Changing coolant today , PO using green coolant. The block plugs were too tight and afraid to break them so I left them alone. I mixed whatever was left in engine with pink/orange coolant( aluminium compatible) and spring water of course. Can mixture be a problem?
Second question, where is the temp switch for electric cooling fan? Should fan activate when a/c turned on and or when temp guage is near upper limit?
The fan does work but cant understand when it should run.
Thanks
86.5 A/T 110K

 

The manufacture data says that the two are miscible: the 5 year claimed life is proportionally reduced by the % 'green' left in the system.
The rad thermo switch is located lower front ( driver's) left of the rad.

 

At risk of drawing the rath of the pure coolant crowd, I don't pull the block plugs, but I flush the daylights out of the block. Our local tap water is soft enough that I don't worry about distilled water. So, the block retains about 2 gallons of water. I add 2 gallons of coolant or thereabouts until full. All done. So, in your case I would have flushed with a hose until clear and then added the new coolant. Right now you have a mix of old (worn out) and new coolant. If you are worried about hard water, you could use 4-5 gallons of distilled water as a flush. That would clean out the old coolant sufficiently.

 

The rad thermo switch is located lower front ( driver's) left of the rad

driver's ?

 

If you have a left hand drive car, it's on the left or driver's side. If your car is right hand drive, (I think) it's on the left or passenger's side. We have to make these distictionctions for the people who drive on her majesty's wrong side of the road.

BTW, you should use distilled, not spring water.

 

Yep - good technique! I've even been seen stuffing the garded hose into the pump suction and starting the engine ..... now, that's a flush!

BTW, lower left front of the rad from the drivers perspective .... same spot regardless where the driver sits .... unless he has two left hands or is sitting bassackwards ..

 

A couple of problems with flushing instead of pulling the plugs:

Where is all that crap flowing? Running antifreeze into the storm drain, or where ever, is irresponsible.

After the water flush the mixture may be weak for your needed freeze protection. I need a 50/50 mixture to protect in the annual -20F to -30F cold snaps. Not really pleasant, but the skating rink builds quick!

 

Good point about disposal. I'm afraid I've always used the drain, as although there's a used oil collection point at my local waste disposal centre, I've never seen anywhere for the used coolant.

 

I was told that coolant diluted more than 5:1 is okay to flush down a storm drain.

 

Regarding disposal, I catch my coolant in a large catch pan and then flush it down the toilet. This was after consulting our local county website, which on the "What Can I Do With Unwanted Household Chemicals" page says "Antifreeze as well as many other household products can be disposed into the sanitary sewers (do not dispose into a septic tank system or the stormwater drain)."

Of course, catching the coolant isn't too easy when you're draining the block, as the coolant tends to spray all over the place instead of coming out in a nice stream, but you just do the best you can.

 

Antifreeze can be recycled in some states and reused. County waste disposal facilities will accept drained coolant in small quantities from the public.

Ethylene and propylene glycol products are not considered hazardous by the EPA and generally do not have disposal regulations. Both are rapidly biodegradable and dealt with by water treatment if they do reach a water treatment facility. Coolant, at least of the ethylene glycol variety, is extremely toxic undiluted, but that is due to the way it is metabolized should it be ingested by a person or animal. Diluted to less than 5% it becomes nontoxic. So, either carefully dispose of undiluted drained coolant in a way so there is no opportunity for a child of animal to get to the liquid or heavily dilute it and wash it away on the ground. The only regulations I have seen indicate it should go into a sanitary sewer rather than storm. The worst thing would be to drain it without flushing onto a paved driveway or street and let the undilued pool sit waiting for evaporation to remove it. Standard 50/50 coolant mix evaporates very slowly and, if ethylene glycol-based, presents a serious hazard to animals and children due to its sugary taste and toxic metabolic by-products (converted in the body by an enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase to oxalic acid which precipitates in kidney tubules and leads to profound and irreversible kidney failure unless expert treatment intervenes very quickly to block the metabolism).

 

BillBall, were you a bio major in college?

Klim

 

Two words: wet vac. Best coolant removal system ever. Just remember to take the paper filter out of your shop vac for wet vac duty (someone on the 944 board left the paper filter in when vacuuming out their coolant and did not enjoy the results.)

Your wet vac will be nice and clean afterwards too.
-Joel.

 

I went to a shop for a complete flush and fill, as one of my block drains is permanently in place. They used a machine that backflushes the sytem, catching all the old antifreeze and forcing in new antifreeze, worked great.

 

The block plugs, while often tight, will come loose with the properly sized wrench and some elbow grease. They make a loud 'craaack!' sound when they let go, giving minor heart palpitations to the uninitiated.

I can't recall ever hearing of someone shearing them off in the block. Apply anti-seize coating upon reinstallation.