18 replies to this topic

[Mini Mad Rich]

After doing a anti freeze test on it the other day all a got was fithly brown water which tells me there no anti freeze in the system and there is rust somewhere in the system! :gasp:
So I'v got it booked in for a service next tuesday, but it must have some in it because I'v checked it all over and there is no leaks, cracked pipes etc. and wev had some pretty cold weather recently
Whats going on lol

MMR

[wobblybob]

cant this mena a cracked head gasket aswell????not sure

[Mini Mad Rich]

nah ud know if this was a cracked head gasket im sure.

MMR

[chairchild]

it's called having water in a lump of cast iron - it's going to rust no-matter what!


antifreeze is just an inhibitor - it'll slow it down, but it'll still rust eventually

[Sprocket]

http://www.team.net/...ch/coolant.html

[Sprocket]

antifreeze is just an inhibitor

No

Antifreeze is antifreeze with addatives such as inhibitors and water weters

[Cookie Monster]

antifreeze does not have to be b lue, you can get brown. Invest a couple of quid in a floating ball tester and see how it reads. thought mine was just rusty water, did a test found it to be protected down to about -15

[Sprocket]

antifreeze does not have to be b lue, you can get brown. Invest a couple of quid in a floating ball tester and see how it reads. thought mine was just rusty water, did a test found it to be protected down to about -15

No, it has to be blue or blue green. By law must have this colour added to clearly identify what substance it is due to its toxic nature and denotes ethylene glycol. If its brown its time for new. Iron oxide Fe2O3(red rust and what makes water look brown) in water is a suspended solid and as such alters the density so your dirty water will read different to pure water. I would take another sample, filter it, and then test it. I'm sure you will find a much different answer. Also if the coolant is that brown then its likely that the inhibitors have been consumed and damage is being done to you water pump and radiator, slow, but it will eventualy spring a leak.

My advice is to read the article I linked to above.

[The Matt]

What about the red coloured anti-freeze you can get? :erm: I am sure the GFs Focus has red anti-freeze in it!

[miniboo]

Mine is pretty brown aswell!

Is it just a case of taking the bottom hose off and then refilling it?

What ratio of water to antifreeze should i use?

Sorry for threadjacking

[benjamin]

yeh just drain it and fill with the new mix, if you want it to be cleanish i think you can get a radiator cleaner stuff. then the antifreeze should say the mix on the container , or you can buy premix

[binge]

I was actually supprised how easy it was to drain the system out and fill it with fresh.

I took the pipe off the heater valve, and then ran the engine on tick over, with a feed of fresh water into the radiator.

The water poured out all dirty and that. but eventually I had fresh clean water flowing through the system.

Then I put the heater pipe back on, And began filling the system up with water until it was up to the top of the radiator.

Put the rad cap on, and run the engine on fast tickover.
The water will the find its way into the radiator and the level wil the go down. This is about 1/3 of the cooling system, So fill up with antifreeze / coolant.

That should be the right ammount.

Brown water is not a problem, it just means the water has been in the a LOOONG time!

[Guess-Works.com]

I just blow mine through with a hosepipe... mind you for an engine to stay in my mini for more than 6 months, it's doing pretty well anyway :cheese:

Which reminds me, must get that one out of grotbag.. June, July, August, .... November... :smartass:

[Dan]

What about the red coloured anti-freeze you can get?

The new types of antifreeze available are not based on glycol so they're non toxic and don't strip paint. So they can be any colour you like so long as they AREN'T blue or green. Simple. They shouldn't be used in cast iron blocks though as they are only designed for aluminium engines and have no inhibitors to prevent oxidation of ferous metals. Not for Mini's.

[mini-mad-dan]

THis could be a dumb thing to do, i dunno but anywayz taste, yes taste the coolant if it is sweet it usually has antifreeze in it, my Dad taught me that,........................Don't swallow it mind! :tongue: