Antifreeze
Winter is here. Is your vehicle adequately protected by the proper antifreeze or coolant? Just like the plumbing in your home, or RV, your vehicle’s systems need to be protected from extremely cold temperatures.
Antifreeze is one of the most important products used for maintaining good engine operation temperature which guards against freezing in the winter and overheating in the summer. Another unique benefit of antifreeze/coolant in an engine is that it prevents against corrosion.
To understand antifreeze, we need to be technical for a moment. The main components of antifreeze/coolant are ethylene and propylene glycol. These two chemicals do not freeze until temperatures are lower than 32 degrees. They also do not boil until temperatures are higher than those in which water will boil. When these chemicals are added to water, the antifreeze/coolant circulates through your engine without freezing in the winter and without boiling in the summer. It actually draws off excessive heat in extreme temperatures.
Today, there are three types of antifreeze/coolants on the market:
Organic Additive,
Inorganic Additive and
Hybrid Organic Additive Technology.
These different types meet specific manufacturer’s requirements for their vehicles. For maximum engine protection, most manufacturers’ recommend that a vehicle contain a 50/50 blend of antifreeze and water (preferably distilled water). Ratios of 40% or 60% either way produce ineffective protection and/or cause engine damage. The organic types of additives can be mixed but it is inadvisable to mix the inorganic type with organic.
It is easy to see that adding antifreeze to your vehicle is far more complicated than it used to be! In the “old days” it was fairly easy for an automobile owner to just add antifreeze to his engine each winter. But with today’s high-tech engine’s, and multiple requirements for antifreeze/coolant additives, it is, by far, safer and more efficient to have your ASE Certified Technician at Eagle Automotive Service to test and/or replace your antifreeze/coolant at least once a year.