[s-cars] Gelling coolant

Tue May 1 09:31:05 EDT 2007

Just thought I would wrap up this thread and thank all participants.

In the end my coagulation/gelling situation was far less dramatic than was
indicated by the contents of the expansion tank.  I have to assume that the
jelly was of lower density and was rising to the top.

Anyway I flushed the contents of the cooling system thoroughly.  In the
first round I added almost a cup of dissolved automatic dishwasher
detergent.  This was followed by three flushes with clean water.  Every
flush was followed by a ride around the neighborhood with the heater on
high, until fully warmed up.

Finally, I added  4.5 liters of G12 antifreeze and topped up with water.

I should add that I was somewhat mystified by the lack of a draining cock on
the radiator.  In the end I pulled the lower hose, which wasn't a big deal
and toward the end I didn't bother tightening the clamp between flushes.

All in all, a good day in the driveway.

Thanks, all.

  Gisli

On 4/17/07, Tom Green <trgreen at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I'll jump in to say, no, it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet,
> Jim.
> I had considered it, but never mentioned it since Gisli wrote that the
> coolant was still mostly pink.  If it were oil globules or milky coolant
> I felt he would have recognized that and said "I've been robbed".
> It appears to be the classic mixing of incompatible coolants.
>
> I was joking about the Icelandic hot water but had to mention it since
> I had these visions of the deposits in the mineral pools and smells
> that stay with you a long time.
>
> Tom
>
> On Apr 17, 2007, at 1:20 PM, Pasqualoni, James E wrote:
>
> > Gisli,
> >
> > I am late to this thread, so please excuse me if this has already
> > been mentioned-are you sure there is no oil in the coolant, ie head
> > gasket leakage?
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:s-car-list-
> > bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Gísli Óttarsson
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 1:18 PM
> > To: Tom Green
> > Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
> > Subject: Re: [s-cars] Gelling coolant
> >
> > Tom:
> >
> > I nearly responded to your previous message about de-mineralized
> > water by commenting that that is what comes out of our cold-water
> > taps here in Iceland.  No such luck for the hot-water tap.  This is
> > so polluted by minerals and sulfur that you would think someone let
> > eggs rot in your bathroom.  Good for the teeth and the sperm-count,
> > I suppose, but I would not dream of letting it anywhere near my
> > Audi.  And no, the car only recently arrived on Icelandic shores so
> > it is a near certainty that this is not what's ailing the cooling
> > system.
> >
> > Gisli
> >
> > On 4/17/07, Tom Green <trgreen at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> I think your caution is don't shock the engine by removing the
> >> coolant
> >> and/or giving it a big dose of cold water.  But, it doesn't require a
> >> long cool-down period before draining since the temps are
> >> equalized by
> >> running at idle.  I would be cautious about dumping a lot of cold
> >> water from a hose with lots of pressure and flow into the reservoir.
> >> Besides, you are likely to cause the thermostat to close and really
> >> slow down the process.  Use some warm water to temper the water if
> >> you
> >> are nervous about it.  Add slowly in any case, you won't use that
> >> much
> >> per flush.  I would suggest using some of that Icelandic geo-thermal
> >> water but I've seen the mineral content.  :-)   Hmmmm, could that be
> >> what's in the coolant now?  :-)
> >>
> >> Tom
> >>
> >>
> >>> Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:30:20 -0400
> >>> From: Mark Pollan <mark.pollan at verizonbusiness.com>
> >>> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Gelling coolant
> >>> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> >>> Message-ID: <000a01c780f4$8b9100e0$910e9283 at mcilink.com>
> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> >>>
> >>> Best/required to let her cool down before you drain and refill no?
> >>>
> >>> Mark
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> >>> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of G?sli
> >>> ?ttarsson
> >>> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:13 PM
> >>> To: Tom Green
> >>> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
> >>> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Gelling coolant
> >>>
> >>> This seems straightforward enough.  I'll probably have a go this
> >>> week-end, if weather permits.
> >>>
> >>> Gisli
> >>>
> >>> On 4/16/07, Tom Green <trgreen at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I'll have to defer to Dave Dawson on the details, but, you have the
> >>>> right idea, and the Finish should be fine. This is dishwasher
> >>>> detergent, not the dishwashing detergent for hand-washing dishes.
> >>>>   I suggest about a half cup or two times the normal dishwasher
> >>>> amount.  Drain the coolant first and refill with water and add the
> >>>> Finish.
> >>>> You don't want to operate the car, just run the engine until it
> >>>> gets up to temperature, then about 15 to 20 minutes at idle to let
> >>>> the cleaners work in the system including the heater.  Then drain
> >>>> and refill with water, bring to temperature, drain and repeat until
> >>>> the coolant water is perfectly clear.  It may take several times to
> >>>> remove all the old
> >>>> coolant and the dishwasher detergent.   Even the low sudsing
> >>>> dishwasher detergent
> >>>> can foam some, so it is important to completely flush all traces
> >>>> from the cooling system or a slight amount of foam can cause an air
> >>>> block in the system and a localized over- heating can occur.  Who
> >>>> knows if it is compatible with coolant?
> >>>> I suspect those fleet maintenance guys have a power flushing
> >>>> machine to expedite this process.
> >>>> It is a good practice to use de-mineralized (soft) water for the
> >>>> make-
> >>>> up portion of the
> >>>> coolant.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> S-CAR-List mailing list
> >> S-CAR-List at audifans.com
> >> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > S-CAR-List mailing list
> > S-CAR-List at audifans.com
> > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
>
>