At 11:14 AM 5/31/02 -0400, Eric wrote:
>  OK, this whole proper coolant for Vanagon issue seems somewhat baffling to
>  me.  Someone in a recent posting offering advice on whether to buy a Westy
>  said they were concerned about the green coolant.  My coolant is green
>  straight out of the container.  It is Prestone brand.  It says safe for all
>  aluminum parts on the label, but it doesn't say phosphate free.  So is
>  Prestone safe?  If not, what brands are safe?  What do phosphates damage in
>  the engine?

The "blue goo", the coolant specifically designed to prevent head
gasket-itis (PN: G 011V8BA1,   Mat No. G 011 V8B JB) is almost a green color.
At it's price I don't know if it's worth it, about $20-$25 for 1.5L, but I
haven't had head-gasket-itis in 7 years accumulating about 200,000 km. The
dealership morons tell me that that part number doesn't exist until I speak
really slowly reading it off of the clearly VW bottle, then they say that
it's never been available in North America which makes me wonder which
continent I drove to to buy it.
Now I know this is going to bring the spammers out of the woodwork to flame
me for paying too much for coolant, I know I did, but it has lasted a
while, you needn't educate me on shopping.
Basically, I suppose I'm just saying it doesn't matter what color they make
it, what matters is whether it will help to pit your aluminum heads and
de-grade your gasket. Phosphates can certainly cause problems with the
gaskets of aluminum headed engines.