G12 coolant not available from VW dealer - 1998 1.9tdi

[Hotpants]

Hi all, my missus told me a funny light appeared on her dashboard . Checked it out and it was the coolant light. Had a look, and the level has dropped below minimum (so presume a small leak somewhere). The fluid is pink.

It had a G12 label on it, so popped down to my local dealer, who told me they don't supply that anymore, only G13, but must not be mixed with G11 or G12, requiring a flush and refill with fresh G13.

Halfords used to do an OEM version of G12 made by Comma. I presume I could either top up with this if still available, or distilled water for now?

Cheers,

John

[zollaf]

top it up with tapwater to put the light out.

[mjhamilton]

Halfords do their own bottles of g12 equivalent - just buy some of that for a top up

[gupsterg]

I do not know of the source of the image in post 8 of this thread Link:- G13 versus G12 coolant? - TDIClub Forums

To me it seems G13 can be mixed to past coolants. To me table in full reads new coolants are backward compatible with old fills in system but not the other way round ie if you had G13 in your car you can't top it off with G12 but a G12 can be topped off with G13.

But when you read info on say Blauparts coolant page they state always flush and refill and coolants are not backward compatible Link:- Vw Coolant - Vw G11 G12 Coolant - Pink Purple Vw Coolant

You can see why it is in the interest for selling sources to state flush and fill but what is the real truth?

Then found this Link:- http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...=1#post8352774
This match table on TDiForum ...

And below post from our forum Link:- Link:- https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/s...o-mix-with-G12

It's OK to mix with G12 (or G12+ or G12++) according to the parts department at the franchised dealer where I bought mine.

Perhaps someone can post answer ...

[Hotpants]

Thanks for the posts guys. I'll pop down to Halfords tomorrow. The parts guy at the VW dealer was very insistent in not mixing G13 with G11 or G12, as he reckons it can turn jelly like and seize the engine!

Better get off and see where the leak is now...

[SammoVWT]

On this one, I bought coolant from the dealer this week - told me it was basically the same as G12++ and its backwards compatible.

[Hotpants]

On this one, I bought coolant from the dealer this week - told me it was basically the same as G12++ and its backwards compatible.

Cheers Sammo, thanks for the advice