radiator tank is turning orange

[S3SR]

you might be able to see it in my workshop thread but for some reason since i changed to the red fluid my box is turning orange...im thinking its because it was dirty to begin with (i tried cleaning it couldnt get in everywhere)
anyways will this cause any problems?
should i fix it now or when it needs a service?

thanks
FalconSR

[AWD Chaser]

If your using red fluid, and your coolent bottle is orange, the red coolant has prob just died the plastic. You could scrub it with kero, or try CLR, but you could just pick up another tank from a wreckers. All in all, I've never heard of a colour making your car perform worse... or any better for that...

Hey, didn't I point this out in the first place?

[S3SR]

probably??? i dunno someone did with the cap being loose.... cant remember but FORD and a few friends keep asking why is my tank orange

sorry to ingore you if you did tell me i didnt think it was serious until now when its pretty much completely orange

FalconSR

[GK]

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

probably??? i dunno someone did with the cap being loose.... cant remember but FORD and a few friends keep asking why is my tank orange

sorry to ingore you if you did tell me i didnt think it was serious until now when its pretty much completely orange

FalconSR

I noticed that the cap was loose, but didn't make any comment about the colour of the tank. I'll have another look now that it's come up for discussion! LOL!

I looked on your thread but there was only the old pic of the coolant tank. It is more orange than that? You said you changed to red coolant, I reckon AU3 Chaser is probably right though, just the plastic being dyed.

Reminds me of when I take spaghetti with red bolognaise sauce to work in a decor container! LOL! The clear plastic turns a slight shade of red if I don't wash it straight away! Same thing happens with tomato soup also! LOL!

GK

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Yea the red,orange and blue coolants do tend to stain the resevoir a bit .

Here's a link on pretty much everyhting you would ever want to know about coolant ;)

http://www.angelfire.com/ia2/vmax/coolantnotes.htm (disregard the small amont of motorcycle stuff at the top of the page)

cheers

[S3SR]

thanks XR6-VCT-2000

the redish/orange fluid is propylene glycol (PG) - environmentally friendlier than EG, less viscous then EG and improves water pump life, only known disadvantage so far is its less capable of preventing cavitation (gaps or holes in the fluid - less heat dissapation)
the green/blue-green fluid is ethylene glycol (EG) - used as the manufacturer standard in most vehicles, does the job, comparable to PG...

anyways that dirty stuff in my box is corrosion - inevitable
to reduce the corrosion use a phosphate free coolant (salt) and use an aluminium compatible coolant IE contains silicate

the colours mean nothing but distinguish the difference between the two (colours are standards) and allows you to see if there are any leaks by looking on the ground for the coloured stains. - so my box is just stained

so anyways its nothing really..red is better than green (personally preference really) though red is more expensive then green..

im lost though they say that using distilled water over time causes tiny pin holes develop in the radiator..... but they also say that using distilled water means the solution (coolant mixture) has to attack the metals for the minerals that you would get in normal tap water (definently not from townsville, go the chlorine)

but its all touch and go and long term stuff, i wont be keeping my car for long enough to see the effects of using any water... might use mount franklin rain water LOL its cheap enough

[rayner22]

Im using the REPCO coulour change coolant at the mo, and um yeah don't get it. It went from red to yelow in 2 weeks, sposed to take 3 years. So now its the fun of going through all the crap REPCO carry on with. Not happy about it, gotta get litmus tests etc to prove em wrong.
But the boys at my local Ford dealer said that some of the red coolants are crap and you have to be careful which ones you use.
Never heard that distilled water makes pinholes though, I would have thought with all the stuff in tap water it would do it more..