What is "G13 PLUS+" Coolant???

[OomStu_ZA]

My 2 cents, looked in the garage and found I have a bottle of G13 (no Plus+).... now I feel left out too

[RUM4MO]

My 2 cents, looked in the garage and found I have a bottle of G13 (no Plus+).... now I feel left out too

Shocking, get out there and get sorted, or miss out like the rest of us!

[OomStu_ZA]

My 2 cents, looked in the garage and found I have a bottle of G13 (no Plus+).... now I feel left out too

Shocking, get out there and get sorted, or miss out like the rest of us!

lolol

[john M]

And I still have a round 1.5 litre bottle of vintage G11 (G001 100), any offers!!. must have been used in my air cooled Beetle screen wash.

[monkeyhanger]

My wife's GTI+ needed about 1/3 of a litre top up of her coolant yesterday after creeping just under the min mark at just shy of 9k miles on the clock.

Can't remember for sure whether mine or hers required a top up previously (I think it was mine).

[RUM4MO]

I think that my older daughter's May 2019 Leon Cupra has now stopped needing top ups - it has not been used much so I think it is just over 4.5K miles, I needed to top it up twice, so maybe a total of 0.7litre added (2 X 0.35litre).

[S_94]

Afternoon all.

This thread promoted me to check the levels of the engine coolant in my car. I'm pretty sure it needs topping up (looks to be below the minimum from the picture).

If it does need topping up, can I buy this online anywhere or would I have to go into a VW dealership?

[RUM4MO]

While VW Group, as far as I know, do not manufacture coolant or coolant additives, while a car is still under warranty, I'd