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Coolent replacement

Started by leepoll, October 25, 2015, 04:08:54 PM

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October 25, 2015, 04:08:54 PM
Hi all
I have just bought new antifreeze for my Galaxy.  Currently it has green in there, but the stuff Halfords sold me is red.  Is this compatible?  The other question is a bit of a dumb one, but where is the lower radiator hose on this car?  Is it the one on the battery side of the radiator?  On the old mk1 that I had it was easy to see, on this mk2 I can't tell what is what.
Thanks for looking.
October 25, 2015, 04:30:14 PM #1
Ok I think I've found where the bottom hose is, its held on by a circlip right?  So if I drain from that, is that going to get most of the old coolent out?
Cheers
October 25, 2015, 09:56:02 PM #2
Colours can not be mixed I'm quite sure.
October 26, 2015, 09:53:33 AM #3
As above, the blue/ green coloured coolant is the older type stuff which has now been replaced by the pink coloured type which is of a different composition and they are not compatible- a little more on that here. Having said that, I'm fairly sure I'm correct in saying that when Ford phased out selling blue antifreeze (I worked for a Ford dealer as a partsman) they introduced a purple coloured antifreeze which was compatible with both types.

In any case, if you don't know how old the old antifreeze is you're best off in just replacing it completely, if you are going to put the different coloured stuff in my advice would be to as you say, drain as much as you can via the lower radiator hose, then flush the system through with clean water from a hosepipe- take a read here.

If you want to be sure you've got all of the old stuff out (due to putting a different type of coolant back in) then it'd also be prudent to either remove the thermostat so you can get all of the coolant in the cylinder jacket out as well or just temporarily refill the system with water after flushing and run the engine up to normal operating temperature (to get the thermostat to open) so that any remaining old type antifreeze is thoroughly diluted and then drain it/ flush it again before refilling with the new stuff.
Always learning..... Often by mistakes!
October 26, 2015, 10:37:58 AM #4
Its also worth disconnecting the pipes tgat run to the rear heater, theres a lot in them
October 26, 2015, 06:02:32 PM #5
drain it, refill it and run till warm...do this a couple of times to get the old stuff out and then put the new pink stuff in.
October 26, 2015, 06:42:03 PM #6
Thanks for the info and advice :) Bigdave, where is the rear heater/pipes?  I,ll end disconnecting the wrong ones haha.  Thanks again all.
October 26, 2015, 07:35:41 PM #7
On the diesels they run down the nearside,ally pipeswith  rubber sections,about 19mm dia . Just undo retaining clip and pry off. Get ready for a wet arm☺☺
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