Coolant change

[kev64]

Gotta fit my new HRC bottle so I gotta get a bit of coolant to half fill it.
So I might as well do a coolant change, couldn't really find much info
So which type of coolant is best? (I did see it in a thread somewhere)
and anything I should know while carrying out this task

Thanks

[tony.mon]

Ice, ice, baby....

Anything will do in these agricultural old heaps. Even tuned and thrashed they don't make a lot of heat.
Fit a four-row oil cooler and forget about coolant, any old aluminium engine rated coolant will do.

[sirch345]

So long as it's silicate free, Halfords do one for alloy engines, or I should say they used too,

Chris.

[carmanbikes]

I got the Honda ready mixed one from DS as someone said most car ones are not compatible because of the mechanical seal on the water pump

[sirch345]

I got the Honda ready mixed one from DS as someone said most car ones are not compatible because of the mechanical seal on the water pump

Yes I think that is due to the silicate in some of them. Silicate can damage the mechanical water pump on the Firestorm,

Chris.

[kev64]

I put some comma g30 xstream coz it was pink (ish) like what came out.
It says it is ethylene glycol based with organic additives, but doesn't say anything about silicate
So I mixed it 50/50 (-36*c) with deionized water

[kev64]

Oh and the HRC bottle is connected(with about half full with anti freeze), but just hanging with the 2 pipes attached, gonna wait till I fit the fairing to see if I can tuck it
down the side like what lloydie did

[budd]

Ice, ice, baby....

Anything will do in these agricultural old heaps. Even tuned and thrashed they don't make a lot of heat.
Fit a four-row oil cooler and forget about coolant, any old aluminium engine rated coolant will do.

NO NO NO! Tony you should know better you can't just bung anything in there, old type blue (Bluecol etc) should under no circumstances be mixed with newer red/pink OAT (organic acid tech) coolants, the resulting brown sludge will restrict flow and seriously lower efficiency. One of the reasons most Rover K series experienced overheating / head gasket failure was down to incorrect coolant.

I did a bit of research into this last year when I did a coolant change, what you need is a silicate free mono-ethylene glycol coolant, the silicates are used in the anti-corrosion package and are said to attack certain engine internals (water pumps specifically) I’m not sure how aggressive these are and I doubt whether they will result in instant water pump failure but maybe extended use would cause issues.
Lots of manufactures state silicate free so there must be something in it, better safe than sorry I say, so look for silicate free.
This is sometimes more difficult than it would appear, eg Motul Expert Coolant is a premium MC specific coolant but it contains silicates, whereas motor factor Comma Super Long Life coolant is silicate free so more suitable than the Motul for the Honda (and indeed my current Aprilia), sometimes it’s not obvious which is best suited and it’s often necessary to delve into the spec sheet to discover what each coolant actually contains.

this post makes interesting reading
http://vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34448

[Pete.L]

I've used this for donkeys years.
http://www.fuchslubricants.com/pro-cool

Never had any sludge, never had a pump failure, never had any problem what-so-ever with the cooling system. And, for what it cost why bother with all that mixing, just pour it in and go

Pete.l