I'm about to renew the coolant with G12 plus plus.

Do I renew with just this or is there a ratio to mix with water?

Haven't bought the coolant yet. How much do I need?

it will say on the label the dilution rates

if i remember right approx 1:1 is plenty good enough for uk weather

it does indeed tell you on the bottle the dilution ratio, but i can't remember what it is off the top of me head, the G12 stuff comes in 1.5 litre bottles

Ideally you would use 50%. It should always be between 40% and 60%.

If the concentration is too low you lose the protective and antifreeze characteristics of the coolant.

Too high and you reduce the cooling capability of the coolant.

Thanks.

This might be a stupid question but once coolant has drained, do I fill up with new at the radiator or the expansion bottle or both?

i'd just fill the expansion bottle - it will settle down of its own accord

A couple of things to mention - if you look in the handbook you will find the total system coolant capacity - it will probably be between 5 and 7 litres. Based on this i'd put 2 bottles of neat G12++ in and then just top up the car with deionised water

Second thing do not go for a drive until car has been idling for around 10 mins to remove all airlocks - keep the coolant tank cap off while you top up to ensure any air can escape. Also make sure your heater is on and set to hot when you do this.

Finally when you do go for a drive don't go too far, and ensure you have some water in the car to top up with if the worst happens and the level drops

Cheers for that. Didn't realise a car held so much coolant! Just ordered 1.5 litres of g12 plus plus. Better order another bottle then.

hold your horses cheif! when you drain the coolant not all of it comes out, there will still be a couple of litres at least still in the engine block which you can only get out by tipping the thing upside-down

Tipping upside down?

I thought this was going to be an easy change.

Ok. Can some one run me through step by step instructions how to do this change?

You unbolt the engine block and turn it upside down as he mentioned.

You unbolt the engine block and turn it upside down as he mentioned.

Is this a DIY job that I can easily do during my lunch break.

Is this a DIY job that I can easily do during my lunch break.

Depends on how many weetabix you had for breakfast

if your that worried about it use your garden hose to purge the cooling system by flushing it through with loads of clean water, then after you are done you can treat the 'clean' water in the block as the water part of the dilution mixture doodah.. but really it's not that important tbh, i'd just drain out as much as i could and refill from there

I think i'll go with that. Thanks.