Club 80-90 Forums

Hi All,

I'm looking at changing my coolant after a leak left the system low and I have no idea what is currently in the system.(looks Blue ish)

Two questions

1, Im looking at using the G13 VW G-13/TL-774J from the place below, will this be ok?

https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/basket" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/p/ ... &0&cc5_866" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2, my drive has a small slope, say a 300mm rise over 8m, which end of the van should i put the top of the drive?

I have read and was going to try and use the Baxter way.

Thanks for any help.

Ian

you need to drain throughly and flush with a hose if you are changing collant type.

Thanks for the info Itchyfeet.

And purple G13 equivalent is fine to use from Carparts4less, the red G12 equivalent id also fine to use and maybe cheaper.
1 litre bottles often cheaper but not always.

you want 50% mix so 8 litres for a WBX and you want the concentrate as you have linked to not the ready mix.

If you mix red and blue you get sludge hence whey you need a proper flush.

you can bleed on the flat or a slope but if a slope may as well have the radiator higher.

itchyfeet wrote:you can bleed on the flat or a slope but if a slope may as well have the radiator higher.

My instinctive reaction was if I were to jack any end up it would be the rear, being familiar with other mid/rear engined watercooled vehicles which present a greater challenge when bleeding coolant.

This is my go to reference on the subject for our vans http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/bleed ... 29710.html from which there is the following statement in the preamble

Baxter wrote:It's really not rocket science, honestly, and you really really don't need to jack any end of the van up, though, to me, logic says you would jack up the rear not the front

If you are going to change coolant type you need to give it a really good flush. I would probably drain, refil with water, warm up to temperature and bleed, drain again, then refil with G12/G13.

I might also consider a third drain, depending on the colour of the water on the second drain

Ditto on the multiple drains, and flush from as many points as you can - the old stuff can hang around places like thermostat housings.

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It can, which is why rather than a simple flush, a refil and run up to temperature was my recommendation. If the water has circulated it is diluting the glycol based antifreeze wherever located.

937carrera wrote:

itchyfeet wrote:you can bleed on the flat or a slope but if a slope may as well have the radiator higher.

My instinctive reaction was if I were to jack any end up it would be the rear, being familiar with other mid/rear engined watercooled vehicles which present a greater challenge when bleeding coolant.

Yes but I was using logic rather than instinct which sometimes lets you down.
bleed valve is on the rad and air rises above coolant. If you have a sloping drive you can't do it on the flat.

itchyfeet wrote:
Yes but I was using logic rather than instinct which sometimes lets you down.
bleed valve is on the rad and air rises above coolant. If you have a sloping drive you can't do it on the flat.

... and then I confirmed Mr Baxters logic was in line with my instinct

yes buy you both have yorkshire logic

That's why i knew he was right

I'm sure everybody in Yorkshire agrees with you

937carrera wrote:It can, which is why rather than a simple flush, a refil and run up to temperature was my recommendation. If the water has circulated it is diluting the glycol based antifreeze wherever located.

Quite right, I should have read more carefully. I suppose I mean fill and run to temp a couple of times and run the fluid out from as many places as possible, as it seems to hang about, as does any sludge from a previous blue/red coolant mix up.

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I'll just leave this extract from the VW manual here.

German Logic

The handbook does assume starting the proces on level ground, then elevating one end which doesn't apply to the sloping drive scenario you were in particular contemplating.

Opinions are offered, it's entirely up to the reader to choose which route to take.