Which Anti freeze ?

[Big Jim]

I had a look at my coolant today . I think it should be pink , but it is a bit murky .I will flush it and renew . What do you use , pink or blue ?
Thanks

[Jason.goad]

Green

[Hawaiis0]

Some points here discussed

http://www.lotusexcel.net/phpbb/viewtop ... col#p48127

[Hawaiis0]

And notes on murky sludge here from mixing types

http://www.lotusexcel.net/phpbb/viewtop ... lit=glycol

[AndyC]

Don't go by colour alone, the general approach about Glycol based being blue/ green and OAT being pink is generally fine but some cross those colour lines.

[marky]

Having had the car for 18 months or so I felt I should tackle my coolant sludge problem. So having got 5 litres of blue glycol antifreeze I decided to go to town and wash the whole system out.

I disconnected the top rad hose at the thermostat and the bottom at the water pump ( bonnet off ) and removed both hoses from the header tank. I also disconnected the heater hose from the cylinder head. No mucking about - garden hose full pressure - into the top rad hose until it ran clear from the bottom hose. Then into the heater hose ( heater slider in hot position ) until it ran clear from the water pump. Then into the head again until it ran clear from the water pump. Finally I gave the header tank a good blast out. Then everything reconnected except top rad hose which I used initially to fill with the correct amount of anti-freeze then re-connected and topped up header tank with water. Ran engine allowed to cool and topped up again. All sounds like a hassle but much easier than I thought and only about half an hours work.

Now I have better cooling and better heating so it was definitely worth it.

Mark.

[KevW]

I drained the system on my Excel, changed the antifreeze over to orange OAT type then ran it for 4 years without any problems.

[marky]

That's good to hear because mine had a mixture of the two (mainly OAT) for about 18 months and I have only just got it sorted out.

Mark.