Hi everyone! I have a Ford Focus MK3, 2.0 Duratec engine, 49k miles, for which I wanted to change the whole coolant/water mix for maintenance purposes.
The manual says the whole capacity is 6.5L, 50% should be concentrated coolant and 50% distilled water.
So I bought 4L of Total coolant (organic, red color); 3L to use for sure and 1L just in case it needs a bit more, aiming to save what’s left.
I brought the 4L to a mechanic who did the whole job. Sadly I wasn’t clear enough and just trusted that he would know but… he actually put all of the 4L of coolant and completed it with distilled water.
So now I guess the car has a mix with approximately 65/35 coolant/water which is not what the manual suggests, but the mechanic told me it is “better” that way.
What do you suggest?
- Do I move on and just keep an eye on the temperature indicator? (I read that coolant’s heat transfer capacity is not as good as water’s).
- Do I, somehow, “adjust” the mix by getting some out of the deposit and filling with water? I don’t know how to “get some out”, but I read some people use turkey basters for removing excess.
- Do I replace everything again? The bad part is all of the cash I spent on the 4L of coolant and the mechanic’s work.
Thank you in advance!
Go buy a coolant tester and use it to ensure the coolant is able to withstand the coldest temperatures for your area or more.
So you have 4l of concentrate and 2.5l of ~water…
If you drain 1.2l of mixture, it will contain 0.74l of concentrate. You’ll end up with 3.26l of concentrate in the circulation. Fill up with 1.2l of water and you will have 3.24l of water.
Im genuinely curious how much you paid the shop to add antifreeze?
You should be completely fine. Next time just get a bottle of premix from the store and pour it in yourself.
They actually flushed the whole cooling system, I doubt I would’ve been able to do it myself since it requires several steps (AFAIK) and I’m new to all of this, but I’ll try to learn for next time.
That makes more sense. YouTube is a phenomenal source of information if you’re willing to try some projects yourself. Lots of step by step DIY videos. Good luck in the future. You should be fine with the mixture your mechanic put in.
Thank you!
Your car has better winter protection now. Have a nice day.
https://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/pdf/2011/225502.pdf
It looks like 65% antifreeze is ideal.
While not ideal, it’s likely just fine. If you leave it in, just keep an eye on temperatures. Other than possibly being a bit warmer (though unlikely), there are no other concerns here.
Why would coolant be a bit warmer? Are you aware that antifreeze suggests “non-freezing?” I’m sure you have heard that people can put water in radiator. People can pee in radiator. Doesn’t matter what’s inside for the liquid to transfer engine heat to radiator. Any liquid can basically work to take engine combustion temps and transfer it to radiator to cool off
The problem with piss and water in radiator is the freezing point. When you park your car, water will freeze at 32 degrees. Good thing there is antifreeze which has a way lower freezing point. That’s the main purpose of glycol. To not freeze
You seem to be asking questions while already having your mind made up. Were those rhetorical?
Pure water dissipates heat better than coolants. So it would be logical to say that pure water could keep an engine cooler. Pure coolant would keep an engine a bit hotter. Keeping with this logic, having a 60/40 mix of coolant/water would keep an engine just a bit warmer than a 50/50 mix.
The main two issues with running pure water are freezing point (as you mentioned), and the corrosion protection additives in coolant. If we didn’t have to worry about either of those issues, people would be better off running pure water all the time.
In OPs case, they likely have enough anti-freeze properties in their coolant. It likely won’t over heat. And they likely have enough concentration of anti-corrosion additives as well.
Boiling point doesn’t matter. That’s what the radiator pressure is for. To raise boiling points. Your car operates at 190. Straight water boils at 212. High speed fans kick on at 210-225. Adding pressure to a pressurized system will effectively raise any boiling point of liquids. Your car won’t run hotter or colder. That’s controlled by thermostat.
Antifreeze/coolants MAIN benefit is to prevent freezing when car is off and parked in cold climates.
Thank you all very much for your responses! I understand that the mix is not ideal but it likely won’t be a problem.
