Engine Coolant

So have been driving for 3 months (got it around end of November'10) and the orange-ish coolant in the resevoir is somewhat at midpoint.

The manual states that the engine coolant to be used is either:

• Motorcraft Superplus Antifreeze; or
  
• Any coolant that meets WSS-M97B44-D specifications

So anyone have topped up the coolant on their own yet? Or do you bring your car to SC to do it during 10k servicing?

i think i'll let the sc do it during 10k service . mine is also at the midpoint, perhaps they fill it till midpoint only.

Was chatting on IRC and posed this question casually. Some mentioned that we should top up with water as the coolant does not evaporate easily. The reason why the coolant level goes down is because the water in it has evaporated, leaving the coolant behind (of course, the coolant will be gone as well, just not as fast). Of course, this is an international community responding and could be from a different make and brand's perspective.

Hence, if it is not topped up with water, the coolant mixture will become more concentrated and it reduces its efficiency, which is not good for the engine.

Opinions? Did anyone asked the SC during their scheduled maintenance about topping up the coolant by oneself?

somehow it sounds like applying the knowledge of chemistry about salt. water evaporates, leaving behind the salt and making it more concentrated. we add water to it to make it less concentrated. but can this apply on engine coolant? we have to ask the expert here

All liquids evaporate when exposed to a high temperature environment. Only question is at what rate? A concentrated coolant is bad for the engine since it is the water that plays the major role of cooling the engine. The coolant's role (based on what I could find on the net), is to introduce corrosion inhibitors and increasing the boiling temperature of water to prevent overheating besides assisting the water in removing heat from the engine and carrying it away to the radiator where it dissipates into the passing air.

But over-diluting would increase the risk of corrosion and lowering the water's boiling temperature.

Did a search on the MSDS Sheet and found data on ethylene glycol

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Evaporation Rate: 0.01
Evaporation Standard: Butylacetate =1

That means engine coolant will evaporate but at a very slow rate. I can't find any evaporation rate for dihydrogen monoxide (i.e. water) since all come out as N/A.

the coolant just need to be replace once in a 1,2,3,4,5.. years.....by the time u just need to refill neutral water..for me the coolant is just make the water cool ever...hehehe...

The recommended coolant dilution is 50/50 ratio. Flushing and changing coolant is around 2-3 years IIRC. There is no such thing as refilling the water every 1-5 years since by then, you dilution ratio might run to 70 (Coolant)/30 (H2O).

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