Green coolant is bad for all H20 VWs.  Prestone does make phosphate free
coolant but it is orange in color, it specifically says phosphate free on
the label.  I use it in my H20 VWs because it is easy to find and cheap.  I
also use nothing but distilled water (tap water will corrode your motor) and
some Redline water wetter.  I normally use only 25% coolant to water ratio.

Rich Blake
88 GTi16v
88 Jetta8v
01 NB 1.8t
wish I had a westy

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben McCafferty <ben@KBMC.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Friday, May 31, 2002 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: was To buy or not to buy: 87 Westy NOW: Green Coolant?

>Reportedly the orange juice from Havoline is safe as well.  I get the blue
>stuff at the dealer in the US for $14.80 per gallon, so it must be a bit
>higher in Canada.
>I use the blue stuff, once every year or two.
>bmc :)
>"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."
>
>
>> From: Stones <sstones@IDIRECT.COM>
>> Reply-To: Stones <sstones@IDIRECT.COM>
>> Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 11:44:25 -0400
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: was To buy or not to buy:  87 Westy NOW: Green Coolant?
>>
>> 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.
>>
>