Coolant question

[yorkie_chris]

Distilled water to be safe.
You don't know what's already in it.

[Dave20046]

see, the signal always works

[Dave20046]

As far as I'm aware you get two types of coolant one is reddy orange; the long life stuff the other is bluey or greeny normal change every 2 year stuff. The blue and greens can be intermixed but if you mix with the posh stuff it might all go a bit....solid. Since it's a triumph they possibly could have splashed out on the posh stuff so might not be worth the risk.

Could be wrong but that's what I've always believed.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Distilled water to be safe.
You don't know what's already in it.

Distilled water it is then untill I can get the mobil stuff

Cheers guys

ok one more thing...
in the manual it reads..

a year round type of antifreeze is installed in the cooling system when it leaves the factory. it is coloured blue, contains a 50% solution of ethylene glycol and has a freezing point of -35c (-31f)

the putoline is blue and says the same as the manual.. only the differance is it says use mobil antifreeze... hmm

also it says..

in an emergancy water alone can be added to the cooling system however the coolant must be returned to its correct mixture ratio asap..

shall i just boil the kettle let it cool and pop that in?

use the putoline as its identical in spec..

nip to the dealer tomorrow and pay over the odds for the mobil stuff?

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by lylej

ok one more thing...
in the manual it reads..

a year round type of antifreeze is installed in the cooling system when it leaves the factory. it is coloured blue, contains a 50% solution of ethylene glycol and has a freezing point of -35c (-31f)

the putoline is blue and says the same as the manual.. only the differance is it says use mobil antifreeze... hmm

also it says..

in an emergancy water alone can be added to the cooling system however the coolant must be returned to its correct mixture ratio asap..

shall i just boil the kettle let it cool and pop that in?

use the putoline as its identical in spec..

nip to the dealer tomorrow and pay over the odds for the mobil stuff?

Manufacturers always team up with a brand in the manuals I always (possibly wrongly) ignore it. If it was my bike I'd put your putoline shiz in....but it ain't so it's up to you.
If it's only like a hundred ml or something though I'd risk the distilled water seeing as we're entering warmer weathers.

boilingthe water doesn't distil the water, what comes out of the kettle (steam) should be distilled though. For the sake of 6 hours milling around your kettle with tin foil and pans I'd nip to a petrol station and part with 50p. Do you know how hard you water is.?

you'd probably find the main dealers dont use what the manual says most of the time! water will be fine but distilled would be best, all the antifreeze needs to cope with is about -15 in this country(roughly, im not a weatherman!) but it woudnt even get that cold if you keep your bike in a garage and there should already be enough solution in there to help prevent corrosion build up in the system.

Some points that might help, in no particular order:

1. Red, blue and green antifreeze all contain ethylene gycol which provides the "anti freeze" characterics of the coolant.

2. Green / blue antifreeze is your normal, bog standard, replace it every two years kind of stuff.

3. The red one is basically the same with different additives which extend the useful life of the solution.

4. Some engines are designed for red exclusively so if its specified use it.

5. Its fine to mix green and blue.

6. Mixing green / blue with red won't do any immediate damage but it will either reduce the life of the solution to less than two years or react and cause the coolant to sludge.

7. If you have problems with lots of limescale in your kettle at home then distilled water is a must. If you don't have any limescale in the kettle then your probably safe enough with tap water.

8. I wouldn't think twice about mixing the same colour antifreeze from two different manufacturers together when doing a top up.

9. If you are in any doubt about the contents or concentration of your coolant do a drain, flush and replace.

[Dave20046]

Confirmation

Out of interest why would the Daytona loose coolant? I turned up at Soho last year and someone pointed out some fluid on the floor which it seems was coolant. I hadn't hammered it and there are no leaks and it wasn't overheating but it seems to have come from an overflow somewhere?

Sorry to derail slightly Lyle.