Life of anti-freeze

[Cantata]

Just going to change the coolant in my engine. I've found enough anti-freeze out in the garage for the 50:50 mix required, but I probably bought it a couple of years ago.
Does the stuff have a shelf-life of 2 years (no date on the can!) or is it simply that the lifespan is 2 years when it's in use? In other words, can I use it or should I buy some new? Anyone know, please?

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[pappaecho]

Antifreeze is essentially ethylene glycol with corrosion inhibitors - some older formulations used to contain methanol, which is not useful in boat engines. If the a/f is only a couple of years old it is unlikely to contain methanol. It shelf life is probably tens of years in the neat state. When used in the cooling system, the anitfreeze component degrades over a few years, but not as fast as the inhibitors.
In most engines there are different metals, iron, aluminium, copper, zinc etc, all which interact and form galvanic corrosion. The inhibitors prevent the galvanic or battery effect. Probably good to change the a/f every 2-3 years - the same sort of regime which you would adopt with a car engine

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[ditchcrawler]

When I was in Halfords I saw that they had antifreeze for sale which is put in new cars & is supposed to last 5 years.It is expensive but as my engine does not take much is it worth a go ?

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[rich]

At last some good in put from a new poster, well said, and Welcome to the forum.

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