Would you use 2 year old opened coolant?

[kb01]

Originally Posted By: badger05


Municipalities typically have two separate sewer lines, storm sewer and sanitary. The storm sewer are the drains and inlets along the road that collect rainwater and then empty directly into rivers/lakes. Do not dump anything into the inlets along the road.

The sanitary sewer lines collect wastewater from your house (sink, bathroom) and run to the sewage treament plant before being emptied into rivers or lakes.


A lot of that depends on the age of your city. I've never lived anywhere that didn't have a combined sewer system. Whether it's from a toilet or a storm drain, it all goes to the treatment facility, unless there's a major rainstorm, and then it all gets purged directly into the river.

 

[JimPghPA]

Originally Posted By: Brenden
Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
Originally Posted By: Brenden
I doesn't go bad if it is still 100% unmixed, or mixed with distilled water and sealed. I have used plenty of old antifreeze from the garage, it still tests out to over 260F+ and -60F on my antifreeze tester, I would pour it in and not think twice about it.


It is a non-sealed pre-mixed solution, which doesn't fit either of your descriptions.


I missed the edit time, it was supposed to also include opened ones, I hadn't got my coffee in at that point

It is fine to use as long as you didn't self mix it with tap water, the other elements in tap water deplete the additives over time.

It is not like brake fluid which absorbs moisture, it is relatively stable and has a very long shelf life, open or sealed.


Actually the alcohol in it (and all alcohol when in a pure state) is very hydroscopic. It will grab all the moisture out of the air that was let into the bottle. So that opened and then sealed bottle of pure antifreeze might now have a few grains of water added to it. But it is antifreeze and you are going to dilute it with thousands of time more water than the little that got pulled out of the air that was let into the bottle. There will also be a slight ( and I mean microscopic amount of oxidation from the additional oxygen molecules that got into the bottle) but again on a scale of what happens in every day use of this stuff it is like someone who builds a skyscraper worrying about the additional weight of a fly landing on the top floor.

In other words the amount of chemical degrading would be something that would be imposable to measure. Use it and forget about it.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
I have an open bottle of Honda coolant that's been sitting in my bedroom for two years. I used it to top off my reserve tank in my 07 Civic at the time and it's just been sitting still for about two years. I'm about to do a coolant change and was wondering:

1. Would you use this open, but tightly sealed, bottle in your coolant change? I'm almost positive I'll be throwing it out. Which leads to....

2. How do I get rid of it? Bring it to an auto shop like you would oil? Are they required to accept it?

Anyone know the shelf life for opened/tightly sealed Honda coolant? Thanks in advance.

It's still good.

Your genuine-Honda premixed Type II coolant is good for 5-years total. "Just been sitting" time counts in the total. That means you have 3-years left on it. As long as you replace it--and what's in the engine--every 5-years total, you can continue to use the contents of your bedroom-bottle.

Many areas have "Hazardous Materials" (hazmat) or "Household Hazardous Waste" sites where you can bring your used automotive fluids, usually for free. Call your town's or county's waste-disposal authority. Whether your local garages and stores will accept hazmat waste will depend on local laws as well as local store policies. You need to call them too.

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
I have an open bottle of Honda coolant that's been sitting in my bedroom for two years. I used it to top off my reserve tank in my 07 Civic at the time and it's just been sitting still for about two years. I'm about to do a coolant change and was wondering:

1. Would you use this open, but tightly sealed, bottle in your coolant change? I'm almost positive I'll be throwing it out. Which leads to....

2. How do I get rid of it? Bring it to an auto shop like you would oil? Are they required to accept it?

Anyone know the shelf life for opened/tightly sealed Honda coolant? Thanks in advance.

It's still good.

Your genuine-Honda premixed Type II coolant is good for 5-years total. "Just been sitting" time counts in the total. That means you have 3-years left on it. As long as you replace it--and what's in the engine--every 5-years total, you can continue to use the contents of your bedroom-bottle.


I'm planning on leaving the coolant in my car for around 5 years, so that would be a total life of 7 years (it's been unsealed for two years). I doubt that's significant though.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
I'm planning on leaving the coolant in my car for around 5 years, so that would be a total life of 7 years (it's been unsealed for two years).

How long it's been unsealed is unimportant. Max life is 5-years whether it's been opened or not.

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
I doubt that's significant though.

If 7-years was acceptable, I have a feeling Honda would have said so.

To my mind, it's not worth the $20 savings over 5-years (that's $4 per year) to chance corrosion in the cooling system. I'd just buy a new jug and know it's good for the full 5-years.

 

[roadrunner1]

The question that hasn't been asked yet is why in the world are you keeping coolant in your bedroom? in my opinion its fine, I would use it without hesitation.

