Anti Freeze tester tool

[admiral51]

Just looking for a reliable piece of kit to check the anti freeze levels across our 3 cars.
1 x Xantia 2000
1 x C5 2010
1 x Astra 2013 ( not mine lol )
any advice greatly appreciated but will ignore the " get rid of the Astra " ones as kids hey

Colin

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

I've had one of these for a number of years it comes out at least once a year and I think its reliable

Put the item number in the eBay search box, 282638826612

£6

[admiral51]

Thanks Pug

[mickthemaverick]

Thanks Pug

And from me, just ordered one Cheers

[CitroJim]

And I've just bought one too... Thanks Pug!

[bobins]

That tester is only suitable for ethylene glycol antifreeze, though similar ones for OAT are available at around the same price. I've got both types just to be sure

[mickthemaverick]

Thanks for that bobins, I'll go search for an oat one now, I have both types in the fleet!!

[mickthemaverick]

Couldn't find one on ebay but Amazon came up with a Sealey model for £10 which is for propylene glycol and has a green bulb so I shouldn't get them mixed up!!

[Paul-R]

Aren't (nearly*) all anti-freezes ethylene glycol? It's the inhibitors that are different between OAT and old style anti-freezes?

*I say nearly all. Standard automotive anti-freeze is MEG (mono ethylene glycol) and this is poisonous. Not normally a problem in a car though. The anti-freeze that's used for solar heating is MPG (mono propylene glycol) and if this leaks into the system then people don't die as it's not poisonous. I'm not aware of any automotive MPG anti-freezes but they might exist.

There's an interesting document comparing the two here http://waterhs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads ... vs-MPG.pdf which shows that MEG has better heat transfer and that's probably why it continues to be used automotively. Plus, it's probably cheaper as well.

[Paul-R]

Couldn't find one on ebay but Amazon came up with a Sealey model for £10 which is for propylene glycol and has a green bulb so I shouldn't get them mixed up!!

MEG and MPG have different specific gravities so need different SG readers to measure concentration. Mixing MEG and MPG is not recommended as there is then no simple way of measuring concentration.

[mickthemaverick]

You saying that Paul made me realise that you could probably use the same tester if you recalibrated it with known concentrations of the other antifreeze and then use the markings from the factory for MEG and your own ones for MPG. Could probably have saved myself a tenner!!

[mickthemaverick]

My Sealey model for the oat car has arrived but still waiting for the meg one

[Paul-R]

Mick, you keep saying OAT car but, unless you specifically know that the anti-freeze is MPG (highly unlikely) then whether or not the inhibitor is OAT shouldn't make any difference.

[mickthemaverick]

Thanks Paul, its me mixing up my acronyms. The Celerio has MPG whereas my cars have MEG. Because I cannot always remember which is which of those I call them CHEM (MEG) and OAT (MPG) in my own mind and forget when I write about them. Sorry if I confused anyone

[mickthemaverick]

Testing day tomorrow!!

Own work