VW Golf 5 Coolant Question

FiestaST

FiestaST

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G'Day Gents

Just a quick question regarding coolant for my Mk5 Golf.

Car has been super reliable since I had it; two days ago as Im pulling out the driveway the car switches off and I get the <STOP Check Coolant> message on the dash & the car wont start.

Weather was decent; open up the bonnet and the coolant; to my eyes at least; coolant level looks ok.

Tried starting car and it would just cut out with the above message on the dash.

Luckily I have a old-school mechanic neighbour who; 1st mumbles about newer cars & all their engine covers & electronics; who takes a look and does something with the accelerator & the car starts. He advised me to top up the coolant as the prongs are not that deep enough in the coolant.

He is not a VW specialist and just advised to get Red; not Green coolant. So I get Red Coolant (1L for R40); I didn't place in the coolant tank as I company over & the car was driving tops.

The next morning before I want to top up the coolant I decided to research and find out that VW (and Audi's) use the G12 coolant. So I source the correct G12 Coolant (1L for R80 at Goldwagen).

Now prior to leaving the house to get the correct coolant I topped up some water in the coolant tank as I researched & it was advised it is better option than placing in the wrong coolant.

So basically to cut a long story short do I need to flush the old coolant before I apply the new coolant or let the coolant run lower & just top it up.

There was coolant in the car; I just topped up it up with some water.

Now if I need to flush the coolant is there a simply valve to release the old coolant on the Golf 5's or it is a mission & a half...

Feedback is appreciated.
 
I wouldn't worry tooooooo much about what coolant goes in the cooling system cos most of them does the same job really...

You should actually worry WHY the coolant level drops every time???

Could be a leak somewhere that could lead up to some VERY costly repairs like for instance a blown head gasket...?

Get it to your dealer to let them check the whole cooling system asap!
 
Nikkel said:
I wouldn't worry tooooooo much about what coolant goes in the cooling system cos most of them does the same job really...
Click to expand...


Mixing coolants (eg Red and Green) will cause a serious problem with the cooling system.


VW uses three types of coolants in its vehicles, based on when it was produced. G11 (blue) was used from about 1990 to mid 1996. G11 is a phosphate free anti-freeze and is blue in color. G12 was used from mid 1996 to 2005 - its pink in color, its also phosphate free and should not be mixed with other coolants. G12+ is purple in color, and well, I don't know that much about it. A lot of early to mid 90's European vehicles use G11 coolant (Saab, Mercedes, Volvo, Etc..). Rumor has it that VW switched to G11 for the Vanagon (head gasket issue) and then pushed the G11 line into all of their vehicles to cover the costs of the Vanagon G11 supply. Before G11 there was "green coolant" that VW used, ( I think it was G10, but I could be wrong, it was still phosphate free..). As a side note, GM's "Dexcool" and its family of coolants share the same basic Organic Acid Technology (OAT) as G12, at least this has been my findings from reading the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) more or less the "ingredients" list.

If you want to switch coolant types, you can. Well, that is a source of debate that I have read about for 15 years now. Basically if you fully flush a system, with lots of water, and do this a few times to remove all the traces of the coolant, you can switch from G11 to say G12, or from G12 to "green" coolant. There is also talk of the G11 coolant was changed to G12 due to yet another head gasket issue with the VR6 engine, and by this time the Vanagon had been phased out in 1991.

Coolants, regardless of type, should be mixed with 50% water and 50% coolant. Meaning, a 1 gal bottle of coolant will really make two when mixed with water.

Its very import to remember - never mix coolants, also use DISTILLED water to mix any coolants! The metals, chlorine, iron, calcium, and scale in household tap water will only weaken the coolants abilities to fight acid. Distilled water can be found at most drug stores and food stores for $1.00 a gallon, a low cost for a job that you may only do a few times on a vehicle as you own it.

If coolant has been mixed, or is brown, or - well you don't know what the hell it is - flush out the system with water.
Click to expand...


Here is how you do a Flush

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3
 
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