I got some of these, they were they only coolant testers in the shop. (In the USA, you can find a huge range of test kits for various coolants). I presume it is intended for inorganic inhibitor green coolants. It does not say on the bottle.
If you're not sure about the state of the coolant, just change it?
Indeed. Seems pointless to piss around testing for the sake of a few quid's worth of coolant and an hour or so.
But I can't see the point in used oil analysis, for the sake of a change, either.
That seems to be a US thing. Even when they change it every 3000 miles. ;-)
But it's also the place that Toyota and others have had had massive sludge problems.
On a fleet of HGV it's worthwhile.
Clearly a sudden rise in metal content will tell you that a bearing is losing it.
Joking. You can't fill up with a few quids worth. That could get you a bottle of inorganic inhibitor concentrate, and you mix with rainwater. That would only be suitable for old cars in temperate climates.
But here is a scenario: a few years back, my sister's car blew a hose, she got it towed to nearby garage. They fixed hose and put new coolant in at a hefty price. It looked like red cordial to me. I borrowed a refractometer, and measured it to be only 5 to 10 % glycol, which is useless. So threatened them with complaints to consumer protection and got it changed.
The level of glycol cannot tell you how old the antifreeze/coolant is. Coolant should be changed on a timed basis as per makers service schedule.
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