Gardner antifreeze change

[Tonyw200]

Hello All 

Can anyone help with the correct way to drain the old coolant and refill with fresh on a gardener 2 L 2 

Can i refill using a vacuum tool to prevent air locks.

 

Thankyou.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Tonyw200

[matty40s]

You won't get an airlock if you bleed from the screw on top of the thermostat , bleed the skin tank, and have a higher mounted header tank.

Draining will depend on how your system has been plumbed in, they are all different, you might have a drain tap , you might just have to pop a pipe.

Edited January 6, 2023 by matty40s

[Tonyw200]

Thankyou for your help.The antifreeze that's in the engine @ the moment is blue.Do gardeners take a certain type or can I use any that are good quality.

[matty40s]

You are best to stick with the blue one you currently use, I stick with the blue one.

Dont top up with a different one with your existing fluid,  it can clog up and form a jelly suspension if you are mixing old types. 

Most modern ones are inter changeable, so doing a complete drain of system , flush and refill will allow you to top up with most other modern coolant/Antifreeze solutions.

 

[matty40s]

I still cant believe the moderator wont combine the threads...perhaps theres only him left now....

[Athy]

55 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I still cant believe the moderator wont combine the threads...perhaps theres only him left now....

Your credulity is lamentably lacking. Must try harder.

[frahkn]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

Your credulity is lamentably lacking. Must try harder.

 Surely "credulity" means an unwise eagerness to believe.

 Matty's unwillingness to believe is a rational position so perhaps attempting to lead him away from it is initself lamentable.

[Tonyw200]

Thankyou for answering my questions.Really appriciate the help.👍

[matty40s]

A pleasure, any other Gardner queries  just ask.

Oh, and apologies for the moderator.

Edited January 7, 2023 by matty40s

[Momac]

As an aside and not engine specific 

I used  some ready mixed antifreeze and it simply did not work from a corrosion protection perspective resulting in the coolant becoming brown rusty coloured.

 

I have since thoroughly flushed with water and used  concentrated coolant so I could control the coolant to water proportions.  This was recent and the results have yet to be seen after the engine has had some use.

 

The lesson learned being to avoid ready mixed coolant.

 

 

 

 

[Athy]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

 

Oh, and apologies for the moderator.

No doubt you meant TO the moderator. Accepted, of course.

[Markinaboat]

just to expand on this. The anti freeze to use is Ethylene Glycol, referred to as 'IAT'. The longer lasting 'OAT' anti freeze which is usually a reddish colour provides protection for upto 5 yrs as opposed to 2yrs for the IAT (Blue). However, I've been informed in the past that OAT will not protect the brass/bronze components within the engine & will also react adversely with any IAT (Blue) anti freeze still in the system, as mentioned above cab turn to a jelly like substance. I use Morris MEG mono-ethylene glycol at a 50/50 mix for my 2LW.

[Clanky]

On 06/01/2023 at 06:33, matty40s said:

You won't get an airlock if you bleed from the screw on top of the thermostat , bleed the skin tank, and have a higher mounted header tank.

Draining will depend on how your system has been plumbed in, they are all different, you might have a drain tap , you might just have to pop a pipe.

my (new to me) 3LW doesn't  seem to have a a bleed screw on the thermostat housing? how do you bleed the skin tank? the header tank is higher than the engine though so one is ok 😆 also approx how many litres is in the cooling system on a 3LW?

[Tony Brooks]

One would normally expect the skin tank to have bleed screws, unless the pipe work was such that air could work from the top of the ski tank up the pipe to the filling point.

[Stilllearning]

Skin tank bleed screws can get painted over and become disguised as lumps so  keep on searching.

[Tracy D'arth]

37 minutes ago, Clanky said:

my (new to me) 3LW doesn't  seem to have a a bleed screw on the thermostat housing? how do you bleed the skin tank? the header tank is higher than the engine though so one is ok 😆 also approx how many litres is in the cooling system on a 3LW?

The capacity depends on the volume of the plumbing and the skin tank/s, an unknown figure, every boat is different.  Just vent all the high points by vent screw or loosening a hose.

[Tony Brooks]

59 minutes ago, Clanky said:

also approx how many litres is in the cooling system on a 3LW?

 

As Tracy said, no one knows at his time unless a previous owner left records.

 

I drained my system into the bilge and pumped it into containers of a known capacity ready for disposal. That way you will know the capacity.

 

[jonesthenuke]

1 hour ago, Stilllearning said:

Skin tank bleed screws can get painted over and become disguised as lumps so  keep on searching.

I struggled to find the bleed screw on our boat. It was in a cupboard, in a small gap next to the inverter, behind wooden panelling and covered in spray foam. I was quite pleased when I found it! 

[Markinaboat]

21 hours ago, jonesthenuke said:

I struggled to find the bleed screw on our boat. It was in a cupboard, in a small gap next to the inverter, behind wooden panelling and covered in spray foam. I was quite pleased when I found it! 

My skin tank is on the baseplate (Norton Canes shell). The bleed pipe is inaccessible due to being beneath the forward corner of the engine. I just undid the main flow pipe connection and drained down into the bilge beneath the engine (it flowed to the rear baffle plate due to the angle of the boat). Once the engine drained down (IIRC approx. 12-15 litres), I sucked it up with a drill pump then sucked the coolant from the skin tank via the baseplate connection which was around 50 litres! Refilled the skin tank till it overflowed, reconnected then filled from the header tank with the thermostat sensor removed from the plug.