Longlife Oat Antifreeze

[2-Pugs 57]

Has anyone got any experience of using the longlife organic type antifreeze - pink coloured stuff - which supposedly lasts for 5 years?

A couple of weeks ago, I changed the coolant and I used this stuff at 50% concentration. I now notice that it's damp around the heater matrix, and there is a slow drip of coolant coming off the engine somewhere too, neither of which I was very pleased to see :-(

 

Perhaps I didn't notice them before, but I don't remember there being a leak in those places. So, it seems too much of a coincidence, and it's made me wonder if this longlife OAT stuff has caused the leaks. Reading up on the subject around the web, and even the bottle itself states it is not suitable for 'classic' cars, but I don't think of the XU engine being particularly old, nor made of 'old' materials. I could understand if this was a car from a hundred-odd years ago, but it's not, it's an engine which is not that different to what's in production today.

 

I have to admit I barely gave it a second thought when I bought the OAT stuff it and put it in. But I'm wondering now if it is not suitable and has caused deterioration of some gaskets, or seals.

 

I'm planning to flush it all out and go back to the usual blue ethylene glycol stuff and repair whatever leaks have manifested themselves.

 

But wondered if anyone else had had any experience of this, had a similar issue, or had any comments on it?

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

Never had an issue with it at all Rob.

[welshpug 1,661]

you may have originally had issues if it had the original copper core rads, but what with most being alloy with plastic tanks and the matrix being alloy I doubt you will experience any issues from using that type of chemical.

 

just sheer coincidence IMO.

[dcc 855]

you're meant to use IAT iirc with these engines.

[dcc 855]

http://www.ncregionaaca.com/firstcapital/index.php/old-cars-and-antifreeze

 

and

 

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/tech-articles/coolant-antifreeze.pdf

[sp_en_ny 17 1 Cars]

I recently bought some anti freeze, I went to get the pink stuff because of the longer life, however when I enquired was their any other difference the guy told me the pink stuff is for more modern day engines, when I told him It was for my 205 he said I should stick to the blue just in case.

[S@m 156]

Interestingly PSA now seem to think that their blue ethylene glycol coolant is longlife despite not having changed it at all since they specified a two year drain/replace interval. There is no change interval at all for the same coolant on newer models, even those with the same old TU engine from the 205 era.

 

Interestingly the same can be said of gearbox oil, it used to be a 36,000 mile interval but now the same oil in the same gearboxes is suddenly "For life".

 

I'm still going to change mine every couple of years though.

 

Bit off topic there.

Edited February 24, 2015 by S@m

[Anthony 1,003]

From Peugeot's point of view, it only has to last the warranty period Sam... and all of a sudden servicing costs look more attractive to buyers and fleets users

[welshpug 1,661]

Interestingly the same can be said of gearbox oil, it used to be a 36,000 mile interval but now the same oil in the same gearboxes is suddenly "For life".

 

thats about right given how long an MA lasts

[S@m 156]

From Peugeot's point of view, it only has to last the warranty period Sam... and all of a sudden servicing costs look more attractive to buyers and fleets users

 

My thoughts exactly.

[2-Pugs 57]

Thanks for the replies folks. Still some mixed opinion. I think Welshpug perhaps you're right, on reflection it's coincidence, I cannot believe the OAT stuff has been that aggressive in the space of a couple of weeks. Stick with blue from now on though, just in case

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

My leaks on the back of the head were with the pink stuff, so I think I will go for blue stuff when I finish my head gasket replacement. I am guessing this is on Number 10. Heater matrix, then go for a Nissens 72981 to get a Valeo one in a Nissens box! For the slow coolant drip then that is depressing after you have rebuilt the engine. Hopefully it is just a loose hose clip.

[lagonda 42]

Antifreeze does seem to have a leak-seeking capability....you might just find that a combination of scale/silt build up and ageing of your previous antifreeze masked/prevented leaks, whereas draining has disturbed the crud, and the new antifreeze has gone to work! As an aside, when I rebuilt my engine, I fitted BBM silicon hoses, and was plagued with leaks at just about every hose connection. Changing to a different antifreeze did help, but not completely, and I still find minor weeps going on.

 

As another aside, my previous car, a Lancia Y10, had a small leak from a steel pipe entering the block. I never could figure out how to remove the pipe, and eventually, the only way of not losing coolant was to fill with just water. That did the trick....but after a few years, a core plug rusted through....which is why antifreeze includes corrosion protection.

[Ozymandis 97]

My two penn`orth, ive swapped ethylene glycol for OAT on many vehicles, the only problem i ever had was on my girlfriends 205 XUD, the water pump seal started to leak.

All the other peugeots i put it in have been fine,including ones with the exact same water pump.