Style Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I put my car into a garage to get various things done, one of which was a coolant change. I provided the garage with 10 litres of this stuff from Opie Oils http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-903-motul-inugel-optimal-ready-to-use-cooling-liquid-anti-corrosion-and-anti-freeze.aspx I got a whole unopened 5 litre bottle back from them and it never really donned on me until I got home. They must have mixed the 5 litres they used with water. Will I get away with around 56% coolant to 44% water when it isn't meant to be mixed? I did mention to the guy just whilst chatting when I dropped it off that it doesn't need any water added but it was just an in conversation reminder. Nothing official. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) The advert says "do not add any water" does it not say this on the container ? Perhaps call Opie and ask them, at the very least the antifreeze protection will be compromised along with its anticorrosion qualities I personally never put tap water in cooling systems, if it needs diluting i use distilled water Edited March 13, 2014 by Dnk (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 you would be suprised to know that straight water is the best for cooling your engine , anti freeze does exactly what it says on the tin , stops the water freezing im pritty sure that unless the anti freeze was ready fixed you will be absolutly fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazuk Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 It only takes 7.3 litres and that's with the heating system dry .I have only ever bought Toyota red life and mixed it with a little bit deionized water approx 1litre, if he has used tap water its not really ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 8.3 on the NA with auto box and 8.8 on the tt with auto box from the figures i have Why would you mix a pre mix ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 The advert says "do not add any water" does it not say this on the container ? Perhaps call Opie and ask them, at the very least the antifreeze protection will be compromised along with its anticorrosion qualities I personally never put tap water in cooling systems, if it needs diluting i use distilled water It does say on the back of the bottle but it's all small print in about 100 languages and English for some reason is on the second page. So you have to peel the first page back to get to the English bit. If they didn't know I guess they wouldn't have looked. Probably my fault for not properly mentioning or leaving a note. I will maybe give the garage a phone and see what water they added, they may well be on the ball and have added distilled water at least. If they have then I'll probably just leave it as is. you would be suprised to know that straight water is the best for cooling your engine , anti freeze does exactly what it says on the tin , stops the water freezing im pritty sure that unless the anti freeze was ready fixed you will be absolutly fine It only takes 7.3 litres and that's with the heating system dry .I have only ever bought Toyota red life and mixed it with a little bit deionized water approx 1litre, if he has used tap water its not really ideal. Well I'm guessing there will be about 2.5 litres of water in there. Not sure if it will be distilled or tap, I'll have to check. Scottish water is usually quite good out the tap but probably still not good enough. It looks a very weak red colour so will be hard to tell when it needs changed as well since the coolant changes colour and indicates a change needed when it goes dark/brownish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazuk Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 8.3 on the NA with auto box and 8.8 on the tt with auto box from the figures i have Why would you mix a pre mix ? As for me its only a small amount and I only ever use my car in the summer I keep it in a garage for the winter months so it never sees low temps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Anti freeze has corrosion inhibitors, so as well as not providing protection against very low temperatures freezing the coolant, it will not be fully protecting the engine cooling passageways and radiator from corrosion from within. I see so much rubbish talked about the "magical" 4Life I no longer usually bother posting, suffice to say any branded ethylene glycol based antifreeze is fine and I would buy based solely on price. Pre mix is usually a con, price wise, as you are buying a lot of water at an inflated price. I only buy neat stuff, and would never dream of apying a premium for stuff with a red acidity marker dye in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 As for me its only a small amount and I only ever use my car in the summer I keep it in a garage for the winter months so it never sees low temps . I use mine through the winter which was my main concern for it being diluted further. As Chris also mentioned the corrosion inhibitors will be diluted and not doing it's job properly. I'm wondering if it's worth going back to the garage or if it'll just be fine to leave it. They'll probably see it as a hassle and a tiny anal thing that doesn't need attention. But if it's not done right, it's not done at all I guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I agree with Chris re the 4 life vs any other branded coolant but for your predicament you could buy some concentrated red toyota coolant ie eBay item number:321344275154 and drain some of what you have in there (via the rad drain tap?) and replace with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 To cover the freezing issue you could get it checked rather than hope it will be okay, i have a very simple tool that measures how cold the coolant will go to before it freezes. I'm anal about tap water because in Redditch it's awful and the lime scale build up you get in kettles is quite shocking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 I agree with Chris re the 4 life vs any other branded coolant but for your predicament you could buy some concentrated red toyota coolant ie eBay item number:321344275154 and drain some of what you have in there (via the rad drain tap?) and replace with this. Thanks for the link Scooter, never knew you got the concentrate stuff. I'll maybe pick up some of that and see if I can bring the concentration level back up again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Anti freeze has corrosion inhibitors, so as well as not providing protection against very low temperatures freezing the coolant, it will not be fully protecting the engine cooling passageways and radiator from corrosion from within. I see so much rubbish talked about the "magical" 4Life I no longer usually bother posting, suffice to say any branded ethylene glycol based antifreeze is fine and I would buy based solely on price. Pre mix is usually a con, price wise, as you are buying a lot of water at an inflated price. I only buy neat stuff, and would never dream of apying a premium for stuff with a red acidity marker dye in it. Oh and Chris, just fyi they fitted my new uprated 6 speed clutch I got from yourself and it's been great so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Style Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 To cover the freezing issue you could get it checked rather than hope it will be okay, i have a very simple tool that measures how cold the coolant will go to before it freezes. I'm anal about tap water because in Redditch it's awful and the lime scale build up you get in kettles is quite shocking Cheers Dunk Think my old man has a tester in his stash somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it out and test it then top up with concentrate if need be. Luckily we don't really get limescale up here with the soft water supply so it's not so bad. Would definitely be flushing it out though if that wasn't the case! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Just buy any branded neat ethylene glycol antifreeze, drain a liter of coolant or so from the drain, or pull a hose off and fire the engine up for a few seconds, and fill up with some neat stuff. Glad you like the clutch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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