Coolant

AFAIK Yes use distilled water until you get some g12 coolant and examine for coolant leaks. Some good foreign parts stores might carry the proper coolant, but I would say they are rare to find locally. Pentosin Pink G12 Lifetime Coolant at

under the chemicals link will work for you.I think the dealer gets about $20 for a gallon (3.79 liters) and you can get a $7.88 1.5 liter bottle plus shipping from do the math! ;-) later, dave

Hi,

I would strongly discourage this from being done if you have a newer vehicle with the extended life coolant. a) Antifreeze does not last forever. My guess is that you live in a warmer climate where you don't need the lower freeze point (when I lived in Miami I could use straight water and didn't have any problems). 2) Extended life coolant has a very different chemical make up as regular antifreeze. I don't know this part for a fact for Audi/VW extended life, but with GM, Ford and Chrylser, if you mix regular with extended you end up with this pretty little gel. You can do a complete flush of the original antifreeze to regular, just make sure it is a complete flush. Don't just drain the radiator and refil it. Also to the original poster, check your owner's manual. "Lifetime" is a subjective term, if it lasted til it died, it lasted its lifetime. I'm basing this statement on US extended life coolant, but you should probably have your coolant system flushed at 150,000 miles (I'm not sure what country you're in, Denmark maybe? regardless, you probably use metric since I'm pretty sure the US is the only place that doesn't use it, and I have no idea how many km that is) or 5 years.

HTH Enjoy Bill

91 Audi 200TQ with green coolant that was flushed last year 96 Chevy K1500 with extended life coolant that was flushed at 5 years

"news.blueyonder.co.uk"

I bought 1½ litre of the original coolant, which mixes with water. I bought at my local Audi-shop, and there were nothing to choose between - so i hope i got the right stuff, ´cause i allready poured it in ;o) Its kinda pink, this fluid - and help protect against frost down to extremely low temperatures, and at the same time lube the coolant-system and so.

I´ll check my car later today, to see if its gone all gel´ly on me ;o)

Thanks for the reply´s, guy´s!

Gio

I'm sure you got the right stuff if you got it at an Audi shop, so you don't have to worry about the gelling.

Enjoy Bill

I checked...and no problems. :o)

In the states, you can get the stuff from your friendly Audi or Volkswagen parts counter. I went to the usual suspects (Kragen, Pep Boys, etc. as well as "real" NAPA places) and, when I asked, they looked at me as if I had grown another head.

For what it's worth: I had a coolant leak at the oil cooler that is part of the filter assembly on my '00 A4 1.8T. I changed out both hoses and used a Dremel tool with a tiny wire brush to grind away the pink crud that accumulated on the cooler fittings before attaching the new hoses.

Ken

The "extra-head"-look was also what i got when i asked around for the pink wonder-stuff. The only place i could get it, where at my authorized VAG-pusher.

About the hoses...i´m still in the process of seeing if i can find any leaks somewhere. After all - the stuff cant just disappear! ;o)

I´ll keep you posted, if i stumble over anything apart from the ordinary.

I don't know why, but this seems to be poor design. I also suspect that, once the first leak occurs, the interface between the hose and fittings on the oil filter cooler become progressively bad.

Two bits of advice:

1. It appears that the stuff accumulates on the fitting. If you simply replace the hose, it will likely not seal correctly. That's why I used the Dremel wire brush and ground down the solidified pink crud that was on the fitting. I would not use anything much more aggressive, as it may gouge the fittings and yield leaks.
2. At first I thought I had only one leaky hose, so I bought the replacement from my Audi dealer. Hold on to your chair: it was USD22!. When I got things apart and decided to replace the other hose as well, it was Saturday and, of course, every Audi parts place on the planet was closed. I went to my friendly "real" parts place (not one of the chains), passed the other hose to the guy behind the counter and asked if he could find something similar. After about five minutes of hunting around, he came back with three choices. I picked the most promising one, paid him the USD9 and left. With a cut in the right place, it worked fine. I used a little "Aqua Lube" on the ends to get them to slide on and seal. Always use the stuff; one tube lasts a lifetime.

Ken

>> You do the math! ;-)> >>