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: roadrunner1
The question that hasn't been asked yet is why in the world are you keeping coolant in your bedroom? in my opinion its fine, I would use it without hesitation.


Besides ingestion, what are the other dangers? I didn't plan on having it on the rocks on New Year's Eve

 

[91344George]

Use it!

The chemical protective properties are fine as long as they have not come into contact with the acidic nature of the engine. If it was sitting in a tightly closed container straight or with distilled water you are wasting money if you throw it away.

 

[JimPghPA]

Tegger may have a valid point about the 5 year life even if it was not ever opened.

Years ago I was told that antifreeze in its original natural state is an acid. And a chemical is added to it to neutralize that acid. And that over time that chemical looses the ability to neutralize the acid, and the antifreeze again becomes an acid. Also if you ever inspect a radiator with antifreeze that is several years old and it looks real clean, you should replace the antifreeze because there is a good chance the antifreeze has turned to acid and has cleaned the system, but if left in will eat through the radiator and heat exchanger.

So Tegger could be correct in being concerned about two of the five years already being used up.

There is also the possibility that exposure to atmosphere, and or the heat cycling during use may have something to do with the breakdown of the neutralizer over time? I do not know if this is the case.

So as far as I know, the final answer to this one would require some input from someone very well versed on the chemistry of that antifreeze, and how and why it chemically degrades over time.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Tegger may have a valid point about the 5 year life even if it was not ever opened.

Years ago I was told that antifreeze in its original natural state is an acid. And a chemical is added to it to neutralize that acid. And that over time that chemical looses the ability to neutralize the acid, and the antifreeze again becomes an acid.



Whether coolant is "straight" or premixed, it all contains water. Water contains oxygen. Oxygen is highly-reactive and will bind with just about anything (think aluminum oxide, iron oxide, etc.).

Coolant contains additives which prevent the electron flow (reaction) that causes corrosion. Over time, those additives react with the oxygen in the water and get "used up". This happens even in a tightly-closed bottle. At that point, there's nothing to stop the oxygen in the water from reacting with the metals in the engine.

There are places to try and save money, and places where not to try and save money. The second type of situation is also known as "false economy". Risking corrosion in the area of the head-gasket for the sake of $20 is "false economy".

 

[tpattgeek]

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Tegger may have a valid point about the 5 year life even if it was not ever opened.

Years ago I was told that antifreeze in its original natural state is an acid. And a chemical is added to it to neutralize that acid. And that over time that chemical looses the ability to neutralize the acid, and the antifreeze again becomes an acid.



Whether coolant is "straight" or premixed, it all contains water. Water contains oxygen. Oxygen is highly-reactive and will bind with just about anything (think aluminum oxide, iron oxide, etc.).

Coolant contains additives which prevent the electron flow (reaction) that causes corrosion. Over time, those additives react with the oxygen in the water and get "used up". This happens even in a tightly-closed bottle. At that point, there's nothing to stop the oxygen in the water from reacting with the metals in the engine.

There are places to try and save money, and places where not to try and save money. The second type of situation is also known as "false economy". Risking corrosion in the area of the head-gasket for the sake of $20 is "false economy".



Thank you for this explanation. I should have put in my original post that the main objective was NOT to save money, but to do what was BEST for my vehicle since I will be keeping it as long as possible. If there was a miniscule of a chance that quality would be affected with this opened bottle, I was planning on throwing it out. I've heard explanations of why it's still good and explanations of why it has gone bad, so I may just go the safe route and throw it out. It really is worth the peace of mind, especially with my vehicle maintenance OCD

 

[JOD]

The coolant has a recommend interval of 10 years--in service! Suggesting that using coolant stored for 2 years is a "false economy" is, well, ridiculous. The depletion of additives will be minimal sitting on the the shelf. Every manufacturer of pre-mixed coolant gives a shelf life of 5 years at a minimum, and that's taking into account that it's then going to be sitting in your car afterwards.

Sorry, but throwing this out isn't OCD, it's just silly, IMO.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Throw it out. Especially if it is conventional green. Overtime, the silicates fall out of the antifreeze. http://sancarlosradiator.com/antifreeze_coolant.htm

Remember: When in doubt, throw it out.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Throw it out. Especially if it is conventional green. Overtime, the silicates fall out of the antifreeze. http://sancarlosradiator.com/antifreeze_coolant.htm

Remember: When in doubt, throw it out.


What doubt? The coolant has a life of 10 years in service, its certainly going to last sitting in a bottle for 2 years...

 

[pbm]

I wouldn't think twice about using 2 year old A/F.
I've used 10 year old A/F w/o a problem.