Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, a quick question for you.. We have a Ferrari that we are not using at the moment, it's dry storage and we have been running it up once a month. I was wondering about draining the cooling system and filling it with neat 100% Glycol blue antifreeze. The reason for this is to remove the water out of the cooling system and the thereby reduce the corrosion effects this has on the engine internals. Can anyone tell me if this a good idea bearing in mind that the car will not be driven on neat glycol, it is only for storage. Also would neat glycol antifreeze on its own cause any issues you can think of? Note, I know there are waterless coolants available but I want to avoid them. All the best Bell Bloke.
Hi Todd, it's Ethylene glycol, regards Bell Hi Emile, the problem with waterless coolant is draining and flushing the engine block as well as the system, I really don't want to do this. Regards Bell
Hi Bell Bloke, Pure coolant (e.g. 100% Glycol) would not cool the engine, as it provides the corrosion resistance, and freeze and boil protection, but the water removes the heat. As you're going to run the engine up to temp, I'd still go for the normal 50/50 mix with distilled water (not tap water ! and making sure the coolant mixture is mixed properly before putting it in). Try to watch out that you don't have any air leaks or a dud radiator cap either. Hopefully your car won't be stored for too long! Cheers
Hi QV308, the idea is not to run the car at all but just keep it in storage. when we decide to use it in a year or two we will add water and return the car to normal use. Regards Bell
I use Evans Powercool in my racing car. Had the system drained several times when engine-out jobs had to be done. No issues whatsoever. I love the stuff. Coolant temp almost 6 degrees celcius lower, no pressure build up, no visible pollutions. Great stuff.
Brian, I'm not sure empty would be good. Keep in mind we are not all in dry weather like where you live. He's in UK where it's humid and cool.
The amount of discussion about this stuff on car forums is huge! There are 2 drawbacks over water/antifreeze: The specific heat capacity is lower so it can shift less heat per amount of volume. The viscosity is higher so it flows at a lower rate. In a mid-engined car there is a long convoluted coolant path to/from the rad so both of the above could be an issue.
Hi Rifledriver, the only thing about emptying the entire system is that the engine block inside would need to be completely bone dry otherwise the presence of any moisture might result in the growth of white aluminium oxide inside the engine block. Can you think of any reason not to use pure Glycol? Many thanks Bell Bloke
Why would you drain the system? It leaves it vulnerable to condensation and corrosion/oxidation, dried out seals, flaking of the scale deposits in the system. I would not put 100% glycol as it will not provide as great a protection against freezing, if that matters in your area. Most of todays anti freezes are good for 5 years minimum. There is no caveat that you must run the engine.
A year or two is not very long, I would do nothing, just unplug the battery isolator and make sure its stored in a dry environment.
My car (75 GT4 w/25k original miles) was stored for 25 years with just regular 25 year old antifreeze/water. Never started or even moved that whole time in a garage in So Cal. Flushed the gas and water and it started right up, we'll only running one one bank, but it started. Then we did the major service, new belts, replaced the water pump with a newer style, all new hoses, rebuilt carbs, distributors, etc and runs great and cooling system works fine. No major corrosion noticed in the system at all.
I'd flush it and refill with a 50:50 mixture of antifreeze and distilled water ( I've always used water gathered from a dehumidifier). Then run it to make sure you get all the air out, let it cool down & if you are really concerned, fill the expansion tank right to the top. I'd be much more concerned about the fuel, the injection system & the oil.
Ok Ian, I think I'll go for that solution unless told otherwise, we will run the car every couple of months if that seems like the best idea to keep the gremlins away. It's just we are lucky enough to have 2 cars, his and hers, but we seem to keep using the older car because it's higher mileage, faster and I've weather proofed it for daily usage. The result is the newer low miled and 'better' car never seems to get used at the moment, however once I've weatherproofed it then it will Regards Bell
If you are going to run it then most of the problems go away (and don't fill the expansion tank to the top!). Having said that it would be better to run it and actually drive it to keep everything else moving as well, including running all the electric motors & aircon etc. The fuel is still the issue though I think - that one's going to be the headache. I would suggest keeping a few gallons in it with a view to draining it & replacing it every 9-12 months. One easy(ish!) way to empty the thing is to use the fuel pump to pump it out. You can disconnect the return pipe from the injection system & divert it into a fuel can. Pull the plug on top of the unit and turn the ignition on. Obviously turn it off immediately you hear the pump start to run dry. Best done outside for obvious reasons. When I restarted my 328 last year it didn't run right until I filled it up & that was with fuel that was under 12 months old. Fuel doesn't last & the injection unit is expensive to rebuild.....
bell: plumbing stores here sell pure corrosion inhibitor for hot water heating systems that use polypropylene glycol for freeze protection - a notorious cause of corrosion but non toxic. anyway i'm sure you can find some inhibitor in the uk - just replace some of the coolant with inhibitor. regards, jon s
also, have started using stabil for fuel storage in the injectors and plumbing - hence no pump out. i put fresh gasoline in after putting the stabil in and drive the car far enough to make sure the injectors are full of the mix. i store the car for 4 months every winter and have never had any fuel problems in 5 years on restart in the spring. everyone with winter boat storage around here swears by the stuff.
4 months is not an issue for gas (here anyway). My car has had 4-6 month old gas in it every spring for the last 16 years & its been fine. Its when it gets up over 9 months old that it starts to get a bit stale IMO.
