Coolant related Q's (4KSQ)

[Rave Racer 2000]

----- Original Message -----
From: Muhammad Sohaib Bukhari <xsohaib at hotmail.com>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2000 11:24 AM
Subject: Coolant related Q's (4KSQ)


> Hi,
>
>    Its gonna snow here in Alaska any time now and I want to change the
> coolant in my car, people do this so I thought it might be a good thing,
> suggestions? I brought a bottle of coolant and was wondering if I should
use
> a 50/50 mixture of coolant and water. Also should I flush the cooling
system
> with one of those "cooling system treatment/flush" things?
>

        Sometimes flushing is a good idea, but usually only if it's been
done regularly for the cars history.  Don't quote me on this, but I have
heard of older cars springing new leaks because the flushing actually
unplugged holes that were never there before, because the buildup plugged
them (Dad's ole '79 Pontiac Paresienne nicknamed "The Tankmaster" with good
reason).
          I lived in Inuvik for a while, and though I am no coolant expert,
our GM puckup's engine block froze overnight one night and cracked when we
started it, so anything can happen.  If you have the wrong mixture of
Coolan/water, you could endup with crystals in your coolant, which would be
unnoticable without a visual check (Harmless? unsure) or at the worst, wake
up with a cracked rad or engine block.  Alaska and the great white North are
some of the harshest conditions on earth for a vehicle, well you know that
already.  The secret is in an old waterskiers saying:  "the compressability
of water is 0!"  Implying that when you hit the water going really fast, it
doesn't absorb impact, instead it is displaced by moving out of the way.
The fact is that water, when freezing, has not successfully been stopped
from expanding by any methods known to man.  ie cracked roads, brittle
collapsing roofs and ...
   ...cracked blocks.  BE CAREFUL!  Somebody there should be able to tell
you better than I.
                                                        RR
my 2cents Canadian
(need 20 of those for 1 US Penny)