This_Fuggin_Guy

Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake today.

I was doing an oil change and I was checking all the other fluids as I usually do during route maintenance and I guess I didn't tighten the can for the coolant reservoir completely.

I was sitting at a stop light maybe a mile from my house when I smelled something sweet. I thought to myself, smells like someone is leaking coolant. Not 30 seconds after I said that, I noticed smoke start to come out from the hood right by the reservoir and the temp gauge start to rise. I immediately cranked the heat and limp it home. Pop the hood and the reservoir cap is barely on, smoke pouring out, and almost no coolant left.

The audi dealer is closed so I will have to wait until morning but I wanted to make sure that the G13, pink coolant, is the right coolant for the car. It looked like that was what was in the car prior. That's what I've always used in my other vw/audis but just want to make sure.

GoHeels

Was trying to find some info for you. quattroworld.com Forums: Information regarding switching from G11 (blue) to G12 (pink) coolant but it's a bit outdated perhaps. I'd say stick with what you had, or flush completely if you aren't sure, and then go G13.

Hopefully you shut it down before anything major happened.

This_Fuggin_Guy

Thankfully I was close to home when it happened. The needle on the temp gauge never went all the way up, maybe 3/4 of the way. The check engine light and the low coolant light came on a few blocks from my house. I'm hoping I didn't do any damage.

The motor and head were rebuilt roughly 20k ago by the previous owner. So I'm assuming G13 coolant was used. I'm going to try and get in touch with him tomorrow to find out.

UrS4boy

Depending on where you were on the temp gauge and for how long, you might or might not have warped the head. Sorry.

This_Fuggin_Guy

It was just under 110 for maybe 3-4 mins.

This_Fuggin_Guy

I ran to the Audi dealership this morning and when I went to go fill the reservoir, I noticed the coolant in there is definitely not the G13 pink coolant. It is more of a yellowish color. So I'm going to have to flush the system first.

Any special procedures to flush these systems?

uberwgn

The earlier cars would have been G11, Fuggin. I believe you can still purchase G11.


If switching, you need to be thorough with your flushing.

uberwgn

Both Blauparts and ECS Tuning sell G11.

This_Fuggin_Guy

Thanks for that chart, that's very useful.

I don't believe it is G11 in the car now, it is definitely not blue and definitely not pink, it is more of a yellowish color. So I'm going to have to flush the system regardless if I use G11 or G13. I already have the G13 on hand so I'm just going to use that.

uberwgn

Yeah, the VAG coolants don't like the off-brands/generic products. Be thorough with the flushing task. Good luck!