Author Topic: Top up your car antifreeze... the RIGHT WAY!  (Read 1258 times)

michaelC

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Top up your car antifreeze... the RIGHT WAY!
« on: November 22, 2018, 11:36:25 PM »
Read for your entertainment and don’t do the silly things that I did! I’ll highlight the lessons learnt just to be sure!!!

[Silly Part]
Temperatures are dropping, time to top up the antifreeze. Thought I’d be prepared and added some Halfords Silicon-free OAT ready mixed (almost sounds like a cereal, doesn’t it?  ;D )
Even found a clever way of pouring it in by rolling up a magazine as a tall funnel!
Had a look at the min and max levels, ok looks like it’s halfway. Cool.
Started pouring it in, oh, looks like level is still halfway? Man, this antifreeze container is rather deceptive!  :P  Poured even more and started to see some drips... eh? OMG, it’s actually overfilled!!!  :o 
Tried to use some tissues to soak up excess, obviously failed. Quick google search on how to manage overfilling. Get a window cleaner spray bottle and use that to pump it out! Cool!
Got one and then thought: right, where am I supposed to spray it to???! Tried to tilt the Halfords 2litre bottle towards the spray nozzle but that’s not gonna works
Ran inside and got a small water bottle for runners, luckily a freebie given during a race. Never liked it anyway. Yes! It works! After about 60 pumps my hands get tired and I’ve only made it go down by 1cm!  ???  Ok, this is gonna be a “marathon” for my fingers, time to pace myself!
EVENTUALLY after about 20mins I get it down to the MAX level. Poured the “recovered” antifreeze back into the Halfords container. How much was used? About 400ml!!! <facepalm!>  ???

[lesson learnt]
Use a torch to shine RIGHT INTO the mouth of the antifreeze container. It lights up the entire container upto the fluid level. And you can see where you’re at.
Pour into your makeshift funnel SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY, rechecking every few seconds. Better safe than sorry like I am!!!
Prepare yourself with tissues and maybe even a siphon pump in your garage/toolkit just in case!

Brian_I

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Re: Top up your car antifreeze... the RIGHT WAY!
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2018, 07:26:46 PM »
Ooh, thats a good tip about using a torch to check the level of the antifreeze. It's certainly not easy to see what the level is.

mcintosh

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Re: Top up your car antifreeze... the RIGHT WAY!
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2018, 03:35:00 PM »
Another vote for the torch tip. Must remember to keep a spare window cleaner bottle also.  :)


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