antifreeze change

[Tractorrr]

I had most of a gallon of antifreeze left over and decided to drain the antifreeze and refill today. What a mess I made and had to clean up. Not sure I like the drain pans that drain into a hole in the center of the pan. The majority of the antifreeze did make it into the drain pan but quite a bit did splash out. I had to use the whole gallon to fill the b2920 back up and then even poured some from the reserve container to top it off. Not sure if this is a useful thing to do but they do recommend replacing it every 2 years and I have heard that the antifreeze loses its anticorrosive properties over time.
I poured the antifreeze back into the antifreeze bottle but there was some oil already in the drain pan that mixed with it. Will try to take it to recycle center soon. Not sure if they care if it has some oil in it or not.

 

[2458n]

The only thing you need to remember is the tpye of anti freeze you are using. Is it full strength or pre mixed? I keep the mixture around 50/50 and use it for years. Yes I may be ruining things but it has never showed up yet. The anti freeze gets changed with a replaced water pump or changed hoses. Autozone sees oil in the antifreeze quite often as the oil coolers develope leaks in the rad.

 

[PeterK]

Do youself a favor and get a drain pan for antifreeze. It's almost totally open and has a large pouring spout, made for the task.

 

[RalphVa]

You can switch over to propylene glycol, and it won't matter whether you spill any, as it is safe for the environment. This is what they've put into our new JD 1025s. Doesn't have much of a smell either.

Don't know why tractor manufacturers haven't gone to the long drain antifreeze like is going into our cars and trucks now. In them, they've antifreeze good for 100k miles.

Ralph

 

[HeLa]

Do youself a favor and get a drain pan for antifreeze. It's almost totally open and has a large pouring spout, made for the task.

thanks for the reminder. just picked up coolant for my BX and am planning to change it next weekend. the "funneled" oil pans suck for fluids, like coolant, that drain quickly.

i have been meaning to pick up one of these "open-top" pans up for years, but always forget and end up using a 5-qt oil container with its side cut out.

 

[BeezFun]

You can have antifreeze tested to see if it needs changing. Our car dealer does it.

 

[dragoneggs]

You can have antifreeze tested to see if it needs changing. Our car dealer does it.

I use this handy little tool. Don't know how great it is but it tests both boil over and freeze protection. I think just the level of concentrate and it probably can't tell if it has lost its life though. But it helps me know if when I am alternating topping off with water or antifreeze, just where my ratio is.

 

[BeezFun]

I use this handy little tool. Don't know how great it is but it tests both boil over and freeze protection. I think just the level of concentrate and it probably can't tell if it has lost its life though. But it helps me know if when I am alternating topping off with water or antifreeze, just where my ratio is.

The gizmo you have tests specific gravity I think, which is related to boiling and freezing point. They're not very accurate, probably better to measure the mixture accurately initially. I poked around online and found these, I think this is what my dealer uses because he said they were test strips.

 

[RalphVa]

That doesn't test whether it needs changing.

Ralph

 

[HeLa]

That doesn't test whether it needs changing.

Ralph

right. well, unless you've been adding substantial amounts of water to the coolant and winter is coming ;-) however, there are tests for nitrite (corrosion protection) and pH (acidic buildup). these are generally test strips.

in vehicles and equipment that do not see extreme duty, manufacturers' recommended change intervals should be plenty sufficient. regardless of well a coolant tests, i change it at the scheduled intervals to clear sludge, scale and corrosion.