Coolant type

[Puglet1]

Sorry. It seems like a silly question but what colour antifreeze should I put in my Mk2 vitesse?

 The current fluid is rust coloured and I have not changed it since I purchased the car so don’t know what the previous owner filled the system with.

 I am also thinking about changing the hoses, should I replace them with silicone ones?

Many thanks.

Pete.

 

[Nigel Clark]

Blue glycol antifreeze is the standard recommendation for our classic Triumphs. Around 30% concentration and change every 2 years. If you've got rusty coloured coolant, give the whole system a good flush.

Alternatively, flush the system and refill with premixed 4Life coolant, stocked in the club shop, which has superior corrosion inhibitors and can last at last 10 years in my experience.

Nigel

[GrahamB]

I bought 5 litres of the blue antifreeze concentrate and dilute it to the required concentration when needed.  I have never used the 4Life coolant as nearly every year I have to at least partially drain the system to replace a hose, remove the inlet manifold or replace a seal.  On my Spitfire I have yet to find a method of draining coolant without contaminating it so lasting 10 years is purely academical and the standard antifreeze is a lot more economical. 

[dougbgt6]

One of ours at East Berks bought a Vitesse, decided to do a service and drained the coolant only to realise, too late, it was 4life! An expensive mistake. Silicone hoses? How long do you intend to keep the car? I changed mine for standard and after 7 years I'm periodically checking too see if they're OK.  Silicone will last much longer and you can get pretty colours , but even black are expensive!

Doug

[Nigel Clark]

9 hours ago, GrahamB said:

I bought 5 litres of the blue antifreeze concentrate and dilute it to the required concentration when needed.  I have never used the 4Life coolant as nearly every year I have to at least partially drain the system to replace a hose, remove the inlet manifold or replace a seal.  On my Spitfire I have yet to find a method of draining coolant without contaminating it so lasting 10 years is purely academical and the standard antifreeze is a lot more economical. 

I use 4Life and when the cooling system needs work, I drain the 4Life then filter and reuse.

Nigel

[Colin Lindsay]

Blue Glycol, sometimes that green Prestone stuff from Tescos (when they drop the price to clear!) but if you're replacing hoses, go for good ones - as Doug says they need not be silicone, but some kind of reinforcing, Kevlar or canvas, is needed otherwise they'll split quicker than Santa's trousers on Boxing Day.

[rogerguzzi]

Hello Pet

              Here you go and at a very good price(just had 5lt delivered)

 

Hexeal BLUE ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT | 5L | -37 ºC | High Concentrate/Longlife | eBay

Roger

[Puglet1]

17 hours ago, Nigel Clark said:

Blue glycol antifreeze is the standard recommendation for our classic Triumphs. Around 30% concentration and change every 2 years. If you've got rusty coloured coolant, give the whole system a good flush.

Alternatively, flush the system and refill with premixed 4Life coolant, stocked in the club shop, which has superior corrosion inhibitors and can last at last 10 years in my experience.

Nigel

Hi Nigel.

Thank you. Knowing the percentages is really helpful.

Pete.

[Puglet1]

14 hours ago, GrahamB said:

I bought 5 litres of the blue antifreeze concentrate and dilute it to the required concentration when needed.  I have never used the 4Life coolant as nearly every year I have to at least partially drain the system to replace a hose, remove the inlet manifold or replace a seal.  On my Spitfire I have yet to find a method of draining coolant without contaminating it so lasting 10 years is purely academical and the standard antifreeze is a lot more economical. 

Hi GrahamB.

Yes, I guess we are going to be doing various bits and bobs on our 50+year old triumphs so it probably makes sense to use Blue glycol.

Thanks for your opinion.

Pete.

[Puglet1]

8 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

One of ours at East Berks bought a Vitesse, decided to do a service and drained the coolant only to realise, too late, it was 4life! An expensive mistake. Silicone hoses? How long do you intend to keep the car? I changed mine for standard and after 7 years I'm periodically checking too see if they're OK.  Silicone will last much longer and you can get pretty colours , but even black are expensive!

Doug

Hi dougbgt6.

You’ve just brought some reality back into my life. It’s probably how long I’m going to be around to enjoy the car? It’s so easy to look at buying the best materials (silicone) ones and overlook the obvious. Search will start for high quality standard hoses now 👍.

Thank you.

Pete.

