Landy Blog - Antifreeze - Caveat Emptor

Antifreeze - Caveat Emptor

Jan31

Written by:Dave
1/31/2008 10:00 PM

Antifreeze is a subject that can be controversial . It must be recognized that the term antifreeze is actually a misnomer : it does not only lower the freezing point of a water mixture , but it also raises the boiling point of the mixture. A very important fact for us in SA.

The MIF (Motor Industries Federation) has recently highlighted the virtual fraud that some suppliers of “antifreeze” are getting away with. I have recently twice drained and flushed the cooling system on my Defender . The antifreeze that was used for coolant make up is one that I have not previously used , but was highly reccommended by the supplier. In the light of the warnings concerning antifreeze quality , I decided to follow up with my own test of three brands : a simple test of the elevation of the boiling point of water with the relevant antifreeze added.

The results ? The antifreeze in the Defender was shown to be ineffective. The other two brands (Shell Tri Gard and Castrol ) were effective . It is noted that the two effective brands both had an SABS registration and approval ( in contrast to the ineffective brand X which did not have SABS approval) Pics and details of the tests are shown in the “Tecno Babble “album in the Gallery.

Caveat Emptor – buyer beware !

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2 comment(s) so far...

Re: Antifreeze - Caveat Emptor
Landrover UK have put one third antifreeze and two thirds water into their coolant systems this should protect the system down to minus twenty degrees celcius, on series vehicles AF39 was stenciled on the top of the radiator housing

By daveb1971 on 10/10/2008 1:56 PM

Re: Antifreeze - Caveat Emptor
A few years ago I did a major rebuild of a Mini with a pretty 'hot' 1330cc motor in it. From the outset I was plague by overheating problems to the extent that I fitted an electric cooling fan. This helped whilst the engine was running, but as soon as the engine was switched off after a 'hard' run the coolant tended to boil. I was told by an employee of one of the Silvertone Radiator franchises that their antifreeze was one of the best available and that it would assist with raising the boiling point. I duly bought some, at a fair price mind you, and am happy to say that it has gone a long way to solving my problem. It is way better than some of the questionable non-brand name products, available at motor spares shops, that I have used in the past.

By charles on 2/19/2009 9:48 PM