Can I mix CarPlan Premium Red antifreeze with Ford Orange?

Back in the summer my Ford focus had its radiator holed by a small stone and started to leak, I was going to replace it but it appeared to be such a nightmare job (in comparison to the ten minutes it took to remove the one in my old Astra) that I fixed it instead with a recommended substance called (fixed for life) K-seal, it has to be said that this stuff has performed brilliantly over a pretty hard driving > 6000 mile period. Now that the colder weather is here I've belatedly realized that I replaced the lost coolant (from memory around a couple of litres) with soft water, checking the car handbook it tells me that it should only be replaced with 'Ford orange' coolant which has a life expectancy of around 10 years, on paying a visit to my local motor spares shop they sold me a litre bottle of 'CarPlan Premium Red Anti-Freeze', which they assured me was an equivalent and would be OK, however before draining and topping up I thought that I would seek some advice from the ever helpful professionals on this newsgroup.

TIA Ivan

Reply to
Ivan
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If you read your handbook and it told you to only top up with Ford orange, why didn't you go to a Ford dealer? The correct stuff is not expensive, when you consider how long it lasts.

I personally would only use what the handbooks says.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Simply because I'm looking after my bedridden wife who I don't like leaving on her own for as long as I can possibly help, the nearest main Ford dealer being a round trip of about 20 miles, whilst my local car accessory shop is only a couple of minutes walk away and even though I probably won't be using the car for a few days at least (over the last six weeks I was driving circa

70 miles a day to visit her in hospital) I'm a bit paranoid about it freezing during this snap of premature cold weather.

The correct stuff is not expensive,

Reply to
Ivan
[...]

Ah, OK.

I personally would consider the risk of having slightly too dilute a solution of antifreeze as less of a risk than using what might be an incompatible mix. Even if the dilution was 25% instead of 50%, it would be very unlikely to freeze in the UK. If you can park so that the grille has as much shelter from the prevailing wind, that would help.

The Carplan website makes no mention as to the suitability of their Red antifreeze with anything else. It only states that it has a 5-year life. if you must use it, perhaps it would be best to buy some more, and do a total coolant change?

For the future, perhaps these guys:

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might be of use to you?

I've used them once; service was OK, but the fairly high cost of shipping tended to wipe out the discount they give. Great from the point of view of convenience however.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thanks for your help Chris, there was a mild frost last night, however there didn't appear to be a problem when I checked out the expansion tank first thing this morning, the reason for my original post was that I wanted a second opinion along the lines that you suggested, of whether it would be wiser to wait until I can get to a main Ford dealer rather than take the risk of mixing the two types of coolant with the possibility of undesirable consequences.

Reply to
Ivan

It's not cold enough yet. Your typical unmaintained coolant is so contaminated that it takes well below zero before it starts to freeze even if you had nothing but pure water in.

Reply to
Conor

So how much is it from Ford then ? I know their Focus TDCI oil was / expensive / ! ( filter and parts are cheap though :-) ) Why doesn't the OP just drain out and flush the old stuff if he wants to use car plan.

Reply to
mr p

The price would depend on the dealer.

What are you comparing the oil price to? The cheapest that a local factor could supply, or the most expensive branded product from Halfrauds?

I've found my local dealer's price for oil to be about in the middle of those two extremes.

So he would then need to buy another two litres of CarPlan, rather than just one litre of the correct coolant. I'm pretty sure that's not going to be cheaper! Oh, and he would end up with a coolant that had a five-year life rather than one with a ten-year life.

The best thing the OP could have done would be to have returned the CarPlan for a refund on the basis that it was supplied to him as suitable to mix with the Ford coolant, which was incorrect.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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