Radiator/Engine Coolant Reccomendations

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Afternoon all,

I'm hoping to get some advise and recommendations Radiator/Engine Coolant for mine and my dad's 240Z? (I understand this subject is somewhat of a tin of worms).

I've done quite bit of research and trawling though the net reading various different opinions on the subject however the only real answer I have got is to buy IAT coolant rather than OAT due to the age of our cars.

I found the below linked thread on here however from my searches online I've only really found either modern OAT coolant or the more fancy long life stuff.

http://zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20756&highlight=reccomended+coolant

Can anyone send me a link to where I can get some bog standard IAT coolant in order that I can just do a flush and change on my 240Z? and can anyone advise what the system's capacity is?

Thanks in advance :)
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Being a thickie - what is IAT and OAT please ?

I always use winter coolant all-year round - the luminescent yellow stuff. Can advise upon capacity this evening when home.
 

cosworth415

Club Member
What about that new stuff that contains no water they used it on wheeler dealers a while back, no rust and apparently lasts forever.
 

SacCyclone

Club Member
I did a little reading on Evans and found that it uses no water, builds little to no pressure in the system, but does INCREASE water temps slightly over 50/50 anti-freeze / water blend. It is expensive but does almost eliminate corrosion in the system.

A old mechanic friend of mine told me that it is best to use distilled water with the anti-freeze to help prevent corrosion in the system.



I
 

toopy

Club Member
Being a thickie - what is IAT and OAT please ?

I always use winter coolant all-year round - the luminescent yellow stuff. Can advise upon capacity this evening when home.

The abbreviations refer to the technology used in the corrosion protection component of a coolant. IAT is Inorganic Additive Technology (often termed Conventional Technology), OAT is Organic Additive Technology

For Z's its the IAT or conventional Glycol stuff, normally blue or green and lasts 2yrs

modern cars use the OAT stuff, normally orange/red and lasts 5yrs, now replaced by a slightly modified product, generally a purple colour

Some good info here http://www.cgj.com/2013/05/20/what-are-the-different-types-of-antifreeze-and-can-i-mix-them/
 

toopy

Club Member
A old mechanic friend of mine told me that it is best to use distilled water with the anti-freeze to help prevent corrosion in the system.

I use RO water (Reverse Osmosis) 99% pure, for mine, the benefits of having an aquarium and needing excellent quality water from the mains :thumbs:
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
What about that new stuff that contains no water they used it on wheeler dealers a while back, no rust and apparently lasts forever.

I have been considering it to be honest however I have my reservations. Other than the fact it is significantly more expensive to put in (not that cost is a massive concern) if I'm ever away and the car develops a leak or has an issue and I need to top up the system then I doubt I'll just be able to obtain spare fluid to add immediately. If I go with the more old school approach while its higher maintenance in terms of changing it every couple of years, in the event of an emergency finding distilled water will pretty easy by comparison and worst case if I only have tap water then I won't ruin the coolant.

I'm not sure how true it is or not however due to the ridiculously high boiling temp of say Evans (180 Celsius) its still possible for the coolant to reach very high temps which could still cause damage to the engine regardless of whether its boiled or not, so its not fool proof from what I've heard.

I'm sure I'm probably being overprotective and it will be fine however I'm happy to go with what Nissan used back in the day. 'If it ain't broke then don't fix it' :)

This is a standard iat. http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...egoryId=255224&productId=995523&storeId=10001

An alternative to consider: if you don't allow your car/engine to get below freezing, you don't need antifreeze. You do need anticorrosion and you can get that with water wetter, which offers cooling nearly as good as the evans stuff.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181098558961

Perfect thank you kind sir, the car gets used all year round and has already seen use at -5 so I'd rather be safe than sorry tbh.

Being a thickie - what is IAT and OAT please ?

I always use winter coolant all-year round - the luminescent yellow stuff. Can advise upon capacity this evening when home.

The abbreviations refer to the technology used in the corrosion protection component of a coolant. IAT is Inorganic Additive Technology (often termed Conventional Technology), OAT is Organic Additive Technology

For Z's its the IAT or conventional Glycol stuff, normally blue or green and lasts 2yrs

modern cars use the OAT stuff, normally orange/red and lasts 5yrs, now replaced by a slightly modified product, generally a purple colour

Some good info here http://www.cgj.com/2013/05/20/what-are-the-different-types-of-antifreeze-and-can-i-mix-them/

What he said ;)

I use euro car parts for mine as they have regular discount days/weekends etc of 25% or more off

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/c...reenwash/blue-antifreeze/?523770471&0&cc5_865

Fantastic I thin you may be onto a winner as there's a Eurocarparts that I'll be dropping past on Saturday anyway :thumbs:
 

Huw

Club Member
What about that new stuff that contains no water they used it on wheeler dealers a while back, no rust and apparently lasts forever.

