Which Coolant?

Level 1 User Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 31

Hi all, new to Renaults so bear with me!

The car in my posession is a '96 1.4 Megane 8V and it has water in the cooling system. I'm assuming it would have originally taken proper coolant? Is this correct? I assume I can just drain the system and pour in the coolant instead?

Cheers all.

Level 10 User Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 620

yer you need a 50/50 mix of blue coolent make sure u thougherly clean the system out by chucking a hose in the header tank and just let the water wash out the deposits of rust which my be within the system

Level 3 User Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 66

I prefer the mad arse red looking coolent to the blue stuff, looks better to me, especially after soaking me heaader tank for 2 days to get it so it wasnt yellow..

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 589

I swear by Renaults own coolant, have used it in all my Renaults for years, and its all ready mixed for you, so its just a case of pouring it in, Â£20ish should get you enough to fill the system.

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

Â£20 to fill the system with coolant though Shocked

Just go to the factors and get any coolant that is type-D equivalent

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 589

You get what you pay for Wink

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

do you though? i mean really. It's coolant.

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 589

and

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

and nothing.

pure water is the best coolant.

anything you put in it is just to

a. stop it freezing in very very cold weather

and

b. stop it rusting the cooling system

if you can satisfy requirements a and b with something that costs Â£5, why pay Â£20?

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 589

I see the point your trying to make ....but

i dont agree that its as simple as that,

Yeah, i agree that the dealer stuff is gonna be abit dearer due to their over heads etc, but i also beleive that its gonna be better than a gallon of stuff at Â£5,

You say the that its to stop internal corrosion etc and thats true, but i just think thats some stuff is going to be better at with-standing longer higher temps than others, and also the long term effects it has on the internals and before it starts turning to shit in the system,

if the coolant was gonna be getting filled up and drained over short periods of time then yeah, id probably go for the cheap stuff, but we all know how hot these Renaults run and how tempramental they are, so maybe putting your hand in your pocket and spending a few quid more for coolant is not a bad thing,

you say its to stop the water freezing and rusting the inside's, true, so cheap stuff will do, so if thats the case why not just pour really cheap and nasty oil in the engine, after all, its only to stop the engine from seizing, or lets put cheap tyres on and then complain when the car slides all over the place and handles like shit,

im not saying that we should always buy most expensive just cause its a brand, i'll buy cheap if i think its not gonna have a long term effect on the car, and i understand that alot of people cant afford to buy the Â£20 for etc, and that they run their cars on a budget.

Level 1 User Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 31

Cheers guys. I'm just gonna get cheap coolant from my local factors, never gave me trouble before and I hated paying OTT for G12 for my VW!

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

roddy21t wrote:

you say its to stop the water freezing and rusting the inside's, true, so cheap stuff will do, so if thats the case why not just pour really cheap and nasty oil in the engine, after all, its only to stop the engine from seizing

Do you always use the recommended ELF oil from a Renault dealer as well then?

If not, why not?

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

In all fairness I dont see how you can compare coolant to oil, different oils might lubricate differently but any decent coolant is going to cool and prevent corrosion just as good as Renault stuff.

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 589

Well yeah i DID use the recommended Elf oil up until a few years ago, and yes its not cheap, and the only reason im not using it now is because no one sells it anymore, and the last few Renault dealers iv had our cars serviced at over the last few years ( yes we do get our cars serviced aswell ) are using Castrol Magnatec which as we all know is a decent oil, and thats good enough for me.

Sorry Huwwatkins, i dont agree, and i never said the Renault coolant was the best.

Level 9 User Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 373

i put coolent thats in halfords in,i change it every year instead of 2 so as long as your doing changing it frequently doesnt matter what you put in.imo

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 1141

Asda - 4L coolant Â£3.48.

You can run it pure for under a tenner, everybodys happy.

Jobs a Goodun.

Level 9 User Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 373

thats what im talking about a bargain lol

Level 1 User Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 31

Yeah I can get cheap coolant too (my old man used to own a factors but he's retired now, still has contacts though Wink

) so i can run it on pure coolant no probs?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

roddy what shite you tsalk.

Level 9 User Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 435

agreed!

Level 1 User Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 31

Was in GSF today getting plugs and a filter for this motor and I saw the genuine ELF Renault Type D coolant-It's â‚¬19.36 inc. VAT. Bit steep for me Shocked

EDIT: The header tank in this megane is pretty stained, anybody know an effective medium to soak it in to remove the staining?