coolant

[winrya]

Happened to mine 6 months ago. Basically it was traced to a perished rubber washer near the flange which was leaking a tiny amount of water. You could see the burnt coolant but there was never a drip. It would go low every month. Fix was 11p plus a bit of labour and mine has been perfect since. I'd imagine it's a common problem judging by how many people have had the same issue

[bertmort8]

Can you use water to to top it up with? Mine is low as well? 

im pretty sure you can 'top it up' with h20 but be sure not to thin out the coolant too much or summut like that

[winrya]

You can buy ready mixed coolant at halfords cheaply.  Make sure you buy the vag orange/red version

[Teutonic_Tamer]

my coolant keeps getting low, i fill it up between the min and max and within like 4/5 days it drops below the min.

Does it ever completely empty the bottle?  Some engines will just 'find their own level', and are perfectly happy to sit below the minimum.  As long as there is some coolant in the bottom of the expansion bottle, and doesn't completely empty the bottle - it should be OK.

just to off the cap and its nearly overflowed bubbling, ive just topped it up with bit more coolant but dont want to keep doing this

Eeek - you should only really remove the coolant filler cap when the engine is stone cold!  And you should never top up hot coolant with cold coolant (or water) - there is a possiblity of craking the head or block! 

[Teutonic_Tamer]

How old is your car as I've read that the radiators on the gtis have a tendency to rot with age...

Really?    Not heard that myself!  Maybe peeps arn't using the proper G12+ coolant? 

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Yes , I have just noticed on my Edition30 that its low, only done 8,000 miles 58 plate?

How low is low?

Whats going on here then? Do I need to get coolent for it or top up with water? Thanks Steve 

You really need the proper VW coolant.  Plain water will reduce not only the frost protection, but also increase the corrosion.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Hurdy , there no leaks on my car at all mate? But its at the min level right now 58plate 8,000 on clock? Not another bloddy visit to dealers?

If it stays at the min level, it will be fine.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

just had to go to halfrauds to buy more coolant as do not wanna top up with water

Noooooooo.  You must ONLY use a special VW coolant - G12.  Halfrauds stuff may claim to meet G12, but I would strongly advise on only using genuine VW coolant.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

You can buy ready mixed coolant at halfords cheaply.  Make sure you buy the vag orange/red version

No no no NOOOOO.   You must ONLY use G12 coolant.  Put anything else in there, and it will congeal and block all the internal coolant passages, and the radiator!

[bertmort8]

Does it ever completely empty the bottle?  Some engines will just 'find their own level', and are perfectly happy to sit below the minimum.  As long as there is some coolant in the bottom of the expansion bottle, and doesn't completely empty the bottle - it should be OK.

Eeek - you should only really remove the coolant filler cap when the engine is stone cold!  And you should never top up hot coolant with cold coolant (or water) - there is a possiblity of craking the head or block! 

it has never emptied the bottle completely but veryvery close to it and waaaay below the min line.

i didnt put the coolant into the car for atleast afew hours after parking her up