Hi everyone! I have a Ford Focus MK3, 2.0 Duratec engine, 49k miles, for which I wanted to change the whole coolant/water mix for maintenance purposes.
The manual says the whole capacity is 6.5L, 50% should be concentrated coolant and 50% distilled water.
So I bought 4L of Total coolant (organic, red color); 3L to use for sure and 1L just in case it needs a bit more, aiming to save what’s left.
I brought the 4L to a mechanic who did the whole job. Sadly I wasn’t clear enough and just trusted that he would know but… he actually put all of the 4L of coolant and completed it with distilled water.
So now I guess the car has a mix with approximately 65/35 coolant/water which is not what the manual suggests, but the mechanic told me it is “better” that way.
What do you suggest?
- Do I move on and just keep an eye on the temperature indicator? (I read that coolant’s heat transfer capacity is not as good as water’s).
- Do I, somehow, “adjust” the mix by getting some out of the deposit and filling with water? I don’t know how to “get some out”, but I read some people use turkey basters for removing excess.
- Do I replace everything again? The bad part is all of the cash I spent on the 4L of coolant and the mechanic’s work.
Thank you in advance!
You have a petcock on the radiator.
In theory you have 4L of new coolant and 2.5L of water/residual coolant. Roughly 60:40 for maths.
If you drained 1.25L of coolant from the radiator. You’d remove .75L of new coolant. If you add distilled water, you’ll be closer to 50:50.
A smarter way is to get an inexpensive refractometer, and test the coolant. Maybe wait a week to let the coolant in the overflow reservoir mix.
Im genuinely curious how much you paid the shop to add antifreeze?
You should be completely fine. Next time just get a bottle of premix from the store and pour it in yourself.
They actually flushed the whole cooling system, I doubt I would’ve been able to do it myself since it requires several steps (AFAIK) and I’m new to all of this, but I’ll try to learn for next time.
That makes more sense. YouTube is a phenomenal source of information if you’re willing to try some projects yourself. Lots of step by step DIY videos. Good luck in the future. You should be fine with the mixture your mechanic put in.
Thank you!
Examine the bottles you gave to the mechanic. Most of what I find on store shelves these days is already mixed 50/50. I rarely see concentrate but it’s not completely out of the question. Check the jugs you bought before you spend any more of your time/money on this.
Is this a brand new engine? Using 90/10 concentrate coolant is fine More of the concentrate the more chemicals are in it that will help keep the system clean.
Yes water does have the advantage of being able to dissipate heat more. But you "shouldn’t " have to worry about that unless you live in a hot climate, ie 35°c+ average thoughout the week.
But if you really want to you can drain some into a tub/jar and top it up with distilled water. Then find an appropriate place to dispose the hazardous chemicals.
Not a new engine, it’s the one that came with the car if that’s what you mean.
Yeah, in my country summer will start soon and 35°C is not unusual, so I will try to drain some and replace with water. Thank you!
Drain the whole system. Mix fresh in a bucket. Learn from this, move on.
Too much concentrate is not ideal. It can cause problems on some engines. The best solution is to drain about 1 liter from the radiator and replace with 1 liter of distilled water. That will get your mixture closer to 50/50. You can drain from the valve on the bottom of the radiator. An alternative that is less ideal is to drain the overflow container and add distilled water there.
What kind of problems?
Unless you live in alaska then a 70/30 mix is fine.
Further south its nearly ideal year round.
Then there’s me in Florida hoping that my radiator actually has any antifreeze in instead of 100% water when the first freeze comes around
You’d need a refractometer to really know the ratios. Book listed capacity and real world how much fluid it actually needed to be full are two different things. Your “mechanic” owes it to you to get more equal or better coolant and re-do the service.
Just putting this out there for you, a 2015 Focus takes Motorcraft Yellow coolant, which actually looks fairly green… Not sure exactly what you put into your car but make sure it will be safe in your car regardless. I wouldn’t worry about the ratio though, most cars allow between 40-70% water depending on the climate.
I think you need to take a Xanax and relax.
While not ideal, it’s likely just fine. If you leave it in, just keep an eye on temperatures. Other than possibly being a bit warmer (though unlikely), there are no other concerns here.
Why would coolant be a bit warmer? Are you aware that antifreeze suggests “non-freezing?” I’m sure you have heard that people can put water in radiator. People can pee in radiator. Doesn’t matter what’s inside for the liquid to transfer engine heat to radiator. Any liquid can basically work to take engine combustion temps and transfer it to radiator to cool off
The problem with piss and water in radiator is the freezing point. When you park your car, water will freeze at 32 degrees. Good thing there is antifreeze which has a way lower freezing point. That’s the main purpose of glycol. To not freeze
You seem to be asking questions while already having your mind made up. Were those rhetorical?
Pure water dissipates heat better than coolants. So it would be logical to say that pure water could keep an engine cooler. Pure coolant would keep an engine a bit hotter. Keeping with this logic, having a 60/40 mix of coolant/water would keep an engine just a bit warmer than a 50/50 mix.
The main two issues with running pure water are freezing point (as you mentioned), and the corrosion protection additives in coolant. If we didn’t have to worry about either of those issues, people would be better off running pure water all the time.
In OPs case, they likely have enough anti-freeze properties in their coolant. It likely won’t over heat. And they likely have enough concentration of anti-corrosion additives as well.
Boiling point doesn’t matter. That’s what the radiator pressure is for. To raise boiling points. Your car operates at 190. Straight water boils at 212. High speed fans kick on at 210-225. Adding pressure to a pressurized system will effectively raise any boiling point of liquids. Your car won’t run hotter or colder. That’s controlled by thermostat.
Antifreeze/coolants MAIN benefit is to prevent freezing when car is off and parked in cold climates.
https://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/pdf/2011/225502.pdf
It looks like 65% antifreeze is ideal.
Your concentration may be even higher than 65%. If they just drained the radiator, you still had the original 50/50 mix sitting in the block and heater core that didn’t drain out. I would get a refractometer and double check it. Drain a liter, fill with distilled. Recheck and adjust accordingly.
Check the bottle labeling to see what the feeeze point will at 65% concentration. If it isn’t low enough drain the antifreeze water mixture and refill with water or antifreeze to get the lowest freeze temp. The freezing temp goes up again as more antifreeze than the optimum amount is added.
Probably fine, most commenters here don’t seem to be aware that water has a better cooling capacity than antifreeze.
I doubt 65/35 would be enough to alter the cooling performance enough to be a problem, unless you track your car or love redline.
Go buy a coolant tester and use it to ensure the coolant is able to withstand the coldest temperatures for your area or more.