Too much antifreeze to water?

[OM605]

My car's cooling system is supposed to hold 7.5L. When i got the car i bought a 5L jug of concentrate and drained and refilled the system with a 50/50 mix. Two months ago i had to replace the water pump and refilled with the previously drained coolant and had to top the level up and can't remember the mix ratio that went in. One thing is sure, the 5L jug is empty so i might be running 33/66 or something along those lines. I really can't remember. What would you do? guess, drain some et add water? flush everything and start fresh to run a correct 50/50 mix?

 

[Propflux01]

Leave it and press on with pride. It's not hat far off the extremes. When or if it needs a top-up, add water.

 

[Vitamin Yoda]

i might be running 33/66 or something along those lines

You're fine, even at 30/70 you'd be fine. Having more water in there only helps for extremely high temperature where you need to move a lot of heat fast, and then you'd use a water surfactant anyway.

 

[doitmyself]

I would purchase a coolant refractometer and have an excellent tool to last the rest of your life. It will remove any mystery. I had some ag. equipment that was WAY off in coolant ratio because the manual was not accurate.

Amazon.com

 

[atikovi]

I would purchase a coolant refractometer and have an excellent tool to last the rest of your life. It will remove any mystery. I had some ag. equipment that was WAY off in coolant ratio because the manual was not accurate.

Amazon.com

^This. Why play a guessing game when it's pretty easy to determine the concentration of coolant.

 

[Cujet]

I've run 100% antifreeze with great results. Sure, the heat transfer is lower than water. However, if one needs to run unpressurized, that's a good option. In fact, the Evans coolant guy runs straight anhydrous Polypropylene glycol (really just an alternative to Ethylene glycol). It takes a slightly larger radiator in some applications.

EVANS HIGH PERFORMANCE WATERLESS COOLANT

For high performance, light to heavy duty diesel, off-road, overland, CNG, and LP engines Evans High Performance waterless coolant is designed for all gasoline and light duty diesel engines. Evans coolant eliminates many problems associated with water in conventional water-based cooling...

evanscoolant.com

 

[Snagglefoot]

Depending on your lowest temperature expected go by this simple plot of freezing temp vs concentration. Here is a snap of a page out of a training course. ( applicable to ethylene glycol which is the most common anti-freeze out there). Enjoy.

 

[TomYoung]

With all due respect to the BITOGERs here, you're not getting good advice. The refractometer makes some sense and the graph showing the freeze point of the fluid as antifreeze proportion increases add some knowledge points. You acknowledged that you have some squishiness in what went in at what time. Your cars are durable, but certainly best having the correct fluid. You had the answer correct. Drain, flush and start again. And take an object lesson to be careful about adding fluid in the future. (BTW, if I understood your sequence of events, you might be running a mixture that is more like 80 plus percent coolant.)

 

[John105]

Shouldn’t go above 60% from memory but at the same time it’s pretty hard imho to measure once in the vehicle. To me the only way to get 60/40 is to measure with distilled water and 100% outside the car. If you don’t need 60/40 like they would in Alaska maybe just replace with 50/50 at some point

 

[billt460]

If a little is good, then more is better. And too much is just enough!

 

[subyski]

Most bottles of antifreeze and service manuals I've seen advise against going greater than 60% antifreeze.
If your concentration of antifreeze is too high, drain a little antifreeze and add distilled water. Run the engine where everything warms up and thermostat opens so everything mixes evenly. Then when everything is cooled down, test the antifreeze through the radiator cap. Repeat as needed.

 

[John105]

If a little is good, then more is better. And too much is just enough!

On my 1970 LeMans Sport, given to me by my friends’ parents, the dad ran 100% antifreeze because more is better (anti boil is but anti freeze suffers). He also tightened nuts to the point they snapped

 

[Oillover]

Leave it and press on with pride.

+1
I'm sure there's many other things in OP's life that need attention...and this isn't one of them.
If it is, then you are very lucky!

 

[OM605]

+1
I'm sure there's many other things in OP's life that need attention...and this isn't one of them.
If it is, then you are very lucky!

Oh you're so right. I'm that worried, i just don't know much about coolant and wanted to know what bitogers had to say about it.

To be honest i have a slight problem with my cooling system. Everything is in tip top shape but the fan shroud is missing and i can't find one anywhere in stock new or not broken. Temp tends climb quickly in traffic on hot days. I have a 80c thermostat but it quickly opens all the way and electric fans kick in at about 95c. I'd like to know if a proper mix of 50/50 or even 40/60 would help a bit when the thermostat can't cope anymore.

 

[Oillover]

To be honest i have a slight problem with my cooling system. Everything is in tip top shape but the fan shroud is missing and i can't find one anywhere in stock new or not broken. Temp tends climb quickly in traffic on hot days. I have a 80c thermostat but quickly opens all the way and electric fans kick in at about 95c. I'd like to know if a proper mix of 50/50 or even 40/60 would help a bit when the thermostat can't cope anymore.

How old is the radiator?

 

[OM605]

How old is the radiator?

Hard to say, i got it out of the car to clean all the crap caught between it and the AC condenser. The whole cooling system is like brand new inside.

 

[Oillover]

Hard to say, i got it out of the car to clean all the crap caught between it and the AC condenser. The whole cooling system is like brand new inside.

On my 88 BMW, the rad looked fine after 15 years yet I had a persistent overheating issue (mostly in traffic).
After replacing it, it ran exactly as spec'd from BMW (exactly 11:55 to 12:00) on the temp gauge.

Prior to replacement, physically the radiator looked fine and the thermostat, fan clutch and coolant were perfectly clean and flawless.
Nobody would have thought the radiator was the cause....but it was.

 

[proveitwithdata]

all the radiator jobs done by mechanics, i have never seen one pull out a refractometer. I have had to bring my own di water and sometimes my own coolant. Otherwise, its garden hose and prestone 50/50.

 

[subyski]

I have a 80c thermostat but it quickly opens all the way and electric fans kick in at about 95c. I'd like to know if a proper mix of 50/50 or even 40/60 would help a bit when the thermostat can't cope anymore.

This seems to be functioning normally. Engine fans kick on around 94c (200F) to 110c (230F), which varies from vehicle to vehicle. By then, the thermostat is fully open (around 84c) and the cooling system is at full flow from engine to radiator.

The antifreeze mix of 10% difference is not going to change that much. With a little more water, the engine fans may cycle on and off a little less due to better heat transfer properties between the antifreeze mix and radiator, but there's a lot of variables. Ambient temps and humidity alone can impact slight cycling frequencies.

The concern would be if when the fan is running and the temperature doesn't drop or continues to rise. Then there may be plugging of the radiator, thermostat not fully opening, air in the system, or water pump flow issue.

 

[930.engineering]

Two months ago i had to replace the water pump and refilled with the previously drained coolant .......

I'd never refill a drained and old coolant. New coolant is way too cheap to take a chance.

.... and had to top the level up and can't remember the mix ratio that went in. ..... I really can't remember.

Why? Less than a quart might be negligible though.

What would you do? guess, drain some et add water? flush everything and start fresh to run a correct 50/50 mix?

Flush and fill what you know. Label thoroughly any mix oddment.



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