Coolant mixture tester

Cubey

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Found my answer: yes

"ZEREX G-05 antifreeze/coolant uses the highest quality ****** ethylene glycol...."

The tester says it works with all ethylene glycol coolants, so... it should be fine.
 

Cubey

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Those work to tell you what level of protection you have for boiling or freezing.

Yes, I know. I'm doing my own 50/50 mixing, so I need to know if i need to add water or coolant concentrate to balance it out.
 

nelstomlinson

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I found a refractometer which measures concentration of ethylene and propylene glycol and battery acid. $30 used on ebay. It's pretty easy to use, and pretty hard to beat.
 

snicklas

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Maybe I oversimplify, but I always have an empty coolant jug or 3 floating around, and most seem to have a measurement on the side. Pour in one of the two, up to the half mark, fill with the other to the full mark. Now, I have 2 halves left, either pour them together and now I have 2 gallons of 50/50ish, or add to both, now you have 3 gallons......

This is a 30 year old diesel engine, not going to the moon.....
 

Cubey

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Maybe I oversimplify, but I always have an empty coolant jug or 3 floating around, and most seem to have a measurement on the side. Pour in one of the two, up to the half mark, fill with the other to the full mark. Now, I have 2 halves left, either pour them together and now I have 2 gallons of 50/50ish, or add to both, now you have 3 gallons......

This is a 30 year old diesel engine, not going to the moon.....

Except several gallons of water is going to be in there after backflushing. I suppose just putting in 5 gallons of concentrate first, then only ever topping off with water as it slowly burps itself over several days of driving would work too.
 

IDIBRONCO

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I suppose just putting in 5 gallons of concentrate first, then only ever topping off with water as it slowly burps itself over several days of driving would work too.
I think that you'd be almost entirely antifreeze if you do this. If you have an idea of how much you drained out the very first time and you drain it the exact same way after the flush, you'll have a pretty good idea of how much water is left in your cooling system. That way you can add enough straight antifreeze to make the mixture close to 50/50. Then top off with 50/50 mix. If you have two gallons of water left, then put in two gallons of antifreeze. It's really not too hard to do. By the way, I've literally replaced hundreds of these engines and the most coolant that I've ever put back in was maybe 6 1/2 gallons. That's in pickups and I believe vans (really can't remember for sure). That's with a new, dry engine and blowing out the heater core.
 

Oledirtypearl86

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You .an buy a tester for testing your coolant it will tell you both cold side and hot side and they are pretty cheap
 

Cubey

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What's the total capacity? About 7 gallons or so? After you flush put in 3.5 gallons of pure coolant then top it off with water.

I think that you'd be almost entirely antifreeze if you do this. If you have an idea of how much you drained out the very first time and you drain it the exact same way after the flush, you'll have a pretty good idea of how much water is left in your cooling system. That way you can add enough straight antifreeze to make the mixture close to 50/50. Then top off with 50/50 mix. If you have two gallons of water left, then put in two gallons of antifreeze. It's really not too hard to do. By the way, I've literally replaced hundreds of these engines and the most coolant that I've ever put back in was maybe 6 1/2 gallons. That's in pickups and I believe vans (really can't remember for sure). That's with a new, dry engine and blowing out the heater core.

Oops... it's 8 gallons, not 10 like I was thinking, hence me saying 5 gallons of concentrate before. About 6-6.5 gallons comes out from the radiator. It fills one 5 gallon bucket (not to the top, I don't want it sloshing out) and puts a fair bit into a second one. I haven't bothered with the block plugs.

I am using an RV water filter with city water (at least it's better than straight city water) and a cheap Prestone backflush kit, since I really wanted to flush the system out good. I did so before I put in blue devil radiator cleaner. I've driven a bit 3 days total, now to let it sit overnight tonight, drain it out, and do another 5 minute backflush with the engine running.

So, putting in 4 gallons of concentrate then topping off with water should be correct. If it's 8 total and I put in 4 pure, the rest should naturally be water. I suppose I should have at least bought 3-4 gallons of distilled though so most would be distilled, but oh well too late now. I'm parked for the night.

All things considered, the filtered city water should be fine, considering I'm sure most shops you might go to just put in straight city water.
 

jrollf

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Except several gallons of water is going to be in there after backflushing. I suppose just putting in 5 gallons of concentrate first, then only ever topping off with water as it slowly burps itself over several days of driving would work too.
When I flushed mine, i pulled the water jacket drain plugs (hint, replace the plugs with petcock valves, makes future drains quick!) from the block as well as pulled the lower radiator hose and drained the radiator. The whole system seemed pretty empty at that point. When I went to refill it I premixed all my coolant to 50/50 and it took close to the specified amount indicating there wasn't much more than a few cups of water left in the system.

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Cubey

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I thought about that, but just more cost and work. Maybe next time I will do that. This is good enough for now. It's getting 2 thorough backflushes with cleaner in between the two and filtered water with the Zerex.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Since this is titled as a 1985 model but was probably sold as an incomplete vehicle, the engine may be old enough that it has the awful plugs that took a 1/4" male square socket instead of the nice brass ones. Those others like to sieze (rust?) in place and don't like to come out without a drill and an easy out. Just a warning for the future.
 

Cubey

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Since this is titled as a 1985 model but was probably sold as an incomplete vehicle, the engine may be old enough that it has the awful plugs that took a 1/4" male square socket instead of the nice brass ones. Those others like to sieze (rust?) in place and don't like to come out without a drill and an easy out. Just a warning for the future.

Yes incomplete. Another good reason to leave it alone.

The radiator cleaning did a little bit of good.

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