Gelled anti-freeze

showcrop

Well-known Member
yesterday I got an old car down from the pallet rack where it has been. I was surprised to see from the plate that it has been up there for twelve years, LOL. I went to drain the coolant and found that I needed to vent it. When I removed the cap from the top of the T'stat housing there was gelled antifreeze under it. I got it mostly cleaned out and removed the upper hose. There was none in the hose. The housing and the head are aluminum. I hope that it is not all through the head. Any ideas what? how? Why?
 

I haven't had any leaks to stop, and the color appears to be a correct yellow green, too light to have had any red mixed in. Thnks.
 
I have seen that happen with cheap ethylene glycol but not Prestone or any name brand. I had an off brand bottle of the green stuff that gelled in the bottle after several years on the shelf.
 
My garage smelled like a mouse had died. I looked
all over for a mouse, no mouse. I had a small
coolant leak from water pump. Not enough to leave a
spot on floor but enough to smell. Yep, the
antifreeze had a moldly/dead smell. It may have
been about 5 years old.

This may be a good reason not to use antifreeze as
tire ballast.
 
When I was in Germany we haul trailer loads of
prestone antifreeze from a warehouse and the temp
was in the 20's. It was all just slush in the cans.
Never saw that before. This was straight anti
freeze
 
Ethylene is a plastic precursor with sugar like compounds holding it as a liquid. It can polymerize into a solid/jell with time and evaporation. Jim
 
High silicate antifreeze will turn to a green gel with age. I have seen it around cylinders to where it looks like green Jell-O. Older formulas recommended the anti freeze be changed every 3-4 years.

The silicates are there to help different metals from corroding. I was taught it was mainly better for engines with aluminum parts. I had been told that you do NOT want to use it in diesel engines. JD actually told us it could void the engine warranty.

I have had fairly good luck with using Gunk antifreeze flush to dissolve the gel out of a motor. Remember to really flush the Gunk product out of the motor well when your done.

When refilling use distilled water not common tap water. Hard water is not good for a engine's cooling system.
 
(quoted from post at 07:07:02 12/21/14) When I was in Germany we haul trailer loads of
prestone antifreeze from a warehouse and the temp
was in the 20's. It was all just slush in the cans.
Never saw that before. This was straight anti
freeze

That's because there was no water in the anti freeze.A50/50 mix of A/F and water will give you a freeze point of about-40 degrees or so.The water must be there to keep the A/F from jelling or freezing.
 

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