So I am going to be draining my radiator coolant this weekend b/c I put some orange stuff to top it off awhile ago before I knew that I was only supposed to put G12 in it. I was wondering how much a 2001 225 tt takes just so i have a rough estimate? What is the coolant to Distilled water ratio that we should use? I live in the cold winters of wisconsin so I was thinking about 60:40. And should you replace the coolant thermostat everytime you change the coolant??? If so, how much is it and do I have to get it at an Audi dealer??

 

you shouldn't need to change your thermostat, just do a good job flushing the car.

I'd use a 50/50 mix, and the car will hold almost 2 gallons. Don't forget, if you drain the coolant while the car is cold, you're really only draining the radiator. Need to let the car warm up to the thermostat opens. Turn up the heat in your car too. Keeps everything moving thru the system to burp out air. Keep some coolant/water with you and check the level often for a couple days as you'll most likely continue to burp out air.

 

sweet. Thank you very much. I feel like I need to bust out the measuring cup and get this ratio exactly correct. How did you guys measure the 50 50?? I suppose I could just use a whole gallon of coolant and a whole gallon of water if it really takes 2 gallons??? That sounds like it will work....

 

Yeah, I generally would dump the coolant in, then top it off with water.


Oh yeah, use distilled water, not hose/tap water. Minerals in tap water will deposit themselves in your engine over time (not good).

 

So whoever said it takes 2 gallons is an idiot. It only takes just over 1 gallon of coolant/water mixed. I put too much coolant in and now it's running 1 tick cold. What effects will this have on my car???

 

Ehh, its actually just under a gallon and a half now that I actually did the math. And I said almost 2 gallons initially, so I'm only off by a half gallon. Either way, if you don't like the mix, drain some off and replace with water to dilute it.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out... idiot.

 

oh snap!

 

Now my car is no better than it was before except now it doesn't have the non G12 coolant in there... which is good i guess, but i had it in there for 1 yr and no problems. G12 is 20 bucks a gallon by the way. I did drain a bunch of the coolant and put in more water, but it still didn't help. I guess I still don't have the ratio right. Will this cause any problems with it running 1 tick cooler??

 

shouldn't affect the temp like that. With all the crap I've got my car apart for in the warmer months, half the time I'm running nearly 100% water, and the gauge reads where it should (12 o'clock).

You could have a bad coolant temp sensor, or possibly a failing instrument cluster. Theres a trick to read coolant temperature via the climate control panel. You'll have to search for that, or home someone else chimes in, because I don't know it, I'm lazy, and use vag-com.

 

on climate controls: while pressing reric button, press up arrow. then use tempaerature adjustment **** until display changes from 00 to 49 or 51, 49 is instant coolant temp, 51 is smoothed over time, then press the recirc button to display the temp in degreees celcius. to return to normal operation, again press recirc and the up arrow at the same time