The 'E' Type Forum

I have a V12 E Type. I have a small leak from my Rad so am going to get it re-cored. When I re-fill it what Anti Freeze do you recommend. I was thinking of getting Bluecol as this was the recommended type at the time of manufacture and it is still produced today. What do you think?
Mike

Sounds about right. It has to be the old school Antifreeze otherwise you get issues with eating gaskets and seapage (SP?) through the bores etc.

Has to contain Glycol ethenol ( from memory)

The best stuff to get is a phosphate and nitrate free antifreeze this was done to death on Jag-Lovers a few years ago.
It;s used in BMW, MB, Porsche etc but don't go near a main dealer because its about ?8 a litre plus vat.
Castrol sell the exact stuff and strangely we use it at work :D

Dave

Before you decide what to do, do not rely on information from " a few years ago" . Since then it has been found, as is suggested by Viper , that the modern OAT pink antifreezes as used in current cars is wholly unsuited to old cars and causes no end of casting problems and gasket and seal failures. The easiest solution is to use the original Blue coloured ethylene glycol antifreeze , the drawback to which is that it is highly toxic, particularly to cats and to a lesser extent dogs . If you wish to avoid toxicity , then there are propylene based solutions, often used in domestic heating systems , but you need to be sure that these contain the inhibitors which prevent aluminium corrosion.

Two articles which may help you are at

www.fbhvc.co.uk/2010/01/27/antifreeze/

and

rrtechnical.info/miscellaneous/coolantoatwarning.pdf

Antifreeze serves two purposes - one as it's name suggests and the other to inhibit internal corrosion.
If one's car is not to be exposed to sub zero temperatures only the corrosion inhibiting proporties would seem to be required?
Has anyone got any experience, thoughts, recommendations on the efficacy of using an inhibitor coolant only? I saw a product in Frost's catalogue which got me thinking.

I use Bluecol and a bottle of Water Wetter.

I'm inclined to go with Bluecol as I know it is an anti freeze, an inhibitor and it was recommended when the car was new. Probably add as suggested a bottle of water wetter. Thanks for all your input guys.
Mike

Pete : you could use an inhibitor only, in summer, but in winter it is vital to have antifreeze in, whether the car is used or not, as it is impossible to drain the heater circuit completely

christopher storey wrote: Blue coloured ethylene glycol antifreeze , the drawback to which is that it is highly toxic, particularly to cats and to a lesser extent dogs .

and

rrtechnical.info/miscellaneous/coolantoatwarning.pdf

Ethylene glycol is highly toxic to all mammals for starters, let alone other life forms. Drinking as little as 50mL (from memory) of neat antifreeze for an average sized person would result in a slow death over a period of days as your liver irreversibly conked out. The only treatment once it has passed into your system is to make you drink lots of alcohol, as this competes for the enzyme system used to metabolise the EG and by doing so may reduce the level of poisoning. It's not a remedy for ingestion of significant amounts though.

I still use Bluecol but I just thought I'd mention the above, in case anyone thought Pet A was safer than Pet B and therefore took fewer precautions.

The Rolls Royce link needs www in front of it to work.

Thanks for all advice. Just bought 10 litres of Bluecol online at Euro Car Parts for ?31.98. Free delivery and includes a 20% discount that expires today. So if anyone needs some Bluecol get it today at a bargain price but enter promo code SERVSAVE.

Says the code has expired. Cheapest is 33.98. Any other code suggestions?

Try discount code SERSAVE

Mike

Bluecol isn't the only one out there.....is it?

Slightly off topic but corrosion was mentioned. IMO the single biggest cause is the way the cooling system draws in new air on each heating/cooling cycle, if a central heating system ran the same way the steel radiators wouldn't last a couple of seasons even with anti-corrosion additive. The answer is to change the system to use an atmospheric expansion tank.

Dave

And how can you possibly resist it the little baby Robin?


Got to be Bluecol I am afraid - its the law!

PeterCrespin wrote:Drinking as little as 50mL (from memory) of neat antifreeze for an average sized person would result in a slow death over a period of days as your liver irreversibly conked out. The only treatment once it has passed into your system is to make you drink lots of alcohol, as this competes for the enzyme system used to metabolise the EG and by doing so may reduce the level of poisoning.

At last! A condition for which the only known cure is alcohol! What's not to like...?

Ahh - so the little Robin is not as innocent as it seems! Sits there on the filler cap until an unsuspecting cat comes along, attracts its attention by tweeting sweetly and flies off leaving the moggy to lap up the anti-freeze. Heinous creature that Robin Red Breast

In 9 out of 10 owners, said their cats preferred it !!

Very quick service. Order for 10 litres of Bluecol placed yesterday afternoon and delivered today! Good price too! :D