Brain tease

[Phil Waterman]

With start of cold weather here in New Hampshire went to put antifreeze in my C60S which had only water and rust inhibiter in since engine swap this summer.

Here is the Brain Tease

Went to the manual looked up the capacity of the cooling system 13 quarts OK, so that means 6.5 quarts of antifreeze for a 50/50 mix which should give protection down to -34F OK. Drained off 2 gallons of water and added 7 quarts of antifreeze and topped of with some of the clean treated water that I had just drained. Took the truck out on the road to bring it up to temperature and be sure the antifreeze and water were well mixed. Ten mile drive around the lake and back to the house, then check the protection level of with antifreeze tester. Got a reading of +10 degrees Fahrenheit.

What happened?

I figured it out but what is your guess?

[Bob Carriere]

Did you use some pre-mixed antifreeze..... that was already a 50/50 mix.

In your situation with a water / antirust mix I would have preferred draining the whole system.....premix with distilled water ... then refill. We get distilled water for about $5 around here.... our well water is far to mineralized....

Boob

[Mike Timoshyk]

What's a quart?



Mike in Windsor

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Timoshyk

What's a quart?

Quart = a quarter of a gallon, ie 2 pints

actual quantity depends on whether it is Imperial Gallons or US Gallons

[Mike Timoshyk]

Hi Phil,

MMMMMMM could it be something to do with the specific gravities of the water and the rustinhibitor?

mike in windsor....

For Richard. How many thumbs in a foot?

[Phil Waterman]

Bob - Your point that it might have been the premixed 50/50 mix they are selling these days. That was the first thing I check no what I had is straight long life antifreeze that needs to be diluted. After confirming this I mixed carefully mixed 2 ounces of water and 2 ounces of antifreeze in a graduated cylinder, check with hydrometer and got a -35F reading.

Mike and Richard - you are both narrowing in on the issue - "what’s a quart" and "Imperial or US gallon" I dumped in 7 quarts (US) antifreeze. Cooling system is listed as hold 13 quarts (it doesn’t say imperial but that should be assumed) which would convert 15.61 US quarts if my conversion factor of (1 quart [UK] = 1.200 949 925 5 quart [US, liquid]) is correct. Buy that conversion factor I should have added 7.806 US quarts.

Now the joker in the mix is that the 235-261 engines actually hold more coolant 17.25 quarts verse 216 engines at 15.5 quarts.

Moral of the story is in Bob’s comment drain the entire system premix the antifreeze and water out side of the engine then fill the engine.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Timoshyk

For Richard. How many thumbs in a foot?

Depends how long the thumbs are

[Bob Carriere]

.... how small your feet are...??????