Hi everyone.

Just like to say thanks to everyone for reading and particularly to responding to my previous posts.

This forum is very good.

I have a 1.3L Felicia 5 door hatchback, 1998.

I need to top up the engine coolant, now that i have repalced the thermostat and the little plastic housing that holds the thermostat (it's held by 3 bolts/screws).

Which coolant can i use to top up with?

Also, the coolant in there is a orangy color, is this important?

Can i just use palin water for topping up?

Will there be airlocks in the cooling system?

With the old one the one of the plastic clips had broken. (By the way, i found the spring and the the piston type parts when i took the old one off, but couldn't find the metal bracket.

Thanks

it goes that color after a wile. just use standard coolant mix and top up the big coolant bottle. as it is coming up to winter you must use coolant mix not just water as it might freeze over night.

The orange colour is probably blue mixed with red. I think the original VW spec. is normally red. I'm not sure if mixing different specs makes too much difference but should definitely use 'ethylene-glycol' based as opposed to 'methanol' based.

The newer G12+ can be mixed with either blue or red.

Might be worth popping off the bottom hose, draining it out and refilliing with a couple of litres of G12+ as winter is coming, it isnt expensive.

And it shouldnt air lock, just run up, to start with the cap off and keep topping it up. Then cap on and once the thremostat has opened (the level will drop again) top it up. Once the top and bottom hoses and the heater is warm check the fan cuts in and your done.

it goes that color after a wile. just use standard coolant mix and top up the big coolant bottle. as it is coming up to winter you must use coolant mix not just water as it might freeze over night.

according to the felicia owners manual the cooling system is factory filled with coolant ( g12 ) red in colour for topping up the same coolant g12 ( red in colour ) MUST ALWAYS BE USED ,ON NO ACCOUNT may these coolants be mixed with others , mixing with other coolants can result in damage to the engine , if coolants are mixed it is essential to change the coolant . so what do you think guys ? is it worth the risk of mixing coolants ? .:confused:

I'd go with the G12+ Ross mentioned in the above post. This is the current spec coolant for VAG.

according to the felicia owners manual the cooling system is factory filled with coolant ( g12 ) red in colour for topping up the same coolant g12 ( red in colour ) MUST ALWAYS BE USED ,ON NO ACCOUNT may these coolants be mixed with others , mixing with other coolants can result in damage to the engine , if coolants are mixed it is essential to change the coolant . so what do you think guys ? is it worth the risk of mixing coolants ? .:confused:

I am pretty sure you can NOT mix the red one with the blue neither with the green.

They have some special aditives to prevent corrosion inside your radiator/engine............If you mix them, these anticorrosive aditives will not work OK.

You better take out all the water or your radiator/engine and make sure to flush it very good and then put the one that is intended/specific for your car.

Isaac

Might be worth popping off the bottom hose, draining it out

pop it up from the radiator?

there's a rubber hose ~20cm lenght going into radiator, metal one (at the end of that rubber part) goes down below the engine?... taking it out of the radiator (the rubber end) will be enough to drain cooling liquid?

I wasn't aware of the possible corrosion problems with mixing different colour coolants. I think I will have to flush mine through and re-fill at some point as I have mostly red with a bit of blue!

Yeah should be

Hello

Orange coolant is ok so long as the orange colour is the actual coolant colour and nothing else! I very much doubt that this is rust or any nastities considering the engine is alloy.

In my experience most of the new coolants are either a red or an orange colour and i can confirm that my car has orange coolant. The brand of this is Texaco.

Previous entrants are correct in saying not to mix the colours though.

If in doubt flush it out!!!

:eek:

Hello what is G12+

A VAG anti-freeze spec, as is surely obvious from the foregoing!

A VAG anti-freeze spec, as is surely obvious from the foregoing!

can you buy it in shops because when I asked about it they had no idea what I was talking about:confused:

can you buy it in shops because when I asked about it they had no idea what I was talking about:confused:

GSF sell G12+ at

I usually change the coolant every 6 months or so, esp on my bro's Felicia. I know the g12+ is supposed to be "lifetime" but he works it bloody hard. worth th

Just as an aside - no-one at all has mentioned that you should never do a coolant change using tap water + coolant. It has to be de-ionised water (available from Halfords or your friendly local chemist) and not tap water! In emergency situations you can use very soft tap water, but the systems must be changed if this occurs.

S