Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

Temp gauge was showing the engine was hot and i suspected the thermostat was froze shut, so I took the it out while parked at a rest stop and wired it open and put it back. I was going to use just water, but a trucker gave me red antifreeze, being in a desporate situation, I took it. Are there any issues with it in these diesels? Gaskets would probably the issue. It is Delo antifreeze.

To finish the story, after I did all of this, the engine temp for sure had cooled off, the gauge still says it was hot hot, so the thermostat was not the issue. Makes me a little upset I did all the while at a rest area with it just being the stupid sensor. Not even sure if I had over heated it now.

Thanks

I have heard that the red and green antifreeze aren't compatible when mixed together. You can get blobs in the system. They sell a premium diesel antifreeze which really isn't necessary or do anything extra in a VW diesel because you don't have liners. It's made specially to stop deteriorating cavitation which can lead to loss of metal on the outside of the liner and eventually the o-ring will let go. I have seen this happen on industrial engines with liners. I really have to do some home work on the differences between red and green antifreeze.

Thanks, this is for my 89 Jetta (not TDI), I swore I put this in the "VW Diesel (General)" page, not sure why it was moved. I'll hope it is good. I have to change the thermostat out once I can trust my gauge again, at which point I'll probably switch back to green antifreeze.

correct, you don't want to run the new orange or red coolants in our older engines or any non aluminum radiator engine-

http://donsnotes.com/home_garden/auto/antifreeze.html