What Coolant To Use

[Toxic Beast]

Hi guys,

I've flushed out my coolant system due to a patching of a hole on my radiator..

and I obviously need to fill up my 9L coolant tank of new coolant now

I believe it's 9 Litres.

my cars only done 23,000 km bf mk2 xr6 turbo..

is there specific coolant I need to use or can I use any aftermarket ones from the service station?

I rung ford and they said its going to cost $80 for the 9Ltrs for the one they use.

So I'm seeing if its possible to use a cheaper alternative AS I know nothing about coolant, and the spare parts guy was only telling me the downsides to using anything other than what Ford would use.

thanks for any help!

[senna_T]

Pretty sure you can use any type of coolant, I think the golden rule is to not mix different types of coolant though. The last time I bought some coolant it was around 40-odd dollars for a 4or5 litre bottle anyway, so the Ford stuff isn't that expensive.

[Tree Monkey]

you cant go past the nulon stuff. The green one has a 4 year warranty http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?produ...ntrated_Coolant and the red/pink http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?produ...ntrated_Coolant has a 5 year(I use this) and aprox $40 for 5 lt

Edited 29/09/08 08:04 AM by Tree Monkey

[Azzman460]

yeah senna is once again correct (man he's good at this game!) haha, but whatever you do don't mix coolants! if you mix 2 coolants they MAY react with each other and turn into glycol jelly in your cooling system!

[benjam]

If you end up getting concentrated coolant you can mix it up with distilled/demineralised water, which you can get from Kmart. Sometimes labled as battery water. Do not used tap water as the mineral content will end up making the mix more susceptable to heat. I got a 20ltr container of Nulon red for $100 on special from AutoOne, which makes 60lts :-) And yeah don't mix red/green, worth flushing the system with radiator flush and clean tap water, then draining before filling as well. When filling/flushing turn the heater temp to max so the fluid goes through all the system.

Ben

Edited 29/09/08 08:55 AM by benjam

[Toxic Beast]

If you end up getting concentrated coolant you can mix it up with distilled/demineralised water, which you can get from Kmart. Sometimes labled as battery water. Do not used tap water as the mineral content will end up making the mix more susceptable to heat. I got a 20ltr container of Nulon red for $100 on special from AutoOne, which makes 60lts :-) And yeah don't mix red/green, worth flushing the system with radiator flush and clean tap water, then draining before filling as well. When filling/flushing turn the heater temp to max so the fluid goes through all the system.

Ben

thanks very much guys for all the advice so far.

ok, so I would first get the radiator/ coolant cleaner and fill it in the system and turn the car on

turn on for a few minutes and crank the heating so it goes through the system..?

then drain it all out?

then put in the new coolant.

I had called up auto barn, and they recommended me Nulon ultra cool, $11 for 5 litres.

I WAS LIKE WOW. that's cheap.. how come the ones everyone else uses is like $40 +

I believe its this one http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?productName=Ultra_Cool

after I drained the standard coolant the other day, theres still tiny bits left in the tank where its not high enough to flow down the hoses.. should I just get a rag and soak it up?

[Tree Monkey]

no it is not that critical. Just dump the old and flush with tap water run for 10m min then dump that lot, then fill with coolant and top up with distilled water. Depending what area you are in just run at 33% coolant to 67%water in cooler areas and 50/50 in qld and hotter areas.

I had called up auto barn, and they recommended me Nulon ultra cool, $11 for 5 litres. I think you will find that they ment it will treat 5 liters of water so you will need 2 or 3 of them.

Edited 29/09/08 10:44 AM by Tree Monkey

[INFLYT]

I just went with the Motorcraft stuff from the local Ford dealer.

[Toxic Beast]

I just went with the Motorcraft stuff from the local Ford dealer.

Yeh I was going to go with OEM coolant but I went with nulon stuff.

I just had completely NO idea on coolant as I've never learnt about the stuff or dealt with it so I freaked out ..

but after all the help from you guys, im fairly confident in changing it now so thanks!

its pretty much like cordial, just add water and its set

[XRSCAR]

Thanks guys, this just helped me out 2 :D

Changing coolant today as its been going through water like no tomorrow (but haven't noticed a leak yet) :(