Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello everyone!

Haven't been here for AGES, mainly because the Minor's spent the last 6 weeks radiator-less in the driveway! Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about my experience of Halfords antifreeze...

Due to a number of problems with my Maestro, I spent Wednesday night (in the dark!) urgently fitting my nice new radiator ready for an urgent drive to Bristol for a wedding. Anyway, I put the radiator in, added some water, and topped it up with some Halfords antifreeze which I've never used before - it's their 5-year super de-lux extra-expensive one. I noticed as I was pouring it in that it's REALLY thick - not like normal antifreeze, more like oil.

Anyway, I set off for Bristol but after about 10 minutes the engine started cutting out and I could smell burning from under the bonnet. It was overheating. I looked in the radiator and it was still pretty full so I let it cool down and carried on a bit, but it did it again, so I limped back home. I emptied the radiator and re-filled it with plain water and it was fine (appart from the condenser braking on the way back and only being able to do 40mph on the motorway - finally reached Bristol 3am!).

The next day I popped into Charles Wares in Bath for some normal antifreeze and a new condenser and it's been fine ever since, so I can only assume that the overheating was caused by this thick antifreeze causing a blockage somewhere.

Just thought I'd let you know - has anyone else had this problem?

I noticed as I was pouring it in that it's REALLY thick - not like normal antifreeze, more like oil.

Not seen any thats had that type of consistency even the newer types that pour straight in with no mixing still apear to be quite fluid by nature I wonder whats in the one you use or if its for a specific use ?

I stopped using Halfords normal antifreeze as it's red.
This gives everything in the water jacket a red tinge - the same effect as having no anticorrosion agent leading to excessive corrosion in the water jacket.... It just looks like it's not been properly serviced.

I picked up a different one at the local spares shop that was a nice blue (or green depending on which car I'm working on). Not sure if they are high quality but they are at least a sensible colour!


I would be unhappy with anything thick in the water jacket. Might be worth spending some time flushing your system thoroughly

Yes - it was red! It's not REALLY thick, but a little bit. I checked the bottle when I had the problem but it said it's for any car. Well... won't be using it again! BTW, Halfrauds do a "cooling system conditioner" and "water pump lubricant" which you can add to the radiator - are these worth getting?

Most good modern antifreeze should contain a summer coolant as part of the antifreeze mixture so that it can be used all year round.