Noticed my coolant was near the min mark in my 987
Boxster S
and went by my local dealer to get a top up. They supplied me with a 1L bottle of "
Porsche
Antifreze), however the liquid in that is pink/red wheras my existing coolant is green! Is it okay to mix the two and can someone confirm the 1L bottle is pre-mixed or if I still need to mix it with water? The guy that dealt with me seemed like a part time worker and didn't have a clue what I was after.
BE careful!
Porsche
coolant is pink/red. It sounds like someone switched to a different type of coolant at some point. Do not mix the two different types! Have you owned the
Boxster
since new?
Well, my service manager told me to top-up with water.
I would assume the color of the antifreeze to not matter - normally. And if it is
Porsche
anti-freeze, it should be safe to go with that. For other cars and other brands, some brands shouldn't be mixed, like
Prestone
and anything else, for instance.
Water is the cooling agent, in general. Anti-freeze actually hinders cooling. But with
Porsche
, I suspect that anti-freeze isn't really what we want, as the manual calls for coolant. And it is likely that they are two different things in this case.
Remember,
Porsche
also made water-cooled engines: 924,944,928, etc.
That may be the color difference here ...
I would make certain that the stuff that you purchased matched what is listed within the manual.
It's my understanding that
Porsche
coolant cannot be mixed with other types of coolant. If the two are mixed, you run the risk of the coolant turning to gel.
It is possible to get away from the super expensive
Porsche
coolant, but you need to flush the system and start fresh.
Hope this info helps!
It's nice to hear those reassuring words, fmarshall. I checked my “fluid” level yesterday and was
slightly
below the minimum mark. I added about two cups of distilled water to bring the level up to “max”. For a second or two I thought I had made a huge mistake.
A little rough math: The cooling system on the 2.7 holds 5.81 gallons of coolant (or 744 ounces). If I added two cups (16 oz.) that’s about 2% isn’t it?
But I will go buy the dealership next week and pick up some official Porsche coolant. It makes sense that you would not want to mix coolants.
I have never been so "anal" with a car in my life.
When I had my Boxster S if it needed oil, I added oil . . . whatever was in the garage. When it needed water I added water . . . not even distilled water.
There are earlier threads on this. Bottom line is this:
1) Colour is not a good indicator anymore regarding compatability. If in doubt, don't mix colours and even second guess the same colours. It is the chemistry that counts - there is no industry standardization on colours that is reliable.
2) For the few extra bucks, go with the
Porsche
coolant. The topic of coolants is getting more and more complex and why take the chance. I just bought some last month for a minor fill up - now I have it and no more worries.
3) If you want more detail on coolants, call up a respectable net site and read to your hearts content. Like oil, this topic has a lot of opinions with little or no science to back it up.
I know the topic of glycols, in general, quite well, and there are many details in terms of trace chemistry that would surprise many in terms of consequence. Why play with your engines integrity.
The
Porsche
coolant I have just checked, from a brand new
Porsche
Bottle is Pink.
I was told to dilute it 50/50 with De-ionised water (same as you use for topping up batteries and with Steam Irons) I was also told, never use regular water as this has impurities which may react with the Alloy engine parts...............
Correct! It seems like the earlier 987s came with the blue/green coolant and the pink one is recent. From research and ringing around, you can mix the two they say. I was told do a 50/50 mix and tap water is fine, no need for distilled.
i would use distilled (no minerals to build up in your cooling fins) also VERY CHEAP at $.50 per gallon
