Hi All

Can you please tell me what coolant i should put in my 2005 2.0 tdci as i have had a massive argument with my Dad who swears blind you can put normal antifreeze in as he reckons OAT is just a con to make you buy it cos it costs more , and normal coolant wont affect my car in the slightest.

So can someone who knows please clarify this for me as i have been called all sorts of names because i told him what it said in the manual

thanks

Steve

As I understand it the pink coolant is formulated so that it inhibits corrosion between the various types of metals in the engine, ordinary coolant doesn't do this, so yep use the expensive stuff as per manual, I also believe that it's a for life coolant.

...as i have had a massive argument with my Dad who swears blind you can put normal antifreeze in as he reckons OAT is just a con to make you buy it cos it costs more , and normal coolant wont affect my car in the slightest.

Well you certainly shouldn't mix 'traditional' and OAT antifreeze - that won't work, and you'll probably be replacing the water pump in a year or so. Potentially, the most expensive way of saving a fiver that you've come up with.

You might get away with flushing the system with high qualty water and then using 'traditional'. I'm not quite sure why you'd bother, though.

The Ford stuff is on the expensive side but they do reckon it lasts ten years and most other stuff is rated for five years max (probably making the potential cost per year of the Ford stuff lower than the cheap stuff, but that probably doesn't mean much to you if you know you will keep the car less time than that).

There is also a 'mix with either' technology - I don't know how this works, but if you just wanted to top up, it might get you out of a hole.