Porsche coolant or substitute?

MarkGolf · 31 Oct 2014

Hi chaps,

I plan on fitting my LTT tomorrow. I will obviously lose some coolant when doing this so I will need some to top up. I already have loads of distilled water but coolant I don't have.

My nearest OPC is an hour or so away and will be a pain on a Saturday, do EuroCarParts etc sell similar spec stuff or will I have to get up early and go to the OPC?

I intend on catching the coolant I drain into a bucket to refill.

Does anyone know approx how much will come out when I undo the drain plug and thermostat?

Thanks

Martian · 31 Oct 2014

I top up with Prestone, available from places like Asda, Homebase and most car spares shops.

Maxie · 31 Oct 2014

MarkGolf said:
I intend on catching the coolant I drain into a bucket to refill.

Does anyone know approx how much will come out when I undo the drain plug and thermostat?

When me and GT4 did this, it filled up the whole of this black bucket:

HTH

~ Maxie

Rawhide · 31 Oct 2014

I'm an average mechanic at best but when I did this myself I had the car jacked up at the back. I caught the coolant but still only lost perhaps 1 pint in the whole process. I just topped up with water even though I had some concentrated Porsche coolant at the ready.

Make sure you strain it before refilling.

I believe halfords sell Comma G40 which is suitable but it was not available in stock when I did mine hence why I bought Porsche coolant.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/en...eeze/comma-g40-antifreeze-and-coolant-conc-2l

chowgar · 31 Oct 2014

Rawhide said:
I'm an average mechanic at best but when I did this myself I had the car jacked up at the back. I caught the coolant but still only lost perhaps 1 pint in the whole process. I just topped up with water even though I had some concentrated Porsche coolant at the ready.

Make sure you strain it before refilling.

I believe halfords sell Comma G40 which is suitable but it was not available in stock when I did mine hence why I bought Porsche coolant.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/en...eeze/comma-g40-antifreeze-and-coolant-conc-2l

Thats the stuff you need, as it mustn't be harmful to the aluminium radiators. Usually the pink coolant is the best for the cooling system. I've used the comma G40 before in my old Subaru and it maintained an effective system for three years. The coolant never showed any signs of contamination and the temparature always read in the correct zone.

infrasilver · 31 Oct 2014

As Maxie says you will fill a bucket when you drain the rear end, it will mostly all go back in but allowing for a couple of spills you should only require a litre of fresh coolant to add to the system and this will mainly for topping up when you bleed the system with the clip up on the header tank. I always use a paint filter when putting the old coolant back in to make sure there are no contaminants.

Maxie · 31 Oct 2014

Just to throw something else into the mix, you could also use Evans Waterless Coolant. There is a recent thread about it somewhere. Jay Leno seems to be an advocate of it.

~ Maxie :question:

quattrosteph · 31 Oct 2014

Evans Waterless.......do you know the price ???? Shocking

Frenchmeister · 31 Oct 2014

Mark, no need to remove the drain plug just remove the old stat, catch what comes out mine was about 1.5 litres, strain what came out when you put it back in, top up with water (Cumbrian water is very soft) i can send you some

Leave it in the air (well supported) fire it up and turn the heaters to hot, when warm burp the system by squeezing the coolant hoses with the bleeder valve flipped up.
I dropped mine to the floor and did around 10 miles with the bleed valve still open, then topped up when the car had cooled down............job's a good un :thumb:

Maxie · 1 Nov 2014

Frenchmeister said:
Mark, no need to remove the drain plug just remove the old stat,

You could do it this way but it's a lot messier. Removal of the drain plug is somewhat neater.

~ Maxie

mixerman · 1 Nov 2014

Ive just changed mine on the 996tt after a pipe burst and used comma G40 from Halfords mixed 50/50 with distilled water but I had a nightmare trying to bleed the system could not get an air lock out I had I go to a local indy to use his Porsche thingy to go through the sequence to open valves on the trip box and get the temp right up to move the air lock not sure if its the same on 997

Frenchmeister · 1 Nov 2014

Maxie, not if you use a big diameter bucket or similar to catch the coolant

997tt+c63 · 1 Nov 2014

i used prestone a couple of years ago on my 997. you can mix it with any other coolant too.

MarkGolf · 1 Nov 2014

Cheers for the info chaps!

Halfords is local so I popped there and bought the Comma G40 stuff.

I like the idea of the Evans waterless coolant but I'm not sure about the stuff being flammable and secondly, the cost! £25 for 2 litres, blimey!

I ended up undoing the lower 2 bolts of the thermostat housing and I let that drip into a bucket for 10 mins, I'm sure about 4 litres or so came out without spilling a drop on the floor. Got it all back in and been thorough a few warm
Up cycles and not yet needed to put the new coolant I got in.

Thanks again

will report to progress thread.

Chris_in_the_UK · 1 Nov 2014

Sensible route sir.

Given that the jury is still out on the Evans route (and the fact that it cost's a ***** fortune at circa £500) i would do (and have done) the same.

Nobody (other than Evans) have provided any proof that this is beneficial other that 'it should be'.

Porsche coolant or substitute?

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