At 11:14 AM 5/31/02 -0400, Eric wrote: > OK, this whole proper coolant for Vanagon issue seems somewhat baffling to > me. Someone in a recent posting offering advice on whether to buy a Westy > said they were concerned about the green coolant. My coolant is green > straight out of the container. It is Prestone brand. It says safe for all > aluminum parts on the label, but it doesn't say phosphate free. So is > Prestone safe? If not, what brands are safe? What do phosphates damage in > the engine? The "blue goo", the coolant specifically designed to prevent head gasket-itis (PN: G 011V8BA1, Mat No. G 011 V8B JB) is almost a green color. At it's price I don't know if it's worth it, about $20-$25 for 1.5L, but I haven't had head-gasket-itis in 7 years accumulating about 200,000 km. The dealership morons tell me that that part number doesn't exist until I speak really slowly reading it off of the clearly VW bottle, then they say that it's never been available in North America which makes me wonder which continent I drove to to buy it. Now I know this is going to bring the spammers out of the woodwork to flame me for paying too much for coolant, I know I did, but it has lasted a while, you needn't educate me on shopping. Basically, I suppose I'm just saying it doesn't matter what color they make it, what matters is whether it will help to pit your aluminum heads and de-grade your gasket. Phosphates can certainly cause problems with the gaskets of aluminum headed engines. |
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