OTish: Antifreeze

My SO's SOC (L Reg Golf GTi) has some very specific instructions re coolant
and anti-freeze mixes (preferably special VW number blah or to industry
standard B$$GF£D172XC93... blah blah). And the coolant levels need topping
up.

Should I care about mixing any old (suitably diluted) antifreeze from the
nearest petrol-station with what's already in there or do all these numbers
actually matter?

 

Yes, there are two basic types of antifreeze. The more common Ethylene
Glycol, otherwise known as 'Universal', is normally blue or green in
colour, and lasts about 3 years. It's also poisonous.

Second type is Propylene Glycol, and is usually pink or red in colour.
This is normally used in sealed systems, and can be in there for up to
10 years. This is not poisonous.

The two cannot be mixed though, as this will normally cause a corrosive
cocktail that will eat away rubber components, and damage gaskets.

You can install the later Propylene based stuff if you thoroughly flush
the entire cooling system of any trace of Ethylene first.

 

Andy Hewitt secured a place in history by writing:

What I feared and TVM for confirming it. I think I will advise her to take
it into a friendly garage and flutter her eyelids and they can sort it: I
have no idea what's in there at the moment.

 

Add a bottle of cheap vodka. That won't freeze and will mix with
anything

 

Whinging Courier secured a place in history by writing:

This is more the approach I'm inclined to take, but it's not my car. I'm
in enough trouble tonight as it is: Anyone would think it easy to make a
case for replacing the just expired 20 year old Sony TV in the toddlers
room with a nice new Widescreen, but Oh No:

SO (leaning over shoulder to view web pic of 28" Philips): It's HUGE!!

Me: It's two inches high

SO: It's just like the one you bought last year which fills the house!

Me: It's the same make....but it's way smaller. Look, I have consulted
Pythagoras, it's smaller than the one that just died (in a vertical
dimension)

SO: It's silver

Me: They're all fucking silver

SO: We need to go to Comet to view all the option

Me: The only options you care about is what they look like *switched off*
and they all look *the fucking same*

SO: It will dominate the room and ruin the Victorian feel of our house.

Me: It's a fucking kiddy room. It has a fucking HUGE plastic kitchen in
the corner that YOU bought. I can't get on the sofa for cuddly toys. This
room has no aesthetic merit whatsoever, who gives a shit about the TV in
the corner?

SO: What's wrong with a 14" portable on the chest of drawers?

Me: a) She'll get a fucking crick in her neck trying to see it from the
floor b) She'll have trouble seeing it at all from the other side of the
room c) If I have to watch Chitty Chitty Fucking Bang Bang with her I want
it WIDESCREEN and VISIBLE

SO: £300!! We can't afford that! If we're going to spend that on a TV I
want to spend £300 on 'soft furnishings'!

Me: You just made me spend £1200 on curtains! I could have bought a winter
hack for that...and a TV....and had several good nights out.

etc etc

So I need to 'be supportive' on the SO's SOC front

 

I love reading this kind of stuff. Sometimes it makes me want to
celebrate by going out and buying a new television, just for the hell of
it.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Perspective is a wonderful thing.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Ferger wrote:

So be supportive. Tell her it's Russian antifreeze and you know how
bloody cold it is there!

By the time she notices the car'll be fucked anyway.

 

That's if you really feel bad about the TV, I mean.

I suppose if you were honest and said the TV was for you (it's not like
a toddler's going to appreciate it) she might be more accommodating.

 

Ginge secured a place in history by writing:

Seems an equitable split to me. I do *essential* technology and you do
*essential* decor. Just that technology and decor don't seem to co-exist
in the mind of my SO and probably most everyone elses.....

I mean, I try really hard not to go down the route of 'I earnt the fucking
money' 'cos that just *is not fair*. But there's a single man in the back
of my head shouting, 'You earnt the fucking money! TELL HER!'

 

Grimly Curmudgeon secured a place in history by writing:

It really is a woman/TV thing. She really cannot see why I laugh at this,
which doesn't help matters.

 

Whinging Courier secured a place in history by writing:

Yeah, but then I have to do the nursery runs AND sort out a new car, as
cars are technology and hence my remit.....

 

How on earth??? No, I don't want to know. I just don't understand
women.

 

Lady Nina says...

Figures

 

Lady Nina secured a place in history by writing:

They are very, very big curtains (too big too buy off the shelf anywhere)
and we had to get a rail forged as well. But still.....

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ferger

Fucking hell, for that sort of money I'd have wanted a genuine rail.

--
Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
ZZR1100, Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

Whinging Courier secured a place in history by writing:

We need *a* TV, 'cos the old one died. A tiddler won't cut it for the
toddler, it's a big room. Yes, the Widescreenness is prolly more for me,
but it's quite hard to buy 4:3 nowadays. Most of this is about SO
recognising we need to replace the busted TV but not actually wanting a
modern TV in the room. She actually would prefer to go buy a crap old TV
because she thinks they look better. And she really doesn't want the stand
that comes with it, she wants 'a little table'.

I sympathise and understand...but I want the opposite......

 

Nigel Eaton secured a place in history by writing:

As I hit the send, I thought 'Some fucker will get me on the "forged"
front'. And here you are Mr Eaton, reporting for duty nary 5 minutes
later. This group has signed up to some SLA I am unaware of.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ferger

A duty and a pleasure to serve.

--
Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
ZZR1100, Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

We have very big curtains: floor length, will cover an 8' wide opening
comfortably, thich, heavy fabric, fully lined. Total cost of about £450 and
a few hours on the sewing machine. Sarah reckons curtains are the easiest
things you can make: measure, cut, sew straight seams.

Twelve hundred quid is really appalling.