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[Jonmabbitt]

What antifreeze  are people using I need to get some as I brought my cambelt n water pump just need that now
Thanks

[Bigron]

We will all advise different brands/prices!
However, quoting from a Maintenance Guide on here, the cooling system holds about 9 litres, half of which will remain if you clean and flush with water, so if you use 5 litres of concentrated antifreeze, plus the 4 or so litres of plain water that remains in the system, it will be at the correct 50/50 strength when all is up and running.

Ron.

[tunnie]

I used to by from Vauxhall on Trade Club prices, but I no longer have access. 

I’ll probably wait for a 50% deal at Eurocarparts, then order a load off them and flush the system.

[Jonmabbitt]

Cheers I'll have a look on euro parts

[robson]

Isnt there a coolant for aluminium engines which is different to that for cast iron.I use the pink from GM.

[mandula]

Recently changed fluids, refilled with this GM DEXCOOL 5L G12 RED:
http://www.motonet.fi/fi/tuote/609877/GM-DexCool-pakkasneste-5l-G12-punainen

[biggriffin]

I use the blue stuff mixed with distilled water,

[Nick W]

Red or blue are both good enough. But they're not compatible and flushing it all out is a horrible job, so use whatever is in there.


As for what brand to use, that's a personal choice based on cost and convenience, as you'll never notice a difference between them.

[terry paget]

I use the blue stuff mixed with distilled water,

That is the old ethylene glycol antifreeze, like they used during the war in Spitfires, dyed blue and still sold as Bluecol. Nothing wrong with it in iron engines, but not to be mixed with the pink stuff, like Halfords OAT (organic additive technology), which the Rover Streetwise manual insists I use in their all alloy engine. Halfords OAT antifreeze was quite pricey I recall, but I meekly bought some as instructed. Reading the GM Dexcool can I later learned that was the same stuff, and cheaper. I bought 20 litres of Dexcool trade club for £24 inc. VAT in December 2017, that's cheaper than 29.90 euros for 5 litres, quoted above.

[TheBoy]

Red or blue are both good enough. But they're not compatible and flushing it all out is a horrible job, so use whatever is in there.

They are compatible, but you still need to flush to get benefit of the longer life.

I prefer to change the coolant at half the stated interval, so annually for blue, 2-3yrs for red, as it starts to degrade from the second it goes it.



To the OP, I personally use GM Dexcool, via Trade Club.  Based on price and convenience.

[TheBoy]

I used to by from Vauxhall on Trade Club prices, but I no longer have access. 

Ring round dealers again, you'll likely find they now do do it, now they are all used to the new rules and have jumped through the hoops.

[New POD]

If you want to know how good your coolant is, take a little out and put it in the freezer overnight. If it's frozen, you know it's a bit weak.

[BazaJT]

When DLK changed my cam belt he also changed the water pump,to refill the system I used the blue stuff as I had some to hand.This turned an opaque green for some reason Radiator recently changed and system again filled with blue with same result as to colour changing to opaque green so don't know what's going on there.

[Doctor Gollum]

Still got red in it...

[cam.in.head]

the red is ok and. think is supposed to last 5 years but depends on make. the gm dexcool does but must be changed then as there were issues with it “going off” after being left in too long or mixing with other types. i used to fill everything with bluecol ‘blue’ but its not as widely available here.