Help which antifreeze do i use?

Post by **paul72** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:14 pm

Ok as a few of you may know i have a fto an have recently fitted a aluiminuim radiator but have seen on a few places you cant use normal antifreeze with aluiminuim rads an i have been to a few different places including useless halfords an they not got a clue so for the moment im just using distilled water so any clues people

'92 Si VTEC · Post by **jjmartin349571** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:16 pm

I wouldn't run it on pure water mate, sounds like a recipe for disaster

I can't say I've heard of problems with alu rads but then again I've never really looked in to it... My uneducated guess would be use whatever the recommended Mitsi stuff is. Somebody may well know better than me though!

Post by **paul72** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:20 pm

Yeah ive asked every motor factors you can think of but they just not got a clue but i know distilled water has to be used , just need to find someone else thats running one of these rads

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:21 pm

Phosphate inhibited antifreeze is a good choice for aluminium engines..... Cats love it too, wait, what?

Post by **paul72** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:36 pm

So which one is that an where from , cats eat anything

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:00 pm

Tbh most European antifreeze brands are phosphate free due to the water we have if your using distilled water its fine otherwise it can react with our tap water causing deposits to form in the coolant solution. You'd need to have a dig about for it, but as u know mix it with distilled water. Hope that is some help.

Post by **Donald** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:14 pm

Ethylene/propylene glycol will corrode aluminium in a very basic sense.

But I imagine that the conditions in the rad will not be hot enough and I would be shocked in antifreeze didnt contain corrosion inhibitors when you consider the amount of ali rads out there.

I suppose try it and if you see white precipitate get ready for a new rad

Post by **Donald** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:18 pm

Greg wrote:Phosphate inhibited antifreeze is a good choice for aluminium engines..... Cats love it too, wait, what?

It's the glycol content that cats like

Post by **Thebusofwoe** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:35 pm

Just get a antifreeze that is good to use with an all alloy engine, will be good for cast iron too.

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:05 pm

They used to love it round here, but they all seemed to stop coming round now, ah well you know what they say cats will choose their owners they've probably found someone else to offer them their delicious antifreeze...