Coolant Question

[colkai]

I've just had my Fabia serviced, it was also leaking coolant.

The garage has drained the coolant as they said it was too diluted and have put G11 coolant (blue) in instead of G12.

The manual says you should use G12 coolant to avoid corrosion to the heater matrix and engine damage, is this a real danger or is G11 coolant ok?
Is it just a way to get you to buy G12 from dealers or is there actually a real danger to running G11 rather than G12.

I am given to understand the engine in the 1.4MPI for the 2002 model is more or less the same as the Felicia pushrod engine. My old Felly ran on G11 coolant it's whole life (10 years 140,000 miles) without any corrosion / engine damage problem.

I know every car shop I've called at only sells G11 coolant, if G12 is so crucial to all cars that are even remotely "new", (i.e. less than 5 years old), how come you can only get G12 from dealers?

I know you shouldn't mix them, but seeing as the system was drained before the G11 was introduced, I'm presuming the danger of 'sludging' isn't a problem, would that be right?

Does anyone else out there run G11 in their Fabias? Or should I get in contact with the garage and tell them to re-drain the system, flush it, and only put G12 back in?

I know the garage services many Fabias and Octys, (indeed, they run 2 Octys themselves), I'm guessing they put the same stuff in their cars.

Should I be concerned? Or is it just one of those "recommend to only use genuine parts" type things and providing the two coolants aren't actually mixed, my car should be ok?

[Lummox]

How odd, G11 hasnt been in dealers for around four years. G11 and G12 were replaced by G12+ which is interchangeable.

Your correct the engines are pretty much the same, however the heater matrix is designed for G12(+) and G11 will block it sooner or later.

It should have G12+ in it, I would change it if I were you.

[ric04vrs]

serious question Ross , what does the G11 coolant do to the matrix to block it , chemical reaction ? i've heard of some types off coolant reacting with the O-ring seals etc

[Lummox]

I've seen some factory cars that were mixed up coolant wise (that was around 1996 though..lol) and it congeals and blocks the core up so the cooling system doesnt circulate, not sure exactly why.

[colkai]

How big a job is changing it?
Is it something that can be done easily by me? How would I go about "flushing" the system to make sure it is good and properly clean?

If I can get hold of G12+, would it matter if a bit of G11 was 'clinging' around someplace? (Not that I'd just drain off, refill and then hope for the best).

The last time I flushed out a cooling system was back in the early 80's on an old fiesta, all I did then was undo the lower pipe to the radiator, let it drain out then slap a few watering cans full of clean water in the top cap of radiator, then drain that off. Then I just tightened up the lower pipe and filled with a couple of bottles of anti freeze and water.

I'm guessing these days, it's not that simple, the under-bonnet of the Fabia is a myriad of pipes and tubes, very scary to an "old boy".

[colkai]

Ok,
Found me some 'correct' antifreeze, I think, if I can
I'd rather try and do the flush / refill myself rather than pay a
garage an hours labour to do it, but if it involves taking anything off the car,
I may just get them to do it.

I won't be able to do it until a week on Saturday, I'm presuming that it's not likely
to do any harm just having the G11 for just that short period of time?


1) I know you have to take off the undertray whatsit, but can a flush-out be
done without taking anything off the car?
- Does the Fabia 1.4MPI engine have a similar
setup to the Felicia engine, with large hoses going to the top/bottom of the
radiator and the thermostat housing?
- Would working through these area (hoses) be enough?


2) Should I buy any 'flushing' fluid? Or should a hose-pipe stuck in a couple of
areas be enough?

3) Though the manual says you shouldn't mix the coolants, would I be right in
assuming that if the 'mix' was "trace" that sludging wouldn't be a worry?
After all, I presume you can never guarantee a 100% clear-out?


4) During the process of flushing / clear-out, is it safe to run the engine on just water?


I was thinking of doing the following, let me know if this is good / bad:

Take the cap off the coolant expansion bottle, undo the bottom radiator hose and let it drain.
Undo the top hose (assuming I can find it), stick a hose-pipe in the radiator and wash it out
as much as possible.

undo the hose to the thermostat housing and run water through that if I can.
run water through the coolant bottle to clear out as much from there as well.

Put the hoses back on, fill will just water. Start the car and let it circulate
the water for a couple of minutes. Let it cool for a few mins, repeat the above flush out.

Maybe do the same once more.

Then put the hoses on for a final time, pour alternate amounts of water and G12 in until it was at Max
in the bottle, (well, basically a 50/50 mix), put the cap back on the coolant bottle.
Start the car, run whilst keeping an eye on the coolant level in the bottle.
Top up, run the car for a little longer, check & top up.
Then take the car out for a proper 10 or 15 minute run before doing a final check on the level.
(I'm also likely to keep a ready-mixed bottle in the car for a bit to be on the safe side)


So is this enough? It is too much? or am I just better leaving it to a garage?


Bear in mind, as I've said previously, it's been a long time since I worked on cars.
I did use to do pretty much anything, replace trailing arms, brakes, clutches, driveshafts,
do points, tappets etc... Just these 'overworked' engines tend to put me off working on them.

(Used to be you could see anything you needed to work on a car, these are just wires and pipes).


I admit, I'm probably being way over-cautious here.

[ScoobyChris]

Any reason why you haven't taken it back to the dealer/garage and told them to put the correct spec coolant in it (as per the handbook!) FOC?

Chris

[Lummox]

Originally Posted by ScoobyChris

Any reason why you haven't taken it back to the dealer/garage and told them to put the correct spec coolant in it (as per the handbook!) FOC?

Chris

Just what I was thinking.

[colkai]

Basically, the garage is 20-odd miles away, I'm not going to be "home" at weekend, which is the only time I normally get down there as it is about 50 miles away from where I work as work is 25 miles in the opposite direction from home, so no way I can get teh car to him during the working week.

I could give them a call I guess, it'd still be the same day as I would get to do it myself.
I just figured, if it's summat that would take under an hour to do, I could do it faster than it would take me to travel down there, get it done and travel back, which would take about 3 hours all told.

Yeah, I totally take your point, to be honest, I'm a bit suprised as it's the first time this garage has ever failed me.
EDIT: I must admit, I did mean to point out to him about only using G12 but with all the other things I'd asked him to check, it slipped my mind.