coolant change method question

[TOMCAT85]

I have purchased the coolant in a concentrate form, and want to put it into my radiator but dont want to do a full flush or anything that complicated, can i just pull the hose off the bottom of the radiator and let it all drain out, reconnect the hose and top it up? or would this be just wasting my time and just top it up from whats in it at the moment, which i believe is just a cheap coolant.

 

[slowandlow]

if you just are going to drop the bottom hose then refill the radiator without flush any further i guess just add a 50% mix of your concentrate with water to the radiator and bleed the air out with the bleed screw under the engine cover. you will only get about 4 litres out dropping the bottom hose, so only mix 2 litres of your concentrate with 2 litres of water and you should be able to save the rest of your concentrate unmixed for next time (enough to do the job again). check the cleanliness of the coolant you dump from the radiator hose too. it can give you some idea of the condition of your cooling system sometimes

 

[TOMCAT85]

The bottle of coolant concentrate i got is 1ltr, and says it makes 15ltr of coolant.

 

[slowandlow]

i think if it made 15 litres it would be a pretty weak mix. ideally you would have a coolant at a 50/50 ratio of coolant and water for commodores. meaning you might need another litre of coolant. it should tell you on the bottle what amount of water to add to get a certain ration. unless its a "super" concerntrate (i dont recall seeing one before) you have i would be thinking a 50/50 mix is about right. what brand of coolant is it?

 

[TOMCAT85]

Its tectaloy gold extra cool, this is a picture i took https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...56019091.14936.100002375402446&type=1&theater

 

[slowandlow]

there are some pdf files on the tectalloy website. if you can maybee have a read through them, the rest of the site doesnt really do much explaining. the bottle doesnt really say much about it either. normally if using a concentrate the mix is about 50/50 water to coolant though. i think it would be worthwhile for you to look into it more on the tectalloy website anyway. you dont want to buy more coolant if you dont need it

 

[Brett_jjj]

you dont want to buy more coolant if you dont need it

I always buy a bit more than I need, I like to have a bit of extra coolant/water mix left over when I change the coolant,(its not good to mix coolant brands) so I put spare coolant/water mix in an empty 5lt coolant bottle, keep it in the boot for coolant top ups, which, I have to say, is pretty rare really, maybe once or twice over the summertime the VS might need a litre or so, the VYV6 hasnt used any coolant at all over the wintertime, I'll see how she goes in 40 degree heat this summer..

 

[slowandlow]

I always buy a bit more than I need, I like to have a bit of extra coolant/water mix left over when I change the coolant,(its not good to mix coolant brands) so I put spare coolant/water mix in an empty 5lt coolant bottle, keep it in the boot for coolant top ups, which, I have to say, is pretty rare really, maybe once or twice over the summertime the VS might need a litre or so, the VYV6 hasnt used any coolant at all over the wintertime, I'll see how she goes in 40 degree heat this summer..

me too. always better to have too much than not enough. and always using the same brand seems like a good idea if possible too. if unsure whats in the car already thats another good reason to flush the system as much as possible

 

[wortus]

When I replace my coolant I generally drain the system cold by removing the bottom radiator hose and heater hoses from the front of the engine then fill it with tap water and drain it again. If you drain it from the bottom radiator hose and blow the coolant out of the heater core then remove the top hose from the radiator and blow into that until no more water comes out you should remove around 6 litres of the total volume and get the full 6 litres of concentrate in. I did a coolant change on a friends VT V6 last weekend this way and we got the full 6 litres of coolant in then just topped up the radiator and recovery bottle with water which soon turned green. Don't forget to bleed out the air. When we did my mates we got a Coke bottle, cut off the bottom and put the lid end into the top of the radiator first wrapping it with enough electrical tape so it pushed in and sealed. We then filled this with the coolant to get a head and undid the bleed valve until no more air came out. If you want to pre mix it you need to get all of the water out first which means you need to remove the knock sensors.

If I have any coolant left over I generally don't mix it 50/50 as I think it has a longer shelf life if left un diluted but I may be wrong? I just keep a bit in the 1 litre bottle and a larger container of water when I travel.

 

[Androo]

Last time I did my coolant I bled the system like this:
- remove bleed screw
- jack front right side of car so that radiator cap is above bleed screw
- pour neat coolant to make 6L total into radiator
- note this takes some time as air needs to bleed out throw narrow bleed
screw opening
- stop if coolant comes out bleed screw
- if room, pour demin water into radiator
- tighten bleed screw