hi alllfelicity is coming up for a coolant change, and i was wondering what the concensus is on antifreeze these days.Shall i go for the 2 year standard blue stuff, or the supposedly better 5 year red stuff?i like the thought of the red stuff myself (looks prettier) but im not sure of its compatability with the coolant system? of course i will be doing a full flush out before i change it so mixing wont be a problem

I used the pink stuff in my Felly 1.6 and use it in my Fav. Don't think it matters though.

Sure its all the same stuff,just read the label.

Edited 2 December, 200916 yr by iansmith

Sure its all the same stuff,just read the label.

They are NOT the same stuff. The normal Blue/green stuff is either Ethylene or nowadays Propylene glycol. The Red/pink stuff is some kind of Organic Acid. You must NEVER mix them both because they react together and produce sludge and therefore block pipes and waterways..I think the advantage of pink stuff (G12/G12+) is it is supposedly long life.

Wikipedia - Anti-freeze

yeah i would go for the vw g12 stuff from the dealer, and it's roughly the same price as the **** stuff they sell in halfords anyhow

well i will go for the vw g12 stuff then :)what is wrong with the halfrauds stuff though? i would image that antifreeze, like almost everything these days, is made by only one or 2 companies than sold off for branding

Halfrauds' stuff is a glycol, not a G12, or now G12+ standard. For the differences in price and lifespan, glycol is c@rp regardless of branding!

I have some anti-freeze or screenwash in some big 5l containers.

But the labels have come off.

Is there any way of ID-ing what they are? or should I just dispose of them?

If you don't know whether it's anti-freeze or screenwash, best to get rid. Otherwise, I was saying that G12 is superior to glycol, but that wouldn't stop me using glycol to refill a system if I had stock rather than needing to buy it.

There is a "universal" anti-freeze that can be used to top-up either type; I saw it in the Euro-parts catalogue.

Question, does the normal anti-freezer tester work with the pink stuff?

My son's car has it and we do not know how old it is and if it needs replacing; can we go by colour? it is still a fairly bright pink colour.

Hi,

We need to remember that with vehicles today it is not just an anti freeze as we still call it, but also a summer coolant and a corrosion inhibitor,

Some vehicles are sensitive to certain types of coolant and can have detrimental effects on the vehicle's lifespan.

It may be prudent to stick with a manufactures recomendation and guidelines, it seems the days when any coolant or even oil would do as old engines where

more forgiving than todays [maybe not so much the old skoda engine's], but certainly the newer breed with tighter tolerances that use water thin oil.

Also worth a mention is that engines with lead free fuel today do tend to run hotter which gives the cooling system and hoses a harder time.

My son says his felly is running a lot cooler in traffic since we replaced the oil with stuff from Lidl!!

Of course, it might just be because the temperature is below zero!!!!

Edited 4 January, 201016 yr by GentleGiant

more forgiving than todays [maybe not so much the old skoda engine's], but certainly the newer breed with tighter tolerances that use water thin oil.

This is, apparently, more to do with getting better MPG than it is with lubrication per se. So I'm told, anyway!

, but certainly the newer breed with tighter tolerances that use water thin oil.

newer engines don't have tighter tolerences than older ones :wonder: the specifications on running clearances etc are roughly the same when comparing 2 similar engines from different era's