Engine Coolant!

[Data]

Hi fellow Muppets. Just a cautionary note some of you may be interested in concerning the above. It's the time of year when this may be of interest. I've just had a Vstrom 1000cc brought to me with a sick cooling system. It's actually my old bike. The owner had decided to top up the cooling system as one of the lower hoses on the bike had leaked some of his coolant out. Now this bike was running on Suzuki's own 2 year life Green engine coolant. He had popped into a motorcycle dealer and been told he could top up with Blue Long lIfe Putoline coolant. You cannot! it won't mix and he is now having to drain, or more precisely, I am draining his engine coolant and refill with the proper stuff. The symptoms are that when you look into the coolant reserve bottle there are globuls of blue floating in the green and it separates out into two distinct colours when the bike has stood for sometime. He has also noticed the engine temperature is slightly higher since topping up. It may be an airlock causing that or the incompatibility of the two coolants, or both! I'm going to use Suzuki Long life Blue coolant which goes 4 years inbetween needing changing. Incidentally, I've found the Putoline coolant is excellent and mixes ok with the Suzuki long life Blue coolant.

The moral of the story is to make sure you get the right stuff for your engine. If in any doubt as to compatibility, do a complete change (including a flush to get every last bit out) as bad things can happen if you get it wrong.

[michaelphillips]

i am just going through doing the water pump repair kit seals, the master engine from the workshop manual states
Monoethylene glycol-based antifreeze 50/50 mix
fluid, CUNA NC 956-16
i did a thorough search, normal ebay search did not pop it up , then found GRANVILLE SUB ZERO
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150916751198? ... 1439.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No silicates, nitrates, amines, borates or phosphates, leading to improved stability and freedom from scale and deposits.

so i have got everything prepared and flushed and just awaiting repair seal kit to arrive then i can finish off, will take photos and post once completed as i am sure other 400/500 master engine users could do it themselves.. so yes data you have to use the proper stuff, good advise not to just put any coolant especially ethanol and silicate based coolant.. when you have an engine made of aluminium and magnesium parts.

[Data]

Mike, I see you are up on your antifreeze. Pics are always nice if you have the time. May help someone. Good luck mate!

[Bluebottle]

Timely advice, thanks

Screen wash definately doesn't work either.
You just get loads of foam in the engine bay and the system never seals again no matter how much you tighten everything up.

So if anybody offers you bulk screen wash, don't decant it into an antifreeze container and forget to take the old label off

[halfabusa]

Thanks for the heads up Data. It's a shame a dealer would give wrong advice on such simple matters as coolants. They probably didn't know the difference mixing the two up themselves but that doesn't make an excuse...

I myself never cared about the coolant in the past and just topped up my bikes/cars with any old coolant i could find, be it from halfords value range or poundshop! Never done a flush or change either, no matter how old the bikes/cars were... I guess it's a bit of luck too that plays into how your cooling system will react not being looked after well.

[Data]

Bluebottle....lol

But I can beat that! Some years ago I was out in the garden on a nice summers evening. I thought I'd wash the cars. Did both then thought the wife's Puntu Evo with beautiful metalic paintwork was looking not as shiny as it should. So thought I'd give it a good coat of polish. By this time it was almost dusk and light was fading, but undeterred, I went into the garage and amongst my arsenal of chemicals brought out a tin of polish. I set about the car with gusto putting plenty of the polish on the car. I then spent the next 25mins or so polishing it off. It was getting a bit damp as I was polishing off, I could feel it. But finished ok and went inside to bath in the glory of what I'd done and to cash in my brownie points. Wonderful! That is until next morning when at breakfast, I looked out the window and the ungaraged Punto was to say the least looking a bit sad. The actual clearcote on the metalic paint was in tatters and peeling off! I could barely believe it. In my haste to polish the car I had used a polish that was unsuitable for metallic finishes and it had disolved the clearcote finish. The dampness I could detect was in fact the paint dissolving and me swirling it around. Wife when mad, I ran for cover! Bad books for weeks...but I was able to claim on my insurance and they paid up ok as it was an honest mistake and fell under the banner of accidental damage caused by the actions of an idiot! Not sure they would pay up so readily these days though.

[Bluebottle]

Glad I'm not the only one that needs adult supervision.

[StephenC]

Easy how it is to get things mixed up when you're in a rush or hassled or whatever.

We were having a good laugh at the weekend in the local because the chef/landlord there had made an apple curry instead of a chicken one. I'm not actually sure that apple curry wouldn't work, but it certainly was not what he intended to cook.

[JohnR93]

So, gone are the days when you could pour an egg into your radiator to stop a leak... That's progress for you. (TIC)

[Data]

I have special needs...and do need constant supervision!

Apple curry does sound quite nice.

Halfabusa, a few years ago it didn't really matter quite so much in some respects as engines used common seals and materials, even though the antifreezes available were more specialised. These days in theory it should be less likely that someone would put the wrong stuff in the engine as coolants have been more standardised but there is still a range of unsuitable stuff our there. No one will crash and burn if you don't change it on time, but it does degrade as you know. The biggest problem is the reduced water pump seal lube that comes from keeping coolant in too long.

PS. cleared out the garage over 3 days and it's lovely now. Can work on the bikes much easier in the warm and dry. Smokey is pleased as he curls up on the saddle and goes to sleep!