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R1, what coolant..?
foes - 8/9/09 at 08:38 AM

Now when i built the car and drove it to sva, i put the proper pre-mixed bike coolant in ( cost me a fortune ) since had to change a couple of hoses and obviously lost it all.

Now can i just use normal coolant from a motorfactors?
Will it need mixing with distilled water, or will tap water be ok?



Coose - 8/9/09 at 09:24 AM

DO NOT use tap water. It'll cause scale build-up and aid corrosion in some materials (magnesium etc.).

irvined - 8/9/09 at 10:19 AM

I filled mine up with ready mixed cooland from a Yamaha dealer, it cost $$, and appears to be just normal ready mixed long life antifreeze from what I can see on the bottle.

Frosty - 8/9/09 at 10:50 AM

As said before, use distilled water. It's not expensive at all and for the amount a BEC actually uses, you'll have loads left over for your next change too.

You need to aim for 50/50, but instead of mixing it, just alternate a cup of coolant, and then a cup of water. This will give you just as accurate a mix, without wasting any.

Also, no need to go for the red stuff. AFAIK the only difference between blue, green, and red is it's life between changes.

I change mine once a year anyway, so I just stick with the bog standard blue stuff.

foes - 8/9/09 at 11:09 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Frosty
As said before, use distilled water. It's not expensive at all and for the amount a BEC actually uses, you'll have loads left over for your next change too.

You need to aim for 50/50, but instead of mixing it, just alternate a cup of coolant, and then a cup of water. This will give you just as accurate a mix, without wasting any.

Also, no need to go for the red stuff. AFAIK the only difference between blue, green, and red is it's life between changes.

I change mine once a year anyway, so I just stick with the bog standard blue stuff.


Yep, just been and picked 5L of the blue coolant and 5L distilled water.

Spent a while reading the differences between the blue, red and green, appears to be just how long it lasts...


britishtrident - 8/9/09 at 11:13 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Frosty
Also, no need to go for the red stuff. AFAIK the only difference between blue, green, and red is it's life between changes.




No thats not true long life OAT antifreezes use corrosion inhibitors the are not compatable with old style antifreeze.

Never mix OAT coolant with the older style.


Modern coolant come in two main types Blue/Green conventional antifreeze - a variant of this is the dark red antifreeze used in Japanese cars. The Japananese stuff has silcates in it to help reduce leaks but can be mixed with the blue green stuff without problems.


OAT long life antifreezes are usually orange or bright pink they can last over 5 years with a coolant change but as the corrosion inhibitor is based on organic acids even a small ammount of blue-green antifreeze in the system will cause corrosion on amajor scale.

Some manufacturers antifreezes lie outside these categories BMW longlife antifreeze should not be mixed with other types. Vauxhall have use various colours of OAT coolant.

Also Halfords sell an HOAT longlife antifreeze that they claim can be mixed with other types of coolant.

[Edited on 8/9/09 by britishtrident]