VW Golf - Check Coolant

Redders825

Hi, When turning on the car this morning, it displayed "Stop! Check Coolant - Owner's Manual", despite it having been serviced two months ago. I've looked through the manual and cannot find what to do about this anywhere.

What is coolant, what type of coolant do I need for this car and where can I get coolant?

Any answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

trad

If your car is loosing coolant there is a problem. Has the water pump been changed? Coluld be the start of a leak from the water pump.

Do not ignore

Gary ITR

Redders825 wrote: »

Hi, When turning on the car this morning, it displayed "Stop! Check Coolant - Owner's Manual", despite it having been serviced two months ago. I've looked through the manual and cannot find what to do about this anywhere.

What is coolant, what type of coolant do I need for this car and where can I get coolant?

Any answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

That's most likely irrelevant, if you're not sure what to do ring you're mechanic but don't drive the car until it's sorted

johndaman66

No doubt I probably would miss some aspect of the definition of coolant, or antifreeze as its more commonly known so I took the liberty of copying it from wikipedia: -

"Antifreeze is a freeze preventive used in internal combustion engines and other heat transfer applications, such as HVAC chillers and solar water heater. The purpose of antifreeze is to prevent a rigid enclosure from undergoing catastrophic deformation due to expansion when water turns to ice. Antifreezes are chemical compounds added to water to reduce the freezing point of the mixture below the lowest temperature that the system is likely to encounter. Either the additive or the mixture may be referred to as antifreeze.
Antifreeze is a colligative agent when mixed with water, reducing the mixture's freezing point. It also increases the boiling point of the mixtures. A colligative agent is properly referred to as both antifreeze and "anti-boil" when used for both properties.
Coolant is what keeps the car engine cool"

In a nutsheel it helps prevent your engine from boiling at high temperatures when running and the head of the engine from cracking at freezing temperatures when not running due to the expansion of water alone. Additionally antifreeze contains agents that help prevent corrosion, ensuring the sustained efficient running of your cars cooling system.

The message you got meant you should not really have drove the car at all as I can't stress the importance of coolant. It is equally as important as oil in your engine (your car would not run for too long without either). I stress that you should not drive the car without getting the problem rectified or else you run the risk of doing serious damage to your engine. Also, the fact that you got your car serviced two months ago is a bit of a moot point to make really.

Coolant would be seen in a sort of see through tank in the engine bay. Should be towards the back right in Golf I'm pretty sure and certain. I'm fairly sure details should be in owners manual all the same though. Red coloured coolant is used in VW's in most if not all cases I think. Motor Factors should be able to supply and give you the correct anti-freeze for your engine. Be careful not to mix red and green/blue antifreeze as I believe thats not good either. You need to mix the coolant with water (distilled by right) as per owners manual or instructions in bottle and top up to the full level as per expansion tank bottle. In an emergency situation you can top up with water alone but this is not advised and you should get a mechanic to replace with coolant/water mix after. To put it another way topping up with water alone is more desirable than running the car with no liquid whatsoever in there but you would be best advised to replace with coolant/ water sooner rather than later to prevent occurance of the afore mentioned problems.

If what I say makes any sense to you thats fantastic but if you are still as clueless get a mechanic or person who knows more about cars to look at it before you drive it anymore is my best advice.

Tea drinker

x2 what other guys said, don't drive until fixed. Potential engine catastrophe if you drive without coolant!
And the mechanic knows the right coolant to put in. Wrong coolant means solids and crystal start to form in your engine.

For future reference you should know how to check all fluids in your car.
These levels can go down outside service intervals, even without a fault.
It is YOUR responsibility to check they are ok and the vehicle is safe.

Knowing how to check brake fluid. coolant, oil level and of course windscreen washer level are all important safety considerations, not just preventing possible further $$$$.

Not lecturing you, just you should be clear how to check all these things.
Ask the mechanic to show you, and maybe buy a spare bottle of the above fluids and it will give some peace of mind.

Best of luck, hopefully it's just something simple and cheap to fix!

Redders825

Hey Guys,

Thanks for replies. I rang my local VW dealership, they suggested it probably just needs a top up so going to go over to garage across the road at lunch to get myself some coolant!

Hopefully that does the job, Thanks!

Neilw

Get the correct coolant for your car, could be g12 coolant.

Did you actually check the level in the expansion bottle yet? Sometimes the golf can give a low coolant warning with the correct level. The electrodes on the level sensor inside the expansion bottle can scale over and mess up the reading the sensor gets. To fix get a flat blade screwdriver and run it up and down the two prongs of the sensor to remove the scale.

johndaman66

Tea drinker wrote: »

For future reference you should know how to check all fluids in your car.
These levels can go down outside service intervals, even without a fault.
It is YOUR responsibility to check they are ok and the vehicle is safe.

Knowing how to check brake fluid. coolant, oil level and of course windscreen washer level are all important safety considerations, not just preventing possible further $$$$.

Very good and valid points. In absolute total agreement. In fact I believe you are suppose to be able to check your levels for the driving test now or at least such a rule was in the pipeline at one stage. The same logic should follow through with changing a wheel I believe unless of course the driver is infirm/ disabled or just not able bodied enough to. You can't be sexist theses times so I believe this works both ways?

Redders825

Just a quick update,

Went to garage at lunch, they checked the coolant and it was just below the minimum level, so just topped it up and the gauge in the car was fine then, problem solved.

btw, it was red coolant thats used in Golfs as a few of ye stated.

Thanks for the help

GTE

Redders825 wrote: »

Just a quick update,

Went to garage at lunch, they checked the coolant and it was just below the minimum level, so just topped it up and the gauge in the car was fine then, problem solved.

btw, it was red coolant thats used in Golfs as a few of ye stated.

Thanks for the help

Keep in mind that VW say that if you put in coolant that doesn't meet their spec you should do a full coolant emplacement every year, I believe. This is to protect against seals and things getting corroded as far as I know.

Gsomething+ is what I know of. It has been a long time since I have had to think about it.

Anyway, its worth keeping in mind that the next service your wagon gets you should replaced the coolant with VW spec.

dell1211

its a common mk5 golf problem, used to happen to my r32 randomly when starting from cold. I used to just turn off the car and restart it and it solved it. If this is the problem you need a new sensor in the coolant bottle but the easiest solution is a new bottle but that means some new fluid due to spilling some if you are doing it yourself.