friend's son was complaining that his late-90's car had little to no interior heat. It would take very long to even slightly warm up. Barely enough to get the ice off the windshield. I was visiting at the time and said, lets go outside and take a look. Under the hood I found the heater control valve. He worked the controls and I watched it move. It was working. His blower fan was working too. So next I said lets pop the rad cap and take a look. I found the brownest crappy thick sludge in there. He had no idea. He had never looked in there. I suggested he drain it and flush it several times with water. Then finally end with new proper 50-50 mixed coolant. Like most kids today, he took it to a garage and $400 for a shop to do it. I shook my head....

He works for near minimum wage. Then pays top dollar for a mechanic at his car's dealership to do something he could have easily done himself. Maybe it's just me. I just don't get it. But he's happy. He has heat now!

Edited March 24, 2018 by keithb7

[Plymouthy Adams]

flushing of the cooling system is not an annual event like in the past do  to the very poor properties of the early anti-freeze solution.  In the early times the evaporation process left you with less than adequate protection and non sealed system made this process inevitable.   Today's antifreeze is miles ahead of the game in lube, corrosion and freeze protection.  

[busycoupe]

The trouble with flushing the system yourself is what do you do with the stuff you flush out?   Back in the day I worked at a local gas station.  We used to let it flow across the  side lot to the street drain.  It was probably not the best thing to do, but it was SOP at the time.  Now you can’t put hazardous waste into a street drain, and if left to puddle on the surface you could poison local pets and other animals.

The last time I drained the radiator in my Dodge I carefully collected the old coolant and flushed it down the toilet.  The local sewer treatment plant probably didn’t appreciate it, but it seemed like the best available alternative.  How do you dispose of old coolant?

[Plymouthy Adams]

when draining concentrate, most will put in a an old container and carry to local big box store.....they usually have antifreeze and oil recycling...any residue during flushing will likely be so diluted with water so as to be next to irrelevant...many online articles to guide you if you take the time to read.  

[Jerry Roberts]

In the city that I live in there is a Hazardous Waste Collection site . No charge to the guy who brings the fluids in . Check your phone book . 

[busycoupe]

Not as easy in Massachusetts. There is a hazardous waste recycler about 20 mi from me who will accept it for a fee, $0.55 per pound.  Perhaps I will look into that.   I can dispose of used motor oil at the local DPW, batteries at the county recycling center, but some things like antifreeze and brake fluid are more challenging.  

[Plymouthy Adams]

it is a shame the big push on the environment and the need to recycle whereas it should be a law for every county in every state to offer/provide a drop off point for these wastes streams....the burden is dropped on the user and not the distributors...

[Young Ed]

38 minutes ago, busycoupe said:

Not as easy in Massachusetts. There is a hazardous waste recycler about 20 mi from me who will accept it for a fee, $0.55 per pound.  Perhaps I will look into that.   I can dispose of used motor oil at the local DPW, batteries at the county recycling center, but some things like antifreeze and brake fluid are more challenging.  

Put the brake fluid in with the used motor oil

[keithb7]

Up here in on the West Coast of Canada we pay environmental levies on oils, antifreeze, batteries, even some electronics like TV's, computers etc.

It is a small tax fee that the Govt collects to run recycling programs. I think about $1.00 on a gallon of oil for example. $10 on a new car battery for example. Then there are multiple places in each town where these items can be taken for recycling. Places like the drive through Jiffy Lube stations are also told they must take back old oil and antifreeze for example. Even if you buy their oils or not. I believe somehow they are paid per L by the Govt to take it in and deal with it. Its easy around here to deal with old waste fluids.  I drain my rads into a couple of 1 gallon milk jugs and turn them in. It works well here. Not everyone has this service I understand. It can vary across each Province I suspect. Each State too no doubt.

Edited March 24, 2018 by keithb7

[Plymouthy Adams]

many lube facilities collect your oil for free and it is picked up by recyclers in bulk for pennies on the dollar but a genuine revenue to the collector for recycle.  Yes we all pay fees hidden into the cost of hazmat waste stream items only to suffer from a attitude by the government that you are still stuck with it, responsible for it 100%, may have to pay high fee to dispose of the item on top of the already paid fee on purchase.  Earth911 can help to some degree with drop off points.  The EPA has mandated that x companies selling/distributing x volume must provide a return avenue to the user.   However, antifreeze collection is seldom available to the end use the DIY guy,.  Even when you use the Earth911 site and you get a WOW no listing SORRY ABOUT THAT it does not give one a warm fuzzy feeling.  Most crude oils can be mixed and Walmart and the big box stores is a good place to drop off.  The limit is often 5 gallon a day per person.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Washer Fluid is a hazardous waste product too...

[Flatie46]

2 minutes ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

Washer Fluid is a hazardous waste product too...

But what happens to it after it cleans your windshield?  

[desoto1939]

Another point toremmebr about anti-freeze is that it contains anti-rusting agents and this is what breaks down with time. Inthe example where there was brown water inthe system I bet if they had tested the AF it still would have provided enough protection against freezing but the anti rust agents had broken down and this is what was the brown color. every year I pour a pint bottle of water pump lube and ati rust agents into my 39 desoto's radiator especially since we have a cast engine block. This helps to keep the rusting agents upto a good level and I also check the degree of protection of the AF.  Every 4-5 years I flushout the old AF and put inthe GREEN AF not the Extended crap. I spoke to a Prestone rep and he stated to just use th eold original green product for our old cars even the 50/50 mix is good.  But watch the color of the AF in the rad system and if getting brownish in color then you need to flush and flush it real good.

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com