Antifreeze..

[Sheena351]

what kinda antifreeze am i supposed to use in my 97? My dad said his crown vic takes a special kind since it has aluminum heads, so he told me to ask what kinda my uses. My radiator hose going from the radiator to the thermostat housing is leaking, so i'm gonna change it and add all new antifreeze, so if anyone knows the answer...lemme know.

[pinoyesv6]

just the regular green stuff should work fine for your car. just make sure that you have the proper water to antifreeze ratio if you didn't buy the premixed stuff already.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pinoyesv6)</div><div class='quotemain'>just the regular green stuff should work fine for your car. just make sure that you have the proper water to antifreeze ratio if you didn't buy the premixed stuff already.</div>
don't buy that premixed crap. Who are they to tell you what kind of mixture you will need?

You want as much water as you can without boiling over. Reason being water has a higher specific heat than antifreeze, meaning it takes more energy to heat it 1 degree C than antifreeze. Basically boils down to (excuse the pun) the idea that water absorbs heat better than coolant. I personally flush my radiator whenever summer or winter comes around. In summer, I use a larger amount of water than antifreeze. In winter, I use a larger amount of antifreeze than water. If you use too much antifreeze, the lines will be begin to corrode and you will have nasty buildups inside your hoses. Also gets expensive. Remember to flush everything out before you put in new coolant. Most people say run a 50/50 mixture, and this is pretty safe in most situations. However, in extreme cold or heat, you should run a slightly higher ratio, like 70 coolant :30 water.
Controlling heat in your engine is tough work, but keeping everything nice and cool will lengthen the life of your engine quite nicely.