Coolant ratio thoughts and question

[grizzlyls]

SO with my weird arse overheat two weekends ago (not a problem since) I have been monitoring the temps 100%. Its made me think I should run an unpressurized system.......

Ya Right. Anyhow, what I do see is a trend after my high speed highway travel, the ridiculous stop and go here in the LA cities means less air flow. When it has air flow its perfect. Gen 1 fan system is working, I hear it ramp up, I see the coolant temp dip, but I think with the conditions here its a step and a half forward then a step back. Slowly the overall temp rises.

Reading up on things I think I should get off the simple 50/50 green I have been buying and go to something closer like 70/30 (more water). It is said water is more efficient at cooling, so maybe that will give me the boost to handle the in town shiot a little better. As far as anti freezing, I have not seen the under side of 32 degrees here in So Cal since I moved here in 2008

Opinions? Whats the best way to work the distilled water in - Pull it from degas and fill or from the tsat housing? Should I just top off degas bottle to cold full over the next few days til I use up a half gallon of distilled instead?

My thoughts are system has like 3 gallons, so replacing half gallon with distilled should get me near 70/30.

 

[joegr]

So, you currently have 1.5 gallons of water and 1.5 gallons of antifreeze. You want 2.1 gallons of water and 0.9 gallons of antifreeze. To get there, drain 1.2 gallons of coolant, and add 1.2 gallons of water. You'll be at 70/30

You'll have to do it all at once, or the mix will be wrong. Example.
Drain 0.6 gallons of coolant today and put in 0.6 gallons of water.
Drain 0.6 gallons of coolant tomorrow and put in 0.6 gallons of water.
Your ratio is now 68/32

Note that if you just replace 0.6 gallons once, you will be at 60/40, which is the limit of Ford's spec for the LS for water to antifreeze.

Your theory is sound, but I'm not sure it will really make a measurable difference. Note that just because the fan is changing speeds, this does not mean that it is actually turning as fast as it is supposed to.

 

[grizzlyls]

Ya I thought it over, and the best way to target it is drain it all, mix it right put it in. Since that would require paying the mechanic, I was hoping to do it manually first, until a service is needed.

So if I do the half gallon (.6 really) I should be at least one step better and near the spec. Can I do that at the degas bottle then? Siphon it and put in the half gallon (while cold)?

I would even be ok doing one more round (the 68/32) if the first time pushed it a little more efficient.

Thanks for the math.

 

[joegr]

Just drain that amount from the radiator. It's easy. Just open the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator at the passenger side. You can even slip a hose (3/8ths, I think) over the outlet to divert the coolant to a bucket. As long as you don't allow the degas to empty, bleeding should not be required.

 

[grizzlyls]

Cool, that makes more sense, and can probably be managed in stages. lil out the bottom, lil in the top back and forth. (like a quarter of a half gallon jug). Thanks

 

[joegr]

One important note. When you close the drain, don't over tighten. The coolant seal does not depend on how tight it is. It just needs to be tight enough that it won't vibrate back open.

 

[1LoudLS]

honestly, I fell like you're barking up the wrong tree here... if you are having overheating issues, its not because of you having too much coolant vs water in the mix (if you are at the 50/50 ratio) there are plenty of LSs running around Texas and Arizona that are not having problems and that see much hotter temps than anything you would normally see in LA.

if it was me, I'd worry about finding the real root cause instead of trying to throw a band aid on the problem. the fact that when moving there is enough airflow that its not a problem, but when in stop and go there is not enough air flow does point toward the fan not moving as much air as it should be.

 

[joegr]

... the fact that when moving there is enough airflow that its not a problem, but when in stop and go there is not enough air flow does point toward the fan not moving as much air as it should be.

This!

 

[grizzlyls]

ya I get all that, and hope it isn't to that point. too much money spent on all else. BUT since it can be done cheaply, and I don't need the freeze protection I should start with this first.

If anyone wants to throw out clues about how to check the Gen 1 fan speed, I would love it.

Plus I may be just too paranoid about the whole thing and trying to stay away from issues. I still dont know why the first happened, but can confirm I let the degas bottle level get too low (about 1.5 to 2 inches below fill line) since December.

 

[joegr]

I would have thought that it would have to be lower than that to be a problem. Coolant isn't consumed, so if it went low, you have a leak.
I think that normally a photo-tachometer is used to check fan speed, but I don't know if the gen I manual specifies what speeds to expect.
Example: www.amazon.com/Digital-Photo-Laser-Tachometer-Contact/dp/B001N4QY66

 

[cammerfe]

As a first step, you might try 'Water Wetter'. Available from most auto-parts stores, it simply makes the coolant more efficient. The manufacturer claims it will make a 20 degree difference in coolant temperature. Even if it were to be only 10 degrees in your case, that's a worthwhile difference.

I've used the stuff and it DOES make a difference.

In the long run you most likely DO have a problem with such as your fan.

KS

 

[grizzlyls]

That's the weirdness of it all. I encountered the issue going from the VA back to work, let it cool down til end of day at work. Limped home with heater on and it was pushing high 2teens. That's when I confirmed the low level. So next day (Saturday) I went to store and bought more coolant and the purple wetter stuff. Put the stuff in then over the weekend experienced issues overheating and MASSIVE dump of coolant on ground Sat nite. It was like it rejected the purple stuff. Put in about half a gallon of coolant back to the fill line of bottle. I was SO scared monday that I decided to see my mech tuesday, and like mentioned he found nothing just like I found nothing on sunday or monday. Going on two weeks now and the coolant stays dead on the fill line - I check it every trip. Like I said I monitor temp too, and noticed the tick up to like 213 and higher fan speeds when I would head home and then hit stop and go after highway. It would go down but I am so worried it would go up I am trying to solve that since the fact not before, nor after do I see any drips, puddles or loss of coolant in the bottle.

I still suspect it might be the connector on my actuator works its way loose.

Interesting too, that the wetter stuff basically urges running all water for best results. It basically said that with 50/50 it does nothing (little graphs on bottle). Some of that wetter may be in the system too, but I bet most left with the dump out.

It is all so strange. <shrugs>