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MG MG Y Type - antifreeze

hi, can any body tell me which is the best antifreeze for a mg ya is? or will any antifreeze do. thanks don
d walker

Hi Don

I use 4Life Advanced Engine Coolant. It acts as:
+ A Coolant
+ Corrosion Protection
+ Anti Freeze
+ Colour Indicator

You will need to completely drain and flush the existing water and any anti freeze and then fill up with undilutede 4Life. Do not dilute with water or any other anti-freeze solutions

What it provide you with is a waterless solution that is effective for 10 Years with a boiling point of +180C and Frost Protection to -45C and is corrosion free and can be reused again.

The Colour Indicator is Safety Red where there is no acidity and Warning Yellow which indicates corrosive acidity.

It is provided in 5 litre containers and is available from Holden Vintage and Classic (and no doubt other suppliers). The price in 2013 was around £17.50 (inc VAT) but not postage.

It's very good and Jack Murray (YA) and Peter Arnell (YB) have used it for many years. A similar product but far more expensive is Evans Waterless Coolant bit this works out around £90 for % litres.

I have used 4Life in my YT and found it very effective.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

thanks jerry. I thing I will use it in my Y, so many thanks for the info regards don.
d walker

A couple of years ago, I investigated the various types of anti-freeze and their suitability for classic cars. They are not all suitable. I produced a report on my findings, a pdf copy of which can be downloaded from the 'Technical Centre' on this website. It is actually the first item alphabetically. I hope that it is helpful.
Mike Long
M Long

Go to Technical Centre, then Hints and Tips from the drop down menu. Yes, great article Mike and thank you for that contribution.

Paul
Paul Barrow

I use 4life in my older cars. I bought mine from the MG Owners Club (not MGCC !). They were doing a special deal for UK residents where you could buy 10 litres of 4 life post free and delivered. Price was a good deal cheaper than the usual suppliers like Moss and Holden. Y type needs about 8 litres so the 10 Litre deal means you can carry a spare pint in the boot. I have decanted a pint into a small milk type plastic bottle suitably cleaned out and labeled. I have not had any evaporation loss or overheating since I have used 4 life so I reckon it must be good stuff!
Best regards, Mick
M C Bath

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43512

Interesting points raised and reply from Evans Cooling System.

Can't say I have experienced any problems with my YB using normal anti freeze and water. The YT had problems due to defective water pump and blocked radiator which makes sense in car overheating.

I'm needing to make choice for what to put in the YT now I have new water pump and re-cored radiator fitted, from the other thread think I'll be sticking to normal water and anti freeze option.
R E Knight

This is the time of year when we all think about the antifreeze protection in our precious little XPAGs and I am going to stick with the bog standard blue stuff .
Just got 5 l. from my local car bits shop and its cheap and reliable .
The dilution says down to -39 C at 50% dilution so what dilution should I use .
E Winters

I use the standaard blue stuff too and refresh Evert two years
Willem van der Veer

What??....there's another Don Walker in this world? Well at least you drive an MG.
Regards, Don Walker TF 4887 TC 7730
D J Walker

I've no idea what the merits are for this new coolant but sometimes there may be some loss from the system ie creep in the rubber hoses not always detected or hose replacement which could be costly. I decided to pressurise the system as indeed the TF is and fit an automatic fan, also there is no substitute for a really clean radiator. In time the water in the rad will like that in a domestic heating system become inert anyway. Bryan
B Mellem

What if your fan belt breaks, you don't notice it and the coolant heats up to over 150 degrees will this harm your engine as the oil would start to get very thin. Just a thought.
P W Vielvoye

Educate me please? How would one dispose of the 4life stuff? If it won't boil until +180C I suppose it won't evaporate away how would you dispose of it?

Surly if the environmental department want's to ban plastic bags because it takes millions of years to bio-degrade surly this should be on their radar or maybe I'm missing something? and it can be separated into it's component parts and life is all good?

Richard
R E Knight

This has nothing whatever to do with the topic but to put your mind at rest Richard and the LibCon's. My wife Jill is a plastic bag hoarder, I can assure you that on the greenhouse shelves they total decay in under 2 years and under the stairs 5 years. Bryan
B Mellem

Bryan,

Plastic bag was merely used as an analogy, a bit like 4life is a play on words as clearly it will be more likely it will need replacement after 10 years, as Jerry suggests.
As for "LibCon" won't matter we'll just about afford water when we have all paid the non elected euro federals con £1.7Billion for price of success and Merkel's promised to close all Nuclear stations by 2022. And Balls promised to make UK debt free LOL. Bit off thread but sure you get my point.
R E Knight

It probably will make excellent weed killer for between the edges of paving stones or in gravel driveways guys! Just sayin' :) ... but then I do come from the generation that used to use old engine oil to coat fences and posts to on the farm!
Paul Barrow

In this part of the world where freezing is not an issue, I use my own "Black Magic" coolant - just add 25ml of Soluble Oil to every 5litres of clean rainwater.

I have used this brew for about 15 years, after it was passed to me by a retired "bush mechanic".

Tony Slattery
The Classic Workshop
Black Mountain QLD
Australia
A L SLATTERY

Changing antifreeze so have to drain both radiator and engine .Radiator drained from valve at bottom ok but no fluid came out of opened engine valve .Put wire up to clear any blockage but no success .To avoid any damage to engine valve did not drain engine but added the ordinary blue antifreeze ( 50/50 ),3.85 l. , to radiator .Any comments .
E Winters

This thread was discussed between 14/10/2014 and 30/10/2014

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