recommended coolant

[rd070707]

So after my mechanic finally got my car bled properly and not eating cap seals, it only has water in it atm and we've had a few cold mornings recently so I want anti freeze in ASAP.

Any recommendations which to use?

and how do I go about draining out some of the water and putting the coolant in and making sure its still bled?

[cully]

long life expensive pink stuff in mine

work out how much the system holds and work out the concentration you need and drain the required amount or more and top with antifreeze then bleed the system again

[Toms306]

Or get ready mixed to save some hassle lol. I used the Halfords ready mixed pink stuff in my 306's, bought with the trade card though.

You will need to bleed it again after as cully says.

[rd070707]

But that's what I mean, how do I bleed it? top it up while running and open the bleed points? or top it up while not running and blow through the overflow?

[cully]

coke bottle in the header tank topped up with coolant the open the bleed point in turn with the engine hot

[Dum-Dum]

Its nearly 10l the 306 holds.

To keep it bled id use the coke bottle method adding in pure coolant and with the engine running and warm open up the matrix bleed screw. It'll piss water out of there and once you've put in almost the full 5l bottle of coolant shut the screw off.

I always do my cars like that, fill it with water (so you can check for leaks without the expense of loosing coolant) then bleed it out with coolant and you end up with a reasonable 50/50mix.

Personally I use the halfords advanced coolant.

[rd070707]

So I only need to open the matrix screw dum? or the one on the thermo housing too?

and so the coolant brand doesn't matter as long as its pink?

[Dum-Dum]

You only need to bleed out of one screw to keep pressure in there, I might move to a different one if coolant starts coming out rather than water.

Coolants you do need to use the same colour as whats already in there.

[rd070707]

So by just using the heater matrix screw won't cause any issues?

[Dum-Dum]

As long as there is pressure behind it (coke bottle method and engine running) to keep water coming out and stop air getting in then yes itll be fine.

[rd070707]

Thanks for the help mate

[Connor]

What coooant I use depends on what I can get from work but dont mix blue and pink together

[rd070707]

Guys how do you seal the coke bottle on the header tank? when I filled the coke bottle it just started coming out the overflow

[rd070707]

Nevermind got it to seal with some insulation tape. Dammn its hard to get the bleed screw back on with the hot coolant streaming out!! lol. I noticed I started getting some light pink stuff bleeding out to so I've probs lost some of my coolant....will it matter much?

[Poodle]

Not really, will be diluted enough that it's not actually lost much coolant.

[rd070707]

Just to bump this I done this a few weeks ago and all seems fine with temperature pressure etc, but when I look at the coolant it's a manky brown colour again and still has that oily feel to it?

Should I be worried?

[silverzx]

I wouldn't worry too much about brand as long as its not supermarket "budget" crap.

And I always use pink.

[rd070707]

Yeah I used the pink, but what I'm saying is after a week or two it's definately not pink lol. Looks brown and has an oily texture. I'm beginning to suspect oil cooler?

[silverzx]

Yeah I used the pink, but what I'm saying is after a week or two it's definately not pink lol. Looks brown and has an oily texture. I'm beginning to suspect oil cooler?

Mmm, sounds fishy, brown, mayo, oily points toward head gasket..

[rd070707]

Well no mayo and no pressure, temp is always fine, heaters fine. But I just suspect a slight leak from the oil cooler as I've seen a few cases online of just that

[silverzx]

Well no mayo and no pressure, temp is always fine, heaters fine. But I just suspect a slight leak from the oil cooler as I've seen a few cases online of just that

Quite a possiblity..

Have a good inspection and see what you can find.

If its driving fine I wouldn't be too worried..

[Poodle]

Did you flush the system properly before refilling? If not, its probably just some rust and old mank causing the colour, coolant is greasy to the touch anyway. Photos might help.

[rd070707]

Okay cheers dude, yeah it was flushed a few times but don't know what he used to flush it. I think il not worry too much unless it's thick and black lol

[Poodle]

Ok cool. Any oil *should* float to the top and be fairly obvious, shouldn't worry unless it gets worse tbh.

[JJtheHITMAN]

Iv always removed the return pipe off the expansion tank and when warm let it drain into a bucket with engine running whilst keeping the tank topped up with your appropriate mixture being careful not to let it run dry thus avoiding adding air to the system while flushing and replacing with fresh. i just use red, not really too fussed what type, can always test the strength with a antifreeze tester if not sure if its strong enough-or to stong

[mcglynn]

mine looks brown too, i think its the black header tank (looks like rust colour) but when i bled the matrix, i had a torch on the coolant and it was a fresh pink colour coming out of there, so i think its just its reaction with the black of the header tank behind it.

[Pgtips]

mine looks brown too, i think its the black header tank (looks like rust colour) but when i bled the matrix, i had a torch on the coolant and it was a fresh pink colour coming out of there, so i think its just its reaction with the black of the header tank behind it.

It's an optical illusion created by the black plastic expansion bottle which makes it look like a brown rusty colour! Mine looked the same after using the pink coolant so sucked some out using a turkey baster & was still bright pink  so decided to put some in a black spray can top to compare & it looked like a rusty brown colour just like it does in the expansion bottle !

[Ruan]

It always looks manky and brown unfortunately, not to mention these engines are iron block, so do tend to make the coolant go brown quickly anyway! Nothing much you can do about that, coolant does have a slimy slippery texture to it.

If it's got oil in it, there will be globs of it floating on the surface darker than the coolant below, if not don't worry!

[Eeyore]

holy thread revival..

[Ruan]

I hadn't even seen the start date!

My word!