Coolent Flushing Questions

[anmagro]

Hey guys,

Mid-summer i used water from the sink to top off my coolent. It was at the 'min', to give you an idea of how much water i put it. I am going to guess that i since winter is coming, and it gets pretty freakin cold in NY, that i need to at least change my coolent, right? I have herd that it is not as healthy to 'flush' your coolent on higher mileage cars, and that toping off or just draining and refilling is better as to not impose any leaks to surface. What is the best thing to do? I have 112,300miles.

Also, I need a gallon of G12, correct?

Thanks alot

[T3hD0gg]

I had ~118,000 miles on my car and flushed the system. I've put about 3500 miles on it since that and have no coolant problems related to flushing the system.

Yes, you will only need one gallon of coolant and one gallon of deionized or distilled water. The water should be pretty cheap. I picked up a gallon of coolant from Performance-Cafe. They seemed to have the best price for a gallon of coolant. After I was done I had about 3/4 of a gallon of mixture left which I'm keeping for whenever the level goes down (hasn't yet!).

You shouldn't have used tap water in your coolant system. It would have been better to fill up with coolant than water. The minerals in the tap water can corrode your coolant system.

[Seerlah]

Only used distilled water to top off. Even then, it is not good as you would like to try and maintain a 50/50 ratio of coolant and water. I have a container filled with 50/50 coolant and distilled water for such occassions if needed. It is good to be prepared.

If I were you, I would do a coolant flush before winter settles in. Plus, I would not be happy driving around knowing there is water with contaminants in my cooling system. Here is the DIY.If you do not feel safe doing it, take it to a mechanic. But get that coolant flushed.

[LDetter]

You can get the g12 coolant from a vw dealer, its the same price as it is online and you wont have to mess with shipping, havent bought it from the audi dealer but im sure it cost more there.