is this coolant ok?

[chewbacca]

CarPlan premium Red
Conforms to G12 / TL-774D
Ethylene glycol based.

I've red the wiki & can't decide.
The shop 200 yards away sells it & I have some in the garage.

It'd be nice to try to get the bus going again tonight.

[what2do]

I use the 'forum recommended' G12 from eurocarparts. Probably the same stuff but I guess you could for a quick check and cross reference the two product specs. Surprised no one has confirmed yet - they can't all be down the boozer as no one has mentioned it to me

[chewbacca]

the problem is more that I don't really know what I'm on about to cross reference anything!

Fingers crossed someone will post up. I'm desperate to get on with it again!

[AdrianC]

Red
Conforms to G12

This is what you need to know. It's the good stuff.

You can use blue/green, normal stuff, but you need to remember to change it every couple of years. The red is better protection.

Don't mix blue and red. The resulting purple is a horrible colour. Seriously, mixing them can result in "gelling", apparently. If you don't know when it was last changed, it's always worth a good flush (rinse it all through with a hose, fill and bleed with neat water, get it up to temp, drain it again, maybe repeat a couple of times) if the old stuff looks really horrible.

Be aware that, if somebody's previously used bodgegoop to "fix" leaks that a coolant change can reveal those leaks...

[chewbacca]

That's great, thank you.

I see all this talk of G12, G12+, G12++ & I got confused.

Already flushed it out as part of sorting out my overheating issues.

[Dazco]

Check out the price at Euro car parts in chesterfield , Galton lock . 1 litre concentrate is best value .

[AdrianC]

I see all this talk of G12, G12+, G12++ & I got confused.

G12 is the original VW standard for red. G12+, G12++ and G13 are updates on it, backward-compatible.

[chewbacca]

There's a place just down the road that's always fairly cheap.
It's just too convenient to worry.

Thanks though, I'm often in Chesterfield itself, so can pop in.

[chewbacca]

I see all this talk of G12, G12+, G12++ & I got confused.

G12 is the original VW standard for red. G12+, G12++ and G13 are updates on it, backward-compatible.

You see, the wiki page needs to be that simple for the simple people like me.

[CovKid]

Updated - just for you

[ghost123uk]

There is one thing I hate about cooling system leaks / issues at this time of year = you cannot safely just use plain water for a week to test that all is working correctly and has no leaks etc

[what2do]

There is one thing I hate about cooling system leaks / issues at this time of year = you cannot safely just use plain water for a week to test that all is working correctly and has no leaks etc

To be honest john, if it meant filling with tap water for a weeks enabled me to sort or a leak rather than wasting coolant, I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Can't imagine that period of exposure is going to be critical to the internals. For reduced 'risk' fill up from your water butt - god's own softened water - FOC!

[chewbacca]

Surely it's the wrong time of year for no anti-freeze though.

[AdrianC]

There is one thing I hate about cooling system leaks / issues at this time of year = you cannot safely just use plain water for a week to test that all is working correctly and has no leaks etc

To be honest john, if it meant filling with tap water for a weeks enabled me to sort or a leak rather than wasting coolant, I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Can't imagine that period of exposure is going to be critical to the internals. For reduced 'risk' fill up from your water butt - god's own softened water - FOC!

Corrosion isn't the big risk this time of year.

I once bought a Citroen CX that'd been left over a winter with plain water in the cooling system. When it froze, it punched a hole in the side of the block.

[ghost123uk]

That's what I meant = Not corrosion issues = freezing up, core plugs, cracked heads, blocks, radiators etc

Once, in a November, ~8 years ago, I had put plain water in my T25 because at the time I was fighting a coolant leak/over-pressure issue. The weather forecast in the evening then forecast predicted minus temperatures. At around midnight I checked, and yes there was ice on the path etc, so I drove to a Teso car park where there was some light and drained lots of coolant out and put anti freeze in. Trouble was I then had to get it all mixed up in the cooling system, it was very cold and the rad fan never came on, even after 30+ minutes ticking over. I was concerned that it had not mixed sufficiently, so drove it around for about a hour before heading off home and back to bed !