antifreeze

[viv carey]

Hiyall, Do i have to put special antifreeze in my 2001 sharan tdi sport, or can i put a universal run of the mill in it, if it needs special antifreeze, anyone know where i can get it readily instead of vw. cheers

[tornadored7]

Viv,

Check the colour of your existing Antifreeze/Coolant.

It is probably a Red/Pink/Purple colour, if so it is some form of G12 coolant and you should try and replace with a G12 conformant coolant (again normally pink/red/purple coloured).

See this post for details of G12 conformant coolants;

VW specifications for G12 compatible coolant, for more details on coolant.

G12 conformant coolants should specify any of the following conformance levels;

• TL VW 774D
• TL VW 774F
• TL VW 774G

on the bottle/label.

If your coolant is the G12 Red/purple/pink type you must avoid coolant specificationTL VW 774C which is BLUE G11 coolant and must not be mixed with G12.

G12 conformant coolants (RPP) have a 5 year lifetime, whereas G11 coolant (blue) is typically rated to 2 year lifetimes.

Apart from VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat dealers, G12 conformant coolant can also be purchased from;

• GSF (German Swedish and French)
• ECP (Euro Car Parts)
• TPS (Trade parts specialist)
• Halfords (ready mixed coolant, undiluted coolant)

IIRC GSF's Febi coolant is the cheapest, if you only require 3 litres (2 x 1.5L bottles).

Finally, G12 should optimally mixed at a 50:50 ratio of coolant to distilled/deionised water (i.e. avoid tap water).

TR7