# 04 A4 coolant change question



## Trekk (Apr 28, 2008)

Well, as some of you might of read. I bought a used 04 GTO a few weeks ago. Car facts shows it taken to the dealer very often for it's oil changes and so on. Since hasn't been my car from day 1 I'd like to replace all the fluids stating with the radiator. Mostly because I live in hot ass Miami Fl.

I was thinking about putting in a 160deg stat and just flushing all the fluids. I'm not worried about the warranty or anything. I've just been reading around about fluids and find lots of people fighting over the dex-cool and green stuff. I just want to know what is better (effective wise)to put in the car. It never really gets cold down here, maybe the 40's in the middle of the night from wind chill, but about 75-95deg is the norm around here 95% of the time.
Should I just put more Dex in? can it be watered down more? or should I move on to something else. 

This is the first car i have owned with dex-cool it in.

Thanks.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

Here is a link to an article you will find informative. 

Antifreeze: Red or Green?

Pay particular attention to page 2.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

GTO JUDGE said:


> Here is a link to an article you will find informative.
> 
> Antifreeze: Red or Green?
> 
> Pay particular attention to page 2.


Good reading, thanks Judge. 

Living in Miami, you don't really need antifreeze. The main reasons you are putting in Antifreeze is for the increased boiling point and mostly for rust inhibitors. The boiling point will be raised with as little as 25% coolant. 

My recomendation is to buy several bottles of Distilled water. Make sure it is distilled and not spring water. Also at most auto parts stores they have a product called Water Wetter. Red Line Oil: Coolants and Others

Eliminate some of the antifreeze and replace it with Water Wetter. Use Dexcool like what came from the factory. 

The distiled water is pure H2O. The most common failure of a cooling system is from deposits forming and pluggin openings. If you use distilled there won't be any minerals to cause deposits. Most places just refill with water from the hose. If you bring the distilled water with you they will use that. Also distilled water is more efficient at cooling than water with minerals in it.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

I went to purchase a gallon of DexCool for topping off if need be. I thought man this is gonna cost major $. I paid like 12.00 a gallon. When I looked at Prestone anti-freeze it was only a 1.00 gallon less. I remember buying Prestone for 4.99 a gallon. 3.99 on sale. You can buy premixed antifreeze now a days but I would buy 2 gallons at a time and premix it myself and turn the 2 into 4 gallons. I was shocked to see how high the price of that went up.


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