Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Any Preferred Method You Guys Recommend?

Best Mix, How To Mix, Do i Need Distilled Water?

Thanks
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Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

50 /50 mix works down to -20 deg F or more and keeps pump seals happy.
I use distilled if I have it it but usually regular water and I've never had corrosion problems.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Same here. I always buy undiluted antifreeze although it's getting harder to find.... why pay nearly as much for something that's half water?

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

It's relly handy to have an empty jug to. That way you can just dump half of the consintrate in the the empty then fill them both up.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Here in central Missouri, a 50/50 mix is the ticket. I buy the concentrate and pour half in an older empty bottle...add water, mark the bottles with the word "mix'd" and carry on. I use well water that has some hardness, but not much. Some well water would be too hard IMO and store bought filtered or distilled would be much better.

Under an emergency situation where you too lazy to go to the store...an occasional adding of harder well water isn't going to take the truck down, but I would not make a habit of filling a system that has that slow unknown leak regularly with a hard water mix.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

That's my method too!

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Trying to not be a hoarder. Usually don't have an empty, end up using a milk jug.

Got away from it. Now keep 1 marked 50/50. When it's empty, I mix up more in the 50/50 jug. So I keep 1 premix and a few sealed concentrates.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

I keep one of my used antifreeze jugs and pour half of the new one in it. Then I add a half gallon of distilled water and I've got two jugs ready to use.

And you really do need to use distilled water.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Here is 50/50 mix and dont use tap water you have no idea what the mineral content is . For 98 cents a gallon buy distilled specially if you have aluminum in any part of the system.

But best cooling as I have been told is 70%water 30%antifreeze

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

My same method and always use distilled water. Haven't had a radiator leak in can't remember when. Mark jugs as "50/50 New"

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

I've never used distilled water. Just get it right out of the out side tap. Never had a problem. The antifreeze has anticarosive inhibitors in it. But I gess if you want to be safe then by all means use distilled.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

This ×2
For 98 cents use the distilled water. Then you know you are good

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

I never owned one of those anti-freeze measuring gizmos. When I started driving I read the charts for the mix/temp range and figured 50/50 was sufficient for my situation and have mixed it that way ever since. It's not hoarding to keep one empty jug around, it's being smart. The empties are useful for other things as well. I keep an empty oil jug, too, for carrying used oil to disposal site.

I don't need to mark my mixed anti-freeze in concentrate jugs. If the seal is broken it's mixed.

Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate
 

Every region has differing mineral content in it's tap water, where I live it's so hard you can almost drive nails with it .

As mentioned, shopping around will net you $1 or less distilled water and it's foolish not to use it because you discover you should have used it by the scale that builds up in the cooling system out of sight....

I'm in a Desert clime so I use 60/40, the 40 % being coolant .

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Yep. That's how I do it.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

I just keep a jug of both distilled water and unmixed handy. If I fill a new application, I put a gallon of both and then go half a gallon (or quart) of each until it's full.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

Make sure you run the engine to mix it is there's a danger of a freeze soon thereafter. They won't mix naturally sitting in the system, and the water can still freeze.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

A zinc anode installed in place of the drain petcock is also a good preventative measure against corrosion. I have an aluminum radiator as a lot of us do and it is cheap insurance.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

I use the same method.

Distilled water isn't used to prevent corrosion; it's used to prevent deposits.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

And what's all this talk about concentrate? It's either antifreeze/coolant or it's mix. That concentrated lingo is marketing jargon. It's not a concentrate, it's just straight anti-freeze. Same as ever. It's their way of reversing the mentality to take thoughts away from the fact that it is just 50% antifreeze/coolant you are buying. Next, they'll be telling us the water they use is something better than what we can get.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

agree.

Re: Mixing Antifreeze Concentrate?
 

You want exactly 50-50 in your cooling system. 50-50 will get you to -40 degrees.

The proper way to fill a system is as follows:

Find your owners manual. It will tell you how much coolant your systems needs. Usually in quarts. Say it says 20 quarts.

After you flush or drain or are done with whatever you are doing, put 10 quarts of pure, undiluted anti-freeze in your system.

Top off the system with pure water.

Start the engine with the radiator cap off.

You need to "burp" the system. The level in the radiator will rise as the engine warms up so have a catch pan under your still open fill neck.

Once you see a good flow coming out of the fins inside the radiator, pour in what you caught in your catch pan and then fill the radiator to the top with water.

Install cap. Done.

Unless you are starting with a totally rebuilt system (engine, heater core, hoses, etc.) you're going to have flush water in the system. By putting half of the required anti-freeze side of the 50-50 mix in the system you know all you need is water to make it 50-50. You also need to burp it so you get all the trapped air bubbles out.

After this point, if you puke some out in the spring or fix a small leak, top off with 50-50 and you're good even for a Minnesota winter.