However some of you mentioned that in a hot climate a 50/50 mix is more important; in my country, summer will start soon and days of 35°C are quite common (not more that 40 though), so I’ll watch the engine temperature closely and if necessary adjust the mix in the way you suggested. My bad that I didn’t include this fact initially in the post.
A stronger mixtures lowers the freezing point, but it also raises the boiling point. It benefits both ends
I purposely mix at 60/40
Ur better off as is
Is this a brand new engine? Using 90/10 concentrate coolant is fine More of the concentrate the more chemicals are in it that will help keep the system clean.
Yes water does have the advantage of being able to dissipate heat more. But you "shouldn’t " have to worry about that unless you live in a hot climate, ie 35°c+ average thoughout the week.
But if you really want to you can drain some into a tub/jar and top it up with distilled water. Then find an appropriate place to dispose the hazardous chemicals.
Not a new engine, it’s the one that came with the car if that’s what you mean.
Yeah, in my country summer will start soon and 35°C is not unusual, so I will try to drain some and replace with water. Thank you!
Drain the whole system. Mix fresh in a bucket. Learn from this, move on.
Too much concentrate is not ideal. It can cause problems on some engines. The best solution is to drain about 1 liter from the radiator and replace with 1 liter of distilled water. That will get your mixture closer to 50/50. You can drain from the valve on the bottom of the radiator. An alternative that is less ideal is to drain the overflow container and add distilled water there.
What kind of problems?
Unless you live in alaska then a 70/30 mix is fine.
Further south its nearly ideal year round.
Then there’s me in Florida hoping that my radiator actually has any antifreeze in instead of 100% water when the first freeze comes around
If you’re draining it you can use a piece of tubing or turkey baster and save it to add overtime to other mixtures where the coolant concentration isn’t as high.
DIYer advice: not sure why you brought antifreeze to a shop. My guess is they normally use a pre-mixed universal to save time. Either (1) do it yourself or (2) hire it out–but don’t bring parts/supplies to a shop.
I brought the antifreeze myself because I wanted to make sure I chose a recommended brand, and I’ve read terrible things about mixed universals. But it’s far from ideal, I know that my best option is to do it myself in that case.
A lot of the new antifreeze is already pre mixed for you no need to add water
The eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain.
You use a turkey baster on the brake fluid reservoir. I would try to find the radiator drain port and put one of the gallon buckets under it, or just an oil drain pan if it is a car, and then dump it into something so you can measure how much is taken out. And then fill however much you need with distilled water
Coolant is only used for freezing!! Antifreeze is the name, which suggests a non freezing condition.
Coolant shouldn’t be thought for operating temp. Yes coolant boils at different temps then water, but the boiling point of any liquid inside radiator gets raised due to pressure in coolant system.
Antifreeze mixtures are really only used for freezing. To make sure your coolant system doesn’t freeze when car is parked. I think 65/35 still protects yo around -30 degrees. You will be fine with 65/35
You actually even know what you are talking about??? It clearly states antifreeze/coolant right on the fn bottle .
I’m just pointing out that antifreeze is to not have your radiator freeze (or engine block) when parked. Antifreeze properties don’t really care about boiling point aspect of the cooling system. Since the radiator cap controls boiling points of liquids, not the actual liquid in radiator.
Yeah I do know what I’m talking about do you?
This is false. Antifreeze does more than let it not freeze. It lowers the freeze point and raises the boiling point. The cap pressure also raises boiling point but the coolant mix has a lot to do with it. Another thing antifreeze does is lubricate the water pump, and has anti corrosion properties to prevent rust and scale in the cooling system. Also coolant is another name for antifreeze.
That’s why I capitalized MAIN. The main benefit of antifreeze is lower the freezing point. The boiling aspect doesn’t truly matter since it’s a pressurized system. Yes it does raise boiling points but your thermostat and radiator pressures control the boiling points.
Thermostat has ZERO to do with the boiling point guy. Stop while you’re ahead.