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Ethylene Glycol BLUE antifreeze coolant

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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 10:48   #31
Laird Scooby
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I've been running it in my 1970 Rover 3500 for the last 9 years. Mostly because everyone said it shouldn't be done. Not had a problem yet
You've been lucky with the gaskets and seals then Jim but the Buick lump was exactly what OAT was designed for - all aluminium engines which were about 40 years ahead of their time when first made in the early 60s in terms of materials at least.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 10:49   #32
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Can you post a photo of the 1L concentrate you bought for topping up? Preferably two photos, one of the front, the other of the back assuming it has labels front and back.

It sounds very like the 1L concentrate is ethylene glycol and there's a very high chance the yellowy-orange stuff in your car is OAT so whatever you do, don't add it until you verify what's in there, what it should have and what's in the 1L bottle.
Surely you're confusing two completely different aspects of the coolant mixture? Ethylene glycol is an antifreeze, while OAT is an anti-corrosion treatment.

What I was really asking is does anyone here know which type of coolant Volvo use in my car? So ethylene glycol/OAT, or propylene glycol/phospate, or ethylene glycol/silicate, or whatever combination of antifreeze/anti-corrosive?

The (blue) concentrate I recently bought came from a Volvo dealer. However the (orangey) stuff in my reservoir was put in earlier this year by a Volvo dealer (after replacement of my EGR cooler).

However it is my long-held understanding that colour is largely meaningless and cannot be relied upon for compatibility purposes.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 11:32   #33
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Surely you're confusing two completely different aspects of the coolant mixture? Ethylene glycol is an antifreeze, while OAT is an anti-corrosion treatment.

What I was really asking is does anyone here know which type of coolant Volvo use in my car? So ethylene glycol/OAT, or propylene glycol/phospate, or ethylene glycol/silicate, or whatever combination of antifreeze/anti-corrosive?

The (blue) concentrate I recently bought came from a Volvo dealer. However the (orangey) stuff in my reservoir was put in earlier this year by a Volvo dealer (after replacement of my EGR cooler).

However it is my long-held understanding that colour is largely meaningless and cannot be relied upon for compatibility purposes.
If you know enough about the subject to play semantics with the definitions of antifreeze and coolant, corrosion inhibitors etc then surely you know what is installed in your vehicle?

Did your car come with the Volvo Owners handbook? It will tell you in there what should be in there and by extension, what the garage would have put in.

The whole purpose of the colour is to aid identification so your long-held understanding is erroneous. While it is not always definitive, it is a good indicator.

No, nobody here knows what Volvo put in your car, the only person that knows for sure is the one who filled it up with coolant.

The likelihood is that being orangey-yellow and your engine being all aluminium, it is OAT antifreeze - yes i know that is for anti-corrosion but it's the bit that does the damage when mixed with ethylene glycol and is a convenient way to differentiate between the two as various manufacturers of antifreeze will use different antifreeze agents in the manufacture of OAT type antifreeze. Most will mix with others, some will not and some of those should never be used in certain engines.

As previously stated, there is a strong chance the blue concentrate you bought is ethylene glycol and you need to ascertain what's in there and what what is in the engine - do not mix until and unless you KNOW they are compatible or you will end up with a gel-filled coolant system and a wrecked engine/car.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 11:53   #34
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If you know enough about the subject to play semantics with the definitions of antifreeze and coolant, corrosion inhibitors etc then surely you know what is installed in your vehicle?...
It's hardly 'semantics' to want to use the correct antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor for your vehicle! With all due respect, if you think it's merely semantics then your advice should be disregarded.

Just because I do happen to be familiar with many of the common combinations used for vehicle coolant, it doesn't mean I actually know which ones are needed for my Volvo... obviously I already looked in the owners manual (which merely recommends the use of 'Volvo coolant').

I stand by my assertion that coolant colour is NOT a reliable indicator of suitability or compatibility.

