89
votes
Accepted
Can salt water be used in place of antifreeze?
Uh ... absolutely not. Salt water will cause corrosion with in the engine block. Salt water is an electrolyte, so will pass electricity which will cause electrolysis. Also, it might be able to handle ...
- 153k
31
votes
Accepted
Why would a mechanic crank heater to maximum
If the cooling system is drained, it needs to be refilled and all air needs to be removed. The mechanic turns the heater on to allow coolant through the heater core to be sure all air is being removed....
- 3,032
30
votes
Accepted
What is the point of changing coolant if it gets constantly replaced?
The logic behind replacing the coolant, rather than just topping it off, is to remove impurities.
If the reason you have to add to it is that there is a slow leak somewhere, you may get by with just ...
- 316
29
votes
Can salt water be used in place of antifreeze?
Terrible idea.
The salt will precipitate and block the radiator fins
Of course you know you can dissolve things like salt into water. You probably also know there's a limit to how much it can hold - ...
24
votes
Accepted
Is it Safe to Drive With Low Engine Coolant?
"Is it safe to continue driving with low coolant as long as I continue to watch the temperature gauge? "
No, the temp sensor reads coolant temperature, if the coolant gets low enough to be below the ...
- 8,010
23
votes
What is the point of changing coolant if it gets constantly replaced?
You shouldn't be constantly replenishing the coolant - if you are, there's probably something wrong with your car!
Modern car cooling systems are designed to be almost maintenance free, so you ...
- 28.7k
23
votes
Accepted
Switching engine coolant with similar properties oil
There's a very straightforward answer to this question: Water has a much, much higher capability to transfer heat than oil.
Even if you were able to overcome the safety and design issues brought up ...
- 1,134
14
votes
Accepted
How do I troubleshoot the source of oil in my coolant?
Number one answer is always Head Gasket. The reason is that there are oil and water passages in close proximity, being separated by a gasket (which might just be flimsy paper or rubber, but is often ...
- 1,935
13
votes
Accepted
50/50 Coolant Dilution after distilled water flush?
Yes what you presume is correct. Depending on total volume of coolant (different for each vehicle) how much pure AF I put in, anywhere from 1/2 to 1 gallon, then top off with 50/50 mix.
It is better ...
- 8,010
13
votes
Accepted
What is this sticker on the coolant expansion tank trying to tell me?
There are two kinds of coolant long life and conventional.
Conventional coolant uses silicate salts as a "preservative" per se. They help to reduce corrosion and what not.
Long life coolant uses ...
- 16k
12
votes
Is it Safe to Drive With Low Engine Coolant?
If you do not have any leaks, then your coolant is most likely getting burned and/or going into your oil. My guess is going to be a problem with your head gasket or some crack or warping in the head. ...
11
votes
Accepted
What actually happens when there is not enough coolant in a car engine?
What is engine coolant?
Engine coolant is a water and antifreeze solution. Because water has good properties as a coolant, antifreeze is used in internal combustion engines and other heat transfer ...
- 7,927
11
votes
The purpose of covering the grill during cold weather
I can see a few reasons to do this:
The weather in some places will be so cold that even with the thermostat fully closed the cooling system isn't able to warm the engine up to operating temperatures....
- 39.1k
11
votes
50/50 Coolant Dilution after distilled water flush?
The coolant capacity of the 2004 TOYOTA COROLLA 1.8L 4-cyl Engine Code [R] 1ZZ-FE is 6.9 quarts. To accurately ensure you have a 50/50 mix in your system after a flush (assuming you actually flush it ...
- 153k
10
votes
I've got oil in my coolant but no coolant in the oil - Ford Triton V10 Motorhome
If it has an engine oil cooler, that is most likely the problem, a faulty oil cooler, some are made into the radiator, others have heater hoses running to a remote oil cooler, and a few I have seen ...
- 8,010
10
votes
Is it Safe to Drive With Low Engine Coolant?
First, you do need to find out where the coolant is going. There is UV dye that can help with this, and if your car is smoking, that could be a sign that the coolant is leaking into the engine rather ...
- 13.3k
10
votes
My Toyota dealer replaced my water pump and failed to replace my coolant
It is unlikely that you would be able to drive a car without coolant for three weeks. I suspect what actually happened is that there was a coolant leak, possibly (probably) as a result of the work ...
- 23.5k
10
votes
Oil Cooled vs Water Cooled
I am assuming that by cooling you are referring as to which Engine cooling systems are better in particular scenarios...
Oil-cooled:
Traditional Oil-cooled engines are most commonly found in passenger ...
- 101
10
votes
Accepted
Rusty coloured coolant?
From your description it doesn't seem like oil.
As for why it continues to look brown, you probably haven't flushed it enough times. When I had an oil-in-coolant condition on one of my vehicles, it ...
- 39.1k
9
votes
Losing coolant fast after just fixing radiator
They may not have bled your cooling system properly
As a possibility, if you had air trapped in your cooling system it would expand as the engine approached operating temperature.
It would ...
- 33k
9
votes
Is it Safe to Drive With Low Engine Coolant?
Its not good to run with low coolant, even worse to run with no coolant. Actually it can be quite disastrous (possibilities include blown head gaskets, seized pistons and a number of expensive ...
- 191
9
votes
Accepted
Evans Waterless Coolant
Hmmm, about the benefits/drawbacks, I first wanted to complain that this stuff only has a heat capacity of 2.6J/(g * K), while water has 4.2J/(g * K). Water has an exceptionally high value, which ...
- 7,047
9
votes
I put Adblu in radiator coolant tank in Peugeot Boxer 435 Onnicar
ADBLU is a mix of uric acid and water, and you don't want acid in your cooling system as it can cause corrosion. It's not a disaster, you just need to drain your coolant out of the system and refill ...
- 16.2k
8
votes
Accepted
How does the coolant disappear?
There are only four places (in general) coolant can go missing:
Out an external leak and onto the ground
Out through the tail pipe getting burnt (turned into steam) because of an internal leak
Into ...
- 153k
8
votes
The purpose of covering the grill during cold weather
This is old, but some of these comments annoy me. I live in Fairbanks AK and drive a 90's diesel Chevy. It takes a 15 minute idle period (in addition to at least an hour with the block heater plugged ...
8
votes
Will my 2002 Mustang make it from California to Iowa?
Any car in good operating condition should be able to make the trip. My advice would be to:
1) Fix any known problems with the car. This includes making sure the spare tire is in good shape and ...
- 410
8
votes
Accepted
Oil Cooled vs Water Cooled
Oil Cooled and Water Cooled are terms used by Manufacturer's to differentiate the slight difference between the cooling systems.
Note that this is specific to only motorcycles as almost all of the
...
- 8,956
8
votes
Accepted
Is it feasible to use the exhaust heat to warm the engine block?
The problem you'll have in extracting heat from your exhaust gases to heat your engine is twofold:
Gases don't generally have a high specific heat capacity so though it's hot, it's not a lot of heat ...
- 1,145
8
votes
Smoke coming from hood. Car turned off . wrong coolant was added..Why wont car turn on or what could be the issue
I'm not a believer in coincidence, so I am 99.9% sure there is a relationship between the oil change and the problems you are having.
It sounds like there has been a catastrophic failure of some sort, ...
- 12.1k
7
votes
Accepted
How can I fix my cracked radiator temporary for a trip? Is there any way to do it?
If you can see and access the crack, a two-part epoxy or something like JB-Weld can be great for a temporary fix. This page shows the process on a metal radiator for a race car, but your fix would be ...
- 13.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible