Orange Coolant v Blue Coolant -which is best
 

Seeking views of those more expert.

Since I got my 1.8t ZT T I have religiously used the recommended Havoline Orange Oat Coolant . Have been told recently that this coolant can degrade the hoses and that blue coolant is better to use (and I think cheaper).:shrug:

Thoughts welcome.

It is quite common to change from red oat to blue antifreeze, however, they don't mix so you must ensure the system is properly flushed before changing

It's a can of worms: http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=193465

TC

After I drained the system whilst doing the water pump I refilled with orange and all has been fine. Been over 12 months since I did the job so it must be ok.

This is typical of what happens to a standard K Series head gasket which has been run with OAT antifreeze.............

http://www.mgfcar.de/hgf/JF_HeadGasket.jpg

My own 214 has run blue antifreeze since 2006 when I changed the gasket at 26,000 miles.

Annual coolant changes and 370000 miles later that same gasket is still in service.

Anecdotal certainly, however in every case of coolant/oil crossover HGF the car has had OAT antifreeze, something that was relatively rare on pre 1997 cars prior to OAT becoming standard.

It should be noted that the only reason that OAT was used in the first instance was to extend the coolant service intervals from two to five years to be competitive for fleet markets.

The choice is yours at the end of the day, however I run Unipart SuperCool Blue in all of my own cars :)

Brian :D

396000miles on a k series must be a record?:}

Well I'm going to pull the head off when I scrap it for post mortem purposes ;)

Run on LPG as well :cool:

Brian :D

Personally, I prefer blue. I've seen enough evidence here and elsewhere that OAT does more harm than good - a change every couple of years is no bother, really.

Is the 'elastomer' type sealing system unique to the K-series gasket or do other car makers us the same idea? I wonder, because almost all the mass market cars these days specify an OAT or HOAT type antifreeze. I wonder what the likes of Aston Martin and Bentley specify? Obviously, these marques aren't affected by incentives like reducing servicing costs or by a fleet user situation? Think I'll check it out for interest.

TC

How does that no water coolant (made by Evans USA (?) work out?
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