[Puglet1]

2 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Blue Glycol, sometimes that green Prestone stuff from Tescos (when they drop the price to clear!) but if you're replacing hoses, go for good ones - as Doug says they need not be silicone, but some kind of reinforcing, Kevlar or canvas, is needed otherwise they'll split quicker than Santa's trousers on Boxing Day.

Hi Colin.

It looks like it’s going to be blue glycol with either Kevlar or canvas hoses.

I’d rather not experience the same as Santa if I can help it 😂

Thanks for your help and putting a smile on my face 👍

Pete.

[Puglet1]

1 hour ago, rogerguzzi said:

Hello Pet

              Here you go and at a very good price(just had 5lt delivered)

 

Hexeal BLUE ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT | 5L | -37 ºC | High Concentrate/Longlife | eBay

Roger

Hi Roger.

Thankyou for your help.

 I’ll check it out.

Pete.

[rogerguzzi]

5 hours ago, Puglet1 said:

Hi Roger.

Thankyou for your help.

 I’ll check it out.

Pete.

Hello Pete

                 It tells you the ratio to use for different temperatures on the bottle

Roger

[PeteH]

I`ve been doing some service work on Plum, in the course of which I checked the Antifreeze concentration. It`s reading -22, which in my view will be sufficient. However the colour of the coolant, to my surprise, was Pink?. Reading on the `net is somewhat confusing as it appears unlike "the old days" when all you got was Blue there is now a plethora of "Gay" shade`s, some of which indicate incompatable formulations. I would hazard a guess that this is either ethylene glycol or maybe propylene glycol, but which is which? and can they be mixed?. As most of you will be aware, it`s sadly not as if I can ring and ask the P.O. I have a shed load of the bog standard "Blue" type, but just a little concerned about using it. I supose the "safe" way would be a drain.flush etc; but not in my gargage and the Motohome parked in front makes taking it out a bit of a marathon. The hoses all look good I think Jeff, had recently changed them.

Pete

[Pete Lewis]

i think pink is generally  OAT  you cant mix it with BLUE it will jellify.

dont think pink is advised on old cast block motors as there will always be residue of the previous blue stuff , blue has improved over the years way back it disolved alloy parts they developed a alloy compatible call AA  that seems to have disappeared .

i think if you want to use blue you need a strong mix of washing soda to clean out all the system 

then refill with blue , do not take the chance of mixing blue and pink as the air will be blue !!!

im sure there will be a lot of bright ideas about the Pink stuff 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

I was very surprised to find my BMW takes the blue stuff, which makes things very simple for my garage. Of course everyone else's modern takes pink, and the Herald estate is now on the green Prestone stuff (reduced to £10.50 for 5l in Tescos.)

I don't know if that stuff can be mixed with anything else, there are no warnings on the container, but I'm still using it on a completely drained system with no residue of anything else in the engine already.

[Richeee]

This happened to myself. 

 

Not sure if it was K Seal, Blue ,Pink or any other colour of the rainbow.   

if im not sure it all comes out to be replaced by one type.

Once bitten.........

[PeteH]

One of the more confusing things, that is apparent, is that some "glycol" based products come themselves in a variety of "Gay" colours too. The current stuff looks clean, suggesting it`s not long been in, and as it`s recording a decent level of protection. My gut feeling is to leave it until she comes out of hibernation for the "season" and then do a full flush and refill, probably along the lines Pete was suggesting, and on the gravel frontage rather than my garage floor.

Pete

[DanMi]

The colour of coolant doesn't mean much at all any more, some can be had in multiple colours so you really have to go by the chemistry. Penrite do a blue longlife OAT https://penriteclassicoils.co.uk/product/7-year-blue-coolant-anti-freeze-premix/#:~:text=Penrite 8-Year Blue Coolant,degredation of the cooling system. but it can also be pink green etc depending on manufacturer

[johny]

In the end I find one of the biggest factors is how bright the coolant colour is so you can easily confirm the overflow pipe and bottle (if fitted) are correct...

[daverclasper]

8 hours ago, PeteH said:

when all you got was Blue there is now a plethora of "Gay" shade`s

Not like the good old blue "nasty, right wing, shades, eh?.

Nice to be a inclusive club, eh?

 

[Stratton Jimmer]

I have Evans Classic Cool 180 in both cars on the basis that these are old engines and the last thing I need is corrosion from within the water jacket. The Sixfire has silicone hoses while the GT6 has standard hoses and both seem to be fine. If needs be, I drain the system, filter the coolant and re-use it topping up with a few egg cups of new stuff.

[johny]

Is it good for confirming your vent pipe is full?