I'm using Evans waterless coolant. It is good stuff and it runs at far less pressure than normal water antifreeze coolant in the cooling system. So doesn't stress the cooling system components. You can remove the radiator cap whilst at operating temperature with no problems. ( not that I suggest that's good practice :)) Yes it does run slightly hotter,not that much more and the temperature does not seem to rise above normal whilst in heavy traffic for extended periods.

You do however have to ensure there is no water left in your cooling system before you use it and that your cooling system is in good condition.. They do sell a cooling system flush to remove the water first. Which again is added expense.

As I was rebuilding my cooling system from scratch with new components after an engine rebuild I thought I would give it a try. Oh and you can reuse it if you do need to work on your cooling system at a later date.

Been good so far.

Huw
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Cooling capacities :

L24 1.75 Imp gallons (8 litres)
L26 2.1 Imp gallons (9.4litres)

L28 ?

With auto boxes ?
 

Paul_S

Club Member
<snip>
Fantastic I thin you may be onto a winner as there's a Eurocarparts that I'll be dropping past on Saturday anyway :thumbs:

As toopy says, Eurocarparts have VERY regular discounts. It's worth signing up to receive their emails as sometimes you get a 'special' online discount code. I do that sometimes (with click and collect as I have one very local to me) and it often works out cheaper than just walking into the shop.
 

Huw

Club Member
L28 9.7liters without a reservior 10.5 litres with a reservior.
Auto box makes no difference as oil pipe passes through the bottom of the radiator.
 

Paul_S

Club Member
Oh, and great thread by the way! I probably wouldn't have realised there is a difference between the stuff modern and classics use.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Cooling capacities :

L24 1.75 Imp gallons (8 litres)
L26 2.1 Imp gallons (9.4litres)

L28 ?

With auto boxes ?

Thank you very much kind sir, just the answer I was looking for :cheers:

As toopy says, Eurocarparts have VERY regular discounts. It's worth signing up to receive their emails as sometimes you get a 'special' online discount code. I do that sometimes (with click and collect as I have one very local to me) and it often works out cheaper than just walking into the shop.
Oh, and great thread by the way! I probably wouldn't have realised there is a difference between the stuff modern and classics use.


Also useful knowledge, thanks for sharing. Its kinda convenient when you have these local stores :)

Important info to check as from my limited understanding the modern stuff will start eating the rubber seals and can damage materials like brass and copper etc which aren't found in modern engines. All in the name of progress....
 

johnymd

Club Member
I've been using evens for around 4 years now. You will need to get every single bit of water out of the system or it will pressurise just like water. The flushing fluid help remove the water but then you need to get all of that out ideally. My system is still under pressure when the engine is hot so I guess there's is some water still in the system.

I've been using it for all the wrong reason which is to allow me to get away with running the engine hot for short periods of time and not lose all the coolant. Specifically at Spa, I always used to boil over at the end of the long straights. The turbo's would heat the water so much being on full boost for an extended period of time that the radiator just couldn't get rid of the heat quick enough. Using evens allows me to reach 130*C without lose of coolant. The engine would then cool to around 110-115 for the rest of the lap.

Like everything, there are advantages and disadvantages.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Euro car parts also do free delivery, and it nearly always turns up within 2 days, sometimes next day, i havnt actually set foot inside the store for over a couple of years now ;)

http://www.eurocarparts.com/delivery-information

I got 25% off thanks :cheers:

I've been using evens for around 4 years now. You will need to get every single bit of water out of the system or it will pressurise just like water. The flushing fluid help remove the water but then you need to get all of that out ideally. My system is still under pressure when the engine is hot so I guess there's is some water still in the system.

I've been using it for all the wrong reason which is to allow me to get away with running the engine hot for short periods of time and not lose all the coolant. Specifically at Spa, I always used to boil over at the end of the long straights. The turbo's would heat the water so much being on full boost for an extended period of time that the radiator just couldn't get rid of the heat quick enough. Using evens allows me to reach 130*C without lose of coolant. The engine would then cool to around 110-115 for the rest of the lap.

Like everything, there are advantages and disadvantages.

Useful insight there, I think this solution probably makes the most sense in high power applications such as yours or as earlier stated in this thread if you are overhauling the system and replacing all of the components meaning there will be no water in the system.

As always it seems to be horses for courses depending on your application, certainly both have their pro's and con's however it sounds as though its difficult to make the most effective use of this product without fully draining the system of every drop of water having flushed it which is easier said than done.

Thanks everyone for their input its been really informative as always :thumbs:
 

Paul_S

Club Member
I'm digging up this old thread to ask a question (or maybe 2!)

I assume that these 2 products are the same, except for one being the concentrate and the other being the correct (I assume!) dilution:

Concentrate --> https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/...reenwash/blue-antifreeze/?523770471&0&cc5_865
Ready mixed --> https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/...r-fluids/blue-antifreeze/?523770501&0&cc5_865

Does anyone know a benefit to using the pre-mixed stuff? I would like to think they've mixed it with something other than tap water and it might be kinder to the coolant system because if it. Or am I being too optimistic?!
 
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