MTFCA Forum

Occasionally, it becomes freezing temperature where I live. Recently I've been using antifreeze in my radiator but it has been leaking badly and I am concerned about my pets attempting to consume the drips. Would a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and water substitute for antifreeze?

Alcohol works, but evaporates fast so freeze protection is limited.

And your pets could get drunk or injured as denatured alcohol is poison from those leaks too

Better to keep pets away from the storage garage, oil, gas, other things are harmful too.

I am looking for a better solution than antifreeze. Antifreeze is sweet and appealing to dogs and cats and alcohol is less apealing.

The only sure thing I can think of, is to drain the cooling system when not driving the car.

Or, you could try to seal the system. There are plenty of radiator sealing products available at any auto parts store.

Or tell your pets to stay away from your car or else!

Since we don't have pets......never knew this product was out there

Denatured alcohol is typical denatured with methanol....so it'd be pretty nasty for a pet as well.

Maybe not as quickly harmful...but not good at all.

You're correct about the sweet part though. They may not find it to be as appealing.

My solution has always been to make sure my cooling system has absolutely no leaks. In the instances where I have had a car that has a leak that I haven't had a chance to fix, the car is absolutely locked away from pets until it gets fixed. And even then, there is a towel or something placed under the leak to absorb it in the meantime. When disposing of ethylene glycol, if any has leaked on the driveway, etc it gets cleaned up immediately.

Why not fix the leaks?

I was not familiar with the product that Dan Treace posted but I have been using Sierra antifreeze. It is a propylene glycol based antifreeze and is safe for pets. That is probably what the other product is as well.

My t is in a large barn. The doors are not tight enough to keep out animals. I can't afford to have my radiator fixed by a pro. I am currently putting a bucket under it. Any other suggestions?

I'm in your situation too, Jonah. My Lizzie seeps enough that antifreeze (harder to contain than water, BTW) isnt a good option for me. Drain and re-fill is cumbersome but my best option. 3 gallons isn't that much to handle easily and there's a plus - if you can refill with hot water, your T will start easier !

There is a whole chapter in Ford service manual on fixing a radiator. Starts of Par 788 I think. This was written for someone who did not know how to fix a radiator.
If you want one to practice on, you can have a junk one of mine. Pickup only no shipping. Dan

Jonah, (and Steve), I have used the LowTox antifreeze in the past, trouble is, it's pretty darned expensive, so if it's just
gonna leak out, take the other guys advice and when it's gonna get cold and you're just using good ol plain water, take the 5 minutes and just drain it. Then, when you get time and money, maybe send the radiator in to a shop to get it fixed. I bet for less than $300 you can get it taken care of. Maybe even a re-core, which will cost a bit more, but certainly a lot less than the average $900 for a black radiator. I spent $140 a month ago and had my Fordor's rad repaired and boiled out and wow it works now like it was brand new, not bad for an original round tube radiator!
BTW...at the risk of ticking off suggestions for "stop leak" stuff...DON'T. You'll hear plenty of horror stories as to how it surely stopped the leaks, but also stopped the COOLING along with it! It tends to plug up more than just the leaks. Do it right, fix or replace! You know the acronym... F-O-x-x! I won't fill in all the letters! Ha ha.

The first "antifreeze" was Glycerol (glycerine is the commercial 95% form of glycerol used in hand sanitizers etc) was replaced with a cheaper solution Ethylene Glycol about the late '20s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol
In the food industry it is called propylene glycol and used as an antifreeze because of its low toxicity. There are several products available for automotive use like the one described above, Prestone's LowTox.

Explanation of the difference between propylene glycol and ethylene glycol
https://www.monarchchemicals.co.uk/Info ... antifreeze

NOTE: Besides the issue with evaporation, Denatured Alcohol is poisonous: denatured alcohol is sometimes consumed as a surrogate alcohol. This can result in blindness or death if it contains methanol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol

Drain it.

It's what people did in the Model T era. Enjoy the true Model T experience.

I have no idea where Kingsport is, so don't know how cold it gets there. But you need a good radiator to hold the coolant for long periods. If it only gets below freezing occasionally you can just use water in the cooling system. and drain only when the weather report says it will be below freezing. If you have hard water, use distilled water. That also costs you more than tap water but less than anti-freeze. If it gets below freezing for months at a time, drain and only fill if you are planning to start the engine. Over a period of time, you might be able to save enough money to buy a new radiator, or take the existing radiator to a shop to see if it can be repaired or re-cored.
Norm

He's in Tennessee...so he will get a few days where it could freeze. Eventually he'll either get it repaired/re-cored, or best to replace it. Like most of us!!

Look. You live in Tennessee. I live in North Carolina. I know that you, like me, have access to seriously good moonshine at a good price. Forget the denatured alcohol that is poison. Get your moonshine, use that, and nobody gets sick. The only sadness is putting the moonshine into the Model T instead of into yourself. OK, maybe you split the shine in half, one part for the T, one part for you. Win-win!

The radiator in my Ten is tight, but will drip a bit, so I use the "safe for pets tpye' Alchohol I reserve for my personal use.

A late neighbor told me that he was still using methanol anti-freeze into the late 1950s because it was less expensive than ethylene glycol anti-freeze.

However, while driving with his young daughters in the car, he experienced an engine fire which he attributed to a cooling system leak. After that episode, he switched to Prestone.

He and his brother were engineers and very mechanically inclined, hands-on car guys who did most of their own maintenance and repairs.

Just had a conversation with my dad.

He said in winter months he used alcohol anti-freeze in his 1927 Fordor that he owned in 1948-49.

Also worth mentioning: I did some casual Googling of photos of vintage methanol anti-freeze cans and it seems that some manufacturers included water pump lube (soluble oil) with the alcohol. If you did use denatured alcohol and water in your cooling system, it might be a good idea to throw in some water pump lube.

Had a small leak in mind I use two tablespoons of ground ginger and a cup of hot water it has not leaked the drop read this in a no repair manual it works

If regular antifreeze is sweet smelling to critters,I wonder what would happen if a bottle of Tabasco sauce were poured in, if the taste would change as to not be desirable to said critters? I wouldn’t think it would hurt anything in the cooling system.

I use vodka. IF the car breaks down.......

I just read an article about taste deterrents to prevent pets from eating things they ought not. It involves using solutions that repel dogs and cats through repulsive smells and tastes. Here is the article that includes some products that are marketed for this purpose. I’m thinking they can be mixed in with the radiator solution: https://pets.webmd.com/taste-deterrents#1. Jim Patrick

You forget that Jonah is too young to have anything to do with alcohol or moonshine.

DHort wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:29 am

You forget that Jonah is too young to have anything to do with alcohol or moonshine.

I am quite sure he knows what a joke is.

If not, I apologize.

Joke? I don got me 3 gallons yesterda!

The RV dealers sell a non-toxic antifreeze that is used to winterize RV's. Boats use this too. See https://www.campingworld.com/star-brite ... antifreeze