Anti-Freeze

Anti-freeze is often an area that gets neglected during servicing.

Most people don’t realise that anti-freeze has 3 main functions.
The first is in the name, it stops the coolant freezing in cold weather.
The second is to assist the cooling system efficiency.
The third is to provide corrosion protection for the engine and radiators.

The biggest cause of headgasket failure on the perkins prima is failure to change the anti-freeze resulting in the headgasket corroding!. The L series has a different type of gasket, however how different remains to be seen.

There are two types of antifreeze.
The first is normal ethylene glycol based which is usually coloured blue. This needs to be changed every 2 years.
The second is what Rover fitted originally and is Organic Acid Technology (OAT), based anti-freeze. This lasts 4 years between changes and is usually orange red or green in colour depending on the brand used.

Most back street garages won’t change the coolant in a normal service so make sure you ask for it if it needs changing.