Should i use pure antifreeze

Please note that forbidding certain cookies may restrict the usage of the website. Accept necessary cookies Close. News The use of antifreeze and and their professional application 17 December , The coolant in a vehicle emits heat generated in the engine during combustion via the antifreeze to the atmosphere so that the engine does not overheat.

In the cooling system of a passenger car, approx. The coolant can come into contact with approx. For example, it must be compatible with steel, aluminium alloys, grey cast iron, plastics and non-ferrous metals.

Water would actually be a perfect cooling medium if there were no serious disadvantages. It develops such high forces that it can blow up cast iron engine blocks. In the event of overheating, water passes into the vapour phase and the cooling effect drops rapidly.

The answer is that a mixture of water and antifreeze will freeze at a lower temperature than pure antifreeze. When a liquid freezes, its molecules join together and crystalize. When mixed with water, antifreeze makes it harder for any of the molecules to join together and crystalize. Basically, water and antifreeze is the perfect combination to lower the freezing point. Not only does pure antifreeze have a higher freezing temperature than coolant, but a couple of issues will also arise if you use only it in your cooling system:.

Pure antifreeze lacks sufficient heat capacity to keep the engine cool. Also, when water is mixed with the antifreeze, it keeps the performance additives more specifically, silicates, phosphates, and nitrates suspended in the mixture. Without water, the additives will settle to the bottom of the cooling system.

A common remedy for a coolant leak is to keep adding more coolant to the system. Not quite. While there will be enough coolant running through the system, a coolant leak still causes problems, such as engine corrosion and environmental damage.

Plus, if you let too much time pass between coolant refills, the system will run low on coolant. This can, of course, lead to overheating and water pump failure.

And, coolant leaks encourage the bad practice of adding tap water to the system. If you want optimum cooling, anti-corrosion, anti-scale, anti-boiling and anti-freezing protection, use distilled water. Tap water contains minerals which can form deposits in the radiator and cooling system passages. Distilled water contains almost no minerals. Follow these instructions to the letter to avoid causing some major damage to your vehicle. Pure antifreeze does not have the same ability to transfer heat that a mixture of antifreeze and water does.

This will not hurt you too much in winter, but in summertime driving, it is extremely important that your coolant be able to absorb that heat and push it away from the engine as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your engine could overheat and cause your vehicle to break down. For this reason, you should not run your vehicle on pure antifreeze. Mixing water with your antifreeze coolant keeps additives such as nitrates, phosphates and silicates suspended.