I will seek advice elsewhere.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 12:02   #35
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You've been lucky with the gaskets and seals then Jim but the Buick lump was exactly what OAT was designed for - all aluminium engines which were about 40 years ahead of their time when first made in the early 60s in terms of materials at least.
I did do a bit of thinking about it rather than just chucking it in, and my engine was built around the year 2000 so wasn't using 50+ year old gaskets. But yes, I'm aware that OAT is best in Aluminium engines like the Buick 215

Could be more advanced, the aircooled VW crankcase is a magnesium alloy.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 12:20   #36
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It's hardly 'semantics' to want to use the correct antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor for your vehicle! With all due respect, if you think it's merely semantics then your advice should be disregarded.

Just because I do happen to be familiar with many of the common combinations used for vehicle coolant, it doesn't mean I actually know which ones are needed for my Volvo... obviously I already looked in the owners manual (which merely recommends the use of 'Volvo coolant').

I stand by my assertion that coolant colour is NOT a reliable indicator of suitability or compatibility.

I will seek advice elsewhere.
I agree - it's not semantics to want to use the right coolant/antifreeze, however you were picking me up on my use of "OAT" as an umbrella term for all antifreezes containing that technology, pointing out that the primary use of OAT is for anticorrosion in all-aluminium engines.

You will almost certainly find that your antifreeze is classified as OAT, best place to seek that alternative advice is from the guy who filled your cooling system and/or the Volvo dealership he works at. If they can't help, approach Volvo and ask the question about what that specific Volvo coolant contains.

While i agreed to a point colour isn't always a definitive indicator, in general use it is. The manufacturers of the antifreeze did this themselves so as to easily identify OAT from ethylene glycol.

Speaking of which, if Volve can't/won't give you a definitive answer on what their coolant contains, ask for the name of the manufacturer that supplies them with it and the part number they use to order it from said manufacturer.

Then approach that manufacturer and ask what's in it. Don't be surprised to find the manufacturer is either someone you've never heard of supplying Volvo with Volvo branded containers of the antifreeze or that it's someone like Tetrosyl, Comma or similar that supply Volvo in bulk with both bulk containers of 1000L (can't think of the name of them just now) and also retail packs of 1L and 5L bottles.
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 12:27   #37
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I did do a bit of thinking about it rather than just chucking it in, and my engine was built around the year 2000 so wasn't using 50+ year old gaskets. But yes, I'm aware that OAT is best in Aluminium engines like the Buick 215

Could be more advanced, the aircooled VW crankcase is a magnesium alloy.
Hmmmm, a magnesium alloy Buick 215 - that could be interesting!

I expect it was used on the VW air-cooled to promote cooling?
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 13:09   #38
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Hmmmm, a magnesium alloy Buick 215 - that could be interesting!

I expect it was used on the VW air-cooled to promote cooling?
Possibly, although Aluminium is both stronger and has a better thermal conductivity than Magnesium. I suspect it was partly done for weight saving, as the engine location isn't ideal for vehicle handling

You can get aftermarket crankcases in Aluminium alloys now, intended mostly for performance engines .
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Old Oct 6th, 2018, 13:45   #39
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Possibly, although Aluminium is both stronger and has a better thermal conductivity than Magnesium. I suspect it was partly done for weight saving, as the engine location isn't ideal for vehicle handling

You can get aftermarket crankcases in Aluminium alloys now, intended mostly for performance engines .
Could have been weight saving but also might have been a question of cost. I don't know what the relative costs of magnesium and aluminium were back on WW II when the Beetle was first around but it's possible that magnesium was cheaper than aluminium at the time so they made the various parts out of an alloy to save money. The weight saving would have been a bonus.

Just had a look on Wikipedia to see if there was any reason given on there for the alloy crankcase, nothing obvious although i did discover it had cast iron cylinders.

Maybe Ferdinand Porsche wanted something different for the crankcase and came up with his own reason!

Talking of antifreeze and VW Beetles/air-cooled engines reminds me of a "practical joke" played by someone when i was doing my apprenticeship.

One lad had a Beetle and the person playing the "joke" poured some antifreeze under his front bumper just before it was time to leave for the day and told him he had a radiator leak.
The owner just laughed, got in and drove off, while the rest of us stood there laughing!

The guy who poured the antifreeze under his front bumper couldn't work out why, even when someone explained it was a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine!
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