Need to store a car in Chicago in non heated garage. Been running distilled and water wetter.
Is any cheap green coolant will do after flushing the radiator or should I spring for P-OAT (Phosphated Organic Acid Technology) FL22 overpriced Mazda green ?

 

I run distilled water with a half bottle of water water and just a splash of green coolant. It sits in my garage also non heated and we hit the 10-20 degree range frequently.

 

just a splash is enough not to freeze. I would doubt myself and not sleep at night. So not even a quart of green ?

 

I have had that formula the last couple years and nothing bad has happened.

 

It's cheap enough compared to replacing an engine or radiator so why not half a gallon or more? You gotta buy a whole jug at a time anyway.

 

Most coolant jugs have a label that say what temperature the mixtures freeze at. Take your lowest temp you'd expect and choose one lower. But just a splash isn't going to cut it for Chicago. 50/50 is usually good to around -30, and 20/80 coolant/water is more like 20f, way warmer than a cold Chicago winter, no?

If you're worried about it, drain the radiator, fill with full strength green, then run the car for ~20 minutes to circulate it and call it good. Your radiator and block will thank you, water/water wetter mixes are almost never flushed frequently enough.

 

As someone who lives in Chicago, I run 50/50 year round. Because you never know when you're going to get a phone call that you need to come into work at 9pm because the air conditioning in the machine room has stopped working and it's -22°F outside.

Somewhat hilariously, the fact that it was -22°F outside is the reason that it was +130°F in the machine room, and also the reason that I eventually applied a pickaxe to the exterior brick wall of the machine room that evening, which rather quickly brought the temperature down. No, I do not know why we had a pickaxe in the maintenance shop. But I was grateful for it.

 

Thank you all. The winter is forecasted to be brutal based on Farmers almanac - hoping this is fake news. So a good 50/50 in order. Should I be looking for the FL22 Mazda coolant or any glycol green or G05 ?

 

Any green coolant will work. They usually say “for Asian vehicles” on it. Supposedly the color is related to the minerals in the water around the manufacturing plants where the cars are built. But there’s a lot of rumors like that floating around.

 

This being a Miata forum, a comment recommending the pink coolant would seem to be warranted.

 

Pink is used in the Audi and I have lots of it. My audi tech friend said not to use it unless I had an alum block. So green it is.

 

Ok, so the pink joke fell flat.

Going to serious mode, I use the blue coolant at a 50/50 mix year-round. Yes, I spend the extra 99¢ for distilled water at the grocery store, because it makes me feel good.

In terms of changeout-cycle, I've never had an engine remain fully intact for more than two years, so that's the longest I've ever gone between coolant changes.

 

I use Honda Blue which comes 50/50. And if it has not been in car very long, and I have to drain it... same fluid goes back in. I'm that cheap.

 

There's seriously a blue coolant?

******* hell, I am seriously failing at satire in this thread...

 

Green is Mazda and Honda, blue is bmw and Porsche, pink is Subaru, VAG, and Toyota. I think 50% of what I just said is right.

 

Just mix the red white and blue coolants for the most patriotic approach. Itll make bald eagles scream freedom.

 

Probably being way too serious here but this is the product I mentioned.

 

I am annoyed by the fact that blue coolant exists.

I thought I was picking a nice, safe color which couldn't possibly be a real thing, under the assumption that it would result in a lot of search-frustration for stevos (not that I have anything against you specifically, merely the circumstances), and here we go proving that, yea, blue coolant exists and so I look like an idiot saying "blue coolant" as though I were saying "blue milk," when in fact it's a thing.

Ok, so admitting that I have totally failed at trolling this thread not once but twice, I offer the following: I use the orange (GM Dexcool) stuff in my cars. I read something about ten years ago which suggested that it was less harmful to Al/Fe engines than most other coolant blends available at that time, and never bothered updating my knowledge since then.