Bought car about 9 months ago from dealership, how do I know if it has coolant/antifreeze in the system? Any advice appreciated.

Extract a small amount from the expansion tank and pop it in the freezer?

 

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Edited 29 November, 20214 yr by Wino
Every time I try to type from I get form!

If the car had no coolant/antifreeze then it would over heat very very quickly and destroy the engine....

 

If you want to check the level, then look at the coolant tank, circled in red below:

If you are referring to the level, then check the tank as per the post above, if it was too low it should trigger a warning on the instrument cluster.

If you want to check the protection/mix ratio, then you can get simple testers from eBay, Amazon and Halfords that will give you a reasonable indication.
Example: https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/all-hand-tools/antifreeze-tester---ethylene-glycol-686778.html

 

5 hours ago, omnipeta said:

how do I know if it has coolant/antifreeze in the system?

Genuine OAT should be pink or orange. A cheap hygrometer will let you check the percentage.

There is a lot of confusion always around coolant.

 

Coolant is a mix of anti freeze and water. The water itself is the heat transferring 'coolant'.

The anti freeze is the glycol additive mixed 50/50 with it to prevent it freezing, prevent rust, corrosion and scale build up. 

When water and anti freeze are mixed you get the correct coolant to put in the car.

 

Now do you mean you want to check the correct amount of coolant is in the car or the correct concentration? 

Unless your car has had some issues in the past it will probably be running the factory mix coolant. Check the tank shown in @langers2k when the engine is cold.

If it's full of pink liquid you'll most likely be fine