Anti-Freeze or Coolant ?

allthedoyles

Its a Peugeot 206 1.4 Look -2003

We know the car has only water in its radiator at the moment.

Saw a can of 500ml anti-freeze concentrate today for €7 . - It says on the tin to mix 35 % for -20 degrees .

Which of these do we do:

• empty water and mix contentrate and re-fill rad
• just top up rad with this can of anti-freeze
• Buy coolant and completely fill rad with it .

Is there a difference between coolant and anti-freeze ?

Plug

Anti-freeze + water = coolant.

So you mix it 50/50.
So eg. 1 litre of water + 1 litre of anti freeze = 2 litres of coolant.

Anti freeze and coolant are the same thing, adding water to anti freeze does not make coolant.

allthedoyles

If we buy a € 7 can of anti-freeze concentrate and top-up , will it circulate ok ?

VinnyTGM

Get a proper coolant and dilute it per the instructions on the bottle. I wouldn't be putting in this can stuff.

Yep, just make sure it is anti freeze and not some sh1t for the windscreen washer reservoir, also don't overfill the expansion tank, only bring it up to the max. I would imagine your coolant system would be between 4 and 6l capacity so just be sure not to add too little coolant. You may well have to disconnect a hose to drain out some water to allow room for the coolant you are adding. 500mls won't be enough, what car is it for ??

Just re read the OP, it's a 206, one sec ...........

slimjimmc

You should drain completely and refill with the diluted concentrate. It would be extremely difficult to achieve the correct anti-freeze:water ratio by simply topping up the existing coolant with fresh concentrate. Not only that but you'd have to drain enough old fluid to ensure the new coolant is circulated (topping up the expansion tank won't do this).
Drain, quick flush with a hosepipe, mix fluid, refill.

allthedoyles

Thanks lads ,
Is the expansion tank , the plastic refill bottle and roughly how many litres does the average car radiator hold ?

Can't find the coolant capacity for a 1.4 206 on the net, if you want a quick stop gap measure drain off a litre of water and throw in a litre of coolant, be carefull to bleed it of any air afterwards.

allthedoyles

Am actually trying to avoid giving a mechanic € 50 for this and think that we can do it ourselves .

This is what we intend to do:

1. drain radiator
2. flush with hose
3. mix 35% antifreeze with 65% water
4. re-fill radiator
5. bleed using small cap beside engine

Yeah, not bad idea, however the rad is not the entire coolant system, there is also another loop (smaller) seperated from the rad loop by the thermostat, which will be closed when you are doing this as you'll be doing it on a cool system. You'll find a guide on a Peugeot forum if you spend a while googling

101sean

There's also different types of coolant, IAT and OAT and the two don't mix.
IAT is your traditional Ethylene Glycol, usually blue or green and cheap. OAT is the modern longlife stuff, more expensive and usually red but can appear green when diliuted

Most manufacturers recommend OAT but only as it's less maintenance (lasts five years rather than two). It's also not as toxic, don't let your dog lick up spilt blue antifreeze, it will kill it. Ethylene Glycol is actually banned in several countries an Propylene Glycol is used instead

Good article here - http://www.fbhvc.co.uk/2010/01/27/antifreeze/