///// Best Pentofrost antifreeze for an ALH /////

[Andyinchville1]

Hi All,

For whatever reason I need to fill the little ball with a little extra antifreeze ( I don't see obvious leaks or seepage and nothing indicates a bad head gasket) every once in awhile.

Anyways, I was running out of the small jug of Pentofrost I had at the house so I made my way to the local Advanced Auto to buy some more ....

I was surprised to see so many variations of the Pentofrost antifreeze and ended up buying a small jug of Pentofrost E ( I did not remember the color of the cap I had before but when I found my old nearly empty bottle at home it was Pentofrost SF.....

Unfortunately the auto store did not have a bottle of SF .... would it hurt to use the "E" in place of the "SF" I have or should I track down some "SF" ?

Not sure what the differences are but I would not mind spending extra for the "good stuff" whichever one that is (of course I don't want to mix different kinds of antifreeze if that could mess things up).

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Andrew

 

[dcjkrueger]

I get my Pentofrost SF at NAPA

 

[jettawreck]

The least expensive G12/13 you can find. They are all compatible.
My 2001 has been running DexCool since the rebuild project/engine replacement (system was emptied, no intermixing) in aprox 2005.

 

[Franko6]

G-12 is obsolete. So is G-13. The latest is the G-13+(maybe ++?). There are endangered species, like the California Condor, that have drunk the anti-freeze from an overheated engine, high in the mountains and it kills them. As unlikely as that seems, that is entirely the intention from changing from the older versions of the propylene glycol coolants to the newest, latest versions is for safety of the product. It doesn't taste sweet like some of the older antifreezes, so children don't drink it. It's safer for animals, that might accidentally ingest it.

The issue of 'mixing coolants' is fine, as long as it is not the 'Blue Stuff' or the 'Green Stuff', which are not compatible with G-12, -13, or -13+. The Ethelene glycol is for your gassers. The Propylene glycol is for your diesel. If the two are mixed, the calcium carbonate in the Propylene glycol falls out of suspension and can plug things like your cabin heater core and radiator. There are antifreeze types that some claim can mix with everything, I'm more likely to think it mixes with nothing..

I can always tell when a cylinder head is shipped to me, if it has been using the Blue or Green stuff, because of the lack of acid neutralizing, the cylinder head looks like it ran with straight water. It's rusted.

As for DexCool, I've never used it. Don't plan to. It's not cheaper, but it did get class action lawsuits for damaging intake manifold gaskets, among other things. I don't think changing to an Ethelene version of antifreeze for whatever reason you might think, is worth leaving a type of antifreeze that apparently has not caused any issues. But I'm all for people experimenting on their own cars. I do the same thing. But I don't advise following advice for unproven product, or worse, to change from a product that has been successful to one that is questionable.

 

[turbocharged798]

Not that I advocate anybody use dexcool in their cars, but is basically the same as original G12. Its an OAT coolant. The problem is GM used it on cooling systems that were designed using old school radiator pressure caps and those can cause oxygen to mix the coolant. Dexcool does not tolerate that type of system at all. Dexcool that was used on the newer style systems that use a pressure tank(like what our VWs use) hold up very well.

With that said I run prestone dexcool in all my VWs for many years now. I can source it locally and it very inexpensive. Cooling systems look great after the 100K timing belt/water pump replacement.

I would never use dexcool on someone elses car though.

I'm not impressed at all with the newer VW coolants, which I believe are now HOATS. G12 was good stuff.

 

[x1800MODMY360x]

I mean the dealer goes to a weird phase .

G12>G12+>G12++>G13>G13+>G12Evo (Wut we went backwards?)

I might miss some coolant, but we got the idea.

 

[KLXD]

Glad this came up. I am having to replace the brass heater core in Dodge after 24 years and don't like the corrosion I see at the tube ends in the radiator. I've always has the proper mix of the Prestone green stuff.

Was thinking of using good ole G12. Guess that would be a bad idea since it has the old overflow system.

 

[jettawreck]

Not that I advocate anybody use dexcool in their cars, but is basically the same as original G12. Its an OAT coolant. The problem is GM used it on cooling systems that were designed using old school radiator pressure caps and those can cause oxygen to mix the coolant. Dexcool does not tolerate that type of system at all. Dexcool that was used on the newer style systems that use a pressure tank(like what our VWs use) hold up very well.

With that said I run prestone dexcool in all my VWs for many years now. I can source it locally and it very inexpensive. Cooling systems look great after the 100K timing belt/water pump replacement.

I would never use dexcool on someone elses car though.

I'm not impressed at all with the newer VW coolants, which I believe are now HOATS. G12 was good stuff.

Yes, from everything I read years ago the DexCool was very similar to the original G12 which at the time (2004) I was working on the 2001 no one in our small rural area carried G12. I started out with an empty system and have never used it in any system containing another coolant type-nor used G12/13 in anything other than one that had it already.

Having had many GM vehicles with factory fill DexCool in the proper systems there have not been any issues other than some non-coolant minor hose leaks.
Don't mix types of conventional green and other types/colors. "Universal"(??), read the label carefully as they often are not "universal" nor should they be.
I'm truly surprised how many VW vehicles that I've seen that are running some sort of coolant "cocktail" or just plain wrong coolant.