I have had to be under the bonnet of of my felicia (1.3L estate r reg) a few times to jump start it recently and i noticed that what i think is the coolant container has a level at little beneath the minimum level. what do i put in it to top it up?

i have had the car almost 3months and my dad checked everything when i got it and it was all fine but he's not about to ask atm.

you can prob guess from this i don't know my way round a car engine (tho i can jump start one now)

jen

Buy a litre of antifreeze G12 is accepted as the best for these cars and an old orange juice bottle cleaned out fill HALF way with the antifreeze and then fill to the top with water this gives you a 50/50 mix for topping up your coolant bottle. By the way doesn't matter what size the bottle is as this will always be a 50/50 mix.

By the by keep an eye on your coolant level this a lot to drop, unless it wasn't checked for a long time. Check again in a weeks time there should be a tiny or no drop in the level:thumbup:

You can just stick in water. But you'll need anti-freeze to stop the water icing up in the morning.

I use the Halfrauds pink stuff, ready mixed but I just add that to my water in the coolant res.

Well it's not icing up (even in the coldest spells) or overheating so I'm not too worried.

A word of warning re:oldskools post, don't leave antifreeze in drinks bottles when there are kids about

I don't know how much this represents, but provided you use a clearly labelled bottle, follow oldskool's advice, and, with the engine cold, fill it up to about half an inch below the "max" mark.

If it really is only a little under, I'd be another advocate of just adding water - demineralised, if you can get it (some supermarkets stock it) but just tap water would be acceptable as long as you don't live in a hard water area. I say this because the G12 that's in there will work OK in the UK climate at up to a 60:40 mix either way (it should have been checked at the last service so should be at or near the 'correct' 50:50 currently).

Having said this, I'd only do this once or twice. If topping-up starts to become a common occurrence, then you run the risk of over-diluting. Plus, of course, you should probably start thinking aobut finding out where the coolant's going! Under the circumstances, it's probably just the cold making the overall coolant volume contract rather than any actual loss...

A word of warning re:oldskools post, don't leave antifreeze in drinks bottles when there are kids about

Totally agree mate:thumbup:, I keep all my bottles like this (brake fluid etc...)on a shelf high up in my garage and labelled and dated. Habit with 6 yr old twins hehe, just a bit complacent to assume others would the same. good point:thumbup: