Hi all,
I've had my 04 for a couple months now. It's only had about 1k miles since it was purchased. I noticed that my coolant was low (it wasnt when I got it) and want to top it off and start looking for leaks. I'm not sure what to put in it though. The coolant in it now is totally pink in color.
What's in there? Is g12 pink? Looking at the dexcool stuff in the store I had assumed it was more orange then pink.
Please help.
Thanks, Mike.

 

The original coolant is dexcool, but almost everybody switches it over to regular green coolant because dexcool plugs everything up when the level drops. It looks pink in the overflow tank after a while. I flushed my system out with distilled water when I replaced the radiator and filled it up with green coolant and it soon turned orangey pink. It takes a while to get all of the old dexcool out.

 

You can also add some of that blue light activated junk to help locate leak

 

If it actually is pink, it could be toyota or vw coolant?

If so, that could indicate the PO knew what they were doing, and used a pricey OAT coolant that isnt dexcool.

 

My Audi runs pink G12!

If it were me I'd flush it and start fresh. It could be a cocktail. Dump it and replace with green stuff for peace of mind.

 

I would also suggest replacing it all as dexcol is not real comparable with other coolant, one note of advise either autozone or advanced store brand is orange. Not dexcol just orange in color.

 

I used yellow coolant when I flushed mine.

 

I was afraid that the question would get answered about this well. It should be pretty much illegal to have the coolant situation as confusing as it is.
With all these multiple colors and then the same colors but different types of coolant that cant be mixed together.
Considering the damage it can cause it's pretty frustrating.
I guess I will just flush it all. Just what I wanted to do in the middle of winter, haha, play with gallons of toxic liquid that make a mess.

From all the reading I've done on here. It seems that people put pretty much whatever they want in. The majority of folks seems to use the green stuff though? Does it really matter?


Thanks for the tip on the blue light stuff to find the leaks. I will look into that.

 

The "green stuff" just means conventional coolant, it can be yellow/orange/green or anything in between.