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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Quick test for antifreeze?
due to cold temps tonight, and the fact that my poor old cars are stuck in
the drive... i need a quick check for sufficient antifreeze. i heard that antifreeze tastes sweet...so is it ok just to dip a finger in the rad and drop a drip on my tongue? i know its not gonna tell me if there's enough but it will tell me that the previous owners had put some in. Steve |
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Ooops...should have been posted to uk.rec.cars.maintenance! done now! im
sure someone will respond though! steve |
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"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message ... due to cold temps tonight, and the fact that my poor old cars are stuck in the drive... i need a quick check for sufficient antifreeze. i heard that antifreeze tastes sweet So does cyanide I believe. |
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Mike wrote:
So does cyanide I believe. No, cyanide isn't sweet. Almondy, but not sweet. And if you're suggesting that the OP would be poisoned by dipping his finger in his engine coolant and tasting it, you are very wrong. It wouldn't harm him at all. -- Grunff |
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"Grunff" wrote in message ... Mike wrote: So does cyanide I believe. No, cyanide isn't sweet. Almondy, but not sweet. And if you're suggesting that the OP would be poisoned by dipping his finger in his engine coolant and tasting it, you are very wrong. It wouldn't harm him at all. Well I wouldn't go that far, but he shouldn't drop dead (in the dilutions *normally* found in road going engines) ! Trouble is, you don't know what else might have been added or become deposited into the coolant. |
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:::Jerry:::: wrote:
Well I wouldn't go that far, but he shouldn't drop dead (in the dilutions *normally* found in road going engines) ! Trouble is, you don't know what else might have been added or become deposited into the coolant. Chemists have been tasting stuff for hundreds of years, and until a few decades ago it was perfectly normal lab practice. As long as you're careful about how you taste things, transferring only tiny amounts to your tongue, you are very unlikely to poison yourself. Having said this, it's a crap way to test for antifreeze; unless you know what coolant with and without antifreeze tastes like, it will tell you nothing. The OP should just flush and refill with 40-50% antifreeze. Takes no time, and is well worth doing. -- Grunff |
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"Grunff" wrote in message ... snip The OP should just flush and refill with 40-50% antifreeze. Takes no time, and is well worth doing. I wish I had a 50 quid for ever motorist who has thought that, only to find they have problems ! What you say was true some years back but not now, many engines have coolant systems that are far from simple to refill unless one knows how to do it. |
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In article , Grunff
writes :::Jerry:::: wrote: Well I wouldn't go that far, but he shouldn't drop dead (in the dilutions *normally* found in road going engines) ! Trouble is, you don't know what else might have been added or become deposited into the coolant. Chemists have been tasting stuff for hundreds of years, and until a few decades ago it was perfectly normal lab practice. As long as you're careful about how you taste things, transferring only tiny amounts to your tongue, you are very unlikely to poison yourself. You try that with cocaine your dead before you hit the floor -- Zaax http://www.ukgatsos.com |
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"Mike" wrote
| "r.p.mcmurphy" wrote | i heard that antifreeze tastes sweet | So does cyanide I believe. I have always believed that it tasted of bitter almonds. Miss D L Sayers ("Bitter Almonds" (A Montague Egg Story): In the teeth of the evidence, Gollancz, 1939.) is usually reliable on poisons. Owain |
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Owain wrote:
"Mike" wrote | "r.p.mcmurphy" wrote | i heard that antifreeze tastes sweet | So does cyanide I believe. I have always believed that it tasted of bitter almonds. Miss D L Sayers ("Bitter Almonds" (A Montague Egg Story): In the teeth of the evidence, Gollancz, 1939.) is usually reliable on poisons. Apparently, the ability to detect the almondy scent of cyanide is genetic - if you don't have the right gene, you won't be able to smell or taste it. Sheila (I really must re-read the Sayers books.) |
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On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 21:36:14 -0000, "Mike" wrote:
antifreeze tastes sweet So does cyanide I believe. No, that's the metal acetates - usually lead acetate. Cyanide is tasteless, but does have a smell. The smell is that of _bitter_ almonds, which don't smell much like almonds either. The best way to detect cyanide is to smoke, for you can taste a flavour difference in tobacco at much lower concentrations than you can smell the cyanide itself. Friend of mine (a devout smoker) tried very hard to have smoking made compulsory in his cyanide-handling lab, -- Smert' spamionam |
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"r.p.mcmurphy" wrote in message ... due to cold temps tonight, and the fact that my poor old cars are stuck in the drive... i need a quick check for sufficient antifreeze. i heard that antifreeze tastes sweet...so is it ok just to dip a finger in the rad and drop a drip on my tongue? i know its not gonna tell me if there's enough but it will tell me that the previous owners had put some in. Steve If your not sure then drain it and refill with fresh mix of 50/50 coolant/antifreeze and water. Don`t forget its the anti corrosive properties that you need as much as the anti freezing. Easy peasy and won`t cost the earth. |
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"John Woodhall" wrote in message ... snip If your not sure then drain it and refill with fresh mix of 50/50 coolant/antifreeze and water. Don`t forget its the anti corrosive properties that you need as much as the anti freezing. Easy peasy and won`t cost the earth. With out knowing what car / engine you can't say that, some are real *******s these days, and you need to know what you're doing if you're not going to be left with air locks and local over heating of the engine... |
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On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:53:54 -0000, "r.p.mcmurphy"
wrote: i need a quick check for sufficient antifreeze. Go to Partco, buy an antifreeze tester. Cheap. Assuming that your rad is filled with a mixture of only water and antifreeze (i.e. no raspberry syrup) then the specific gravity tells you their proportions. -- Smert' spamionam |
#15
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Andy Dingley wrote in message . ..
On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:53:54 -0000, "r.p.mcmurphy" wrote: i need a quick check for sufficient antifreeze. Put some in a bottle, put it in the freezer, see if it freezes. Ethylene glycol is used in most automotive anti-freeze mixture. It is toxic. It is used as a wood preservative. I don't know what you hope to determine from the taste. The corrosion inhibitors degrade in use; the antifreeze mixture absorbs oxygen the glycols combine with the oxygen to form acidic compounds. When the reserve alkalinity is exhausted, the mixture becomes acidic and galvanic corrosion starts devouring some engine components. The usual recommendation is to drain and refill every 3 years. Some recent cars use OAT (organic acid technology), which lasts much longer, but I know nothing about.I Propylene glycol is also used as anti-freeze in situations where a toxic mixture would be a hazard, for example in heating systems with an indirect hot water heater. It is non-toxic and it is very, very sweet. It is used as an artificial sweetener. I think that PG was probably what was used to adulterate the wine; I thought it was the Austrians. Tasting is often used with propylene glycol to identify leaks, it is so sweet it will put your teeth on edge. Tasting is probably inadvisable, it has it's own hazards. A heating contractor I know of visited a dark basement in which he had installed a boiler system. The system had been filled with a propylene glycol antifreeze mixture. He noticed a puddle on the floor near the boiler, so dipped a finger into it and tasted it. It wasn't sweet, so therefore it couldn't be anti-freeze. As he wondered what it could be, he noticed a large alsatian dog watching him from a corner. |
#16
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Subject: Quick test for antifreeze?
From: (Steve Firth) Did you know that the urine of diabetics tastes sweet Who discovered that? |
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