VW Coolant Warning

Hi all,

I thought I would post a warning after a somewhat recent mishap when changing the coolant temperature sender unit on my 2001 reg Passat 2.0 litre petrol.

I've worked on numerous makes of cars over the years and recently I needed to change the sender unit as it was failing. I took off the covers, drained the system and then took the old sender unit out. I thought I would be okay without anything on my hands but this was a big mistake.

When the old unit was taken out some of the coolant spilled on my hands and I didn't think anything of it. It was about 15-20 mins before I rinsed my hands and as I have done this on many different cars over the years I thought I would be fine.

The next day the skin on my hands was burning and some 6 weeks later my hands haven't fully recovered and I'm having to apply loads of various creams and only now are my hands are starting to recover.

So be warned. If you are working on VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda please wear protection on your hands especially if the coolant is an orangey-pink colour as this will mean the coolant is quite strong.

If you do have any problems with the coolant spillage on your skin tell a local pharmacist as the coolant is stronger than you think it is and has lasting side effects.

David.

Thanks for the post. Hope you are OK.

I too tend to just get on with it, and apart from using barrier cream (if I can be bothered to walk into the garage :p) tend to not use any protection for my hands.

Try using latex gloves this should stop you getting your hands dirty and contaminated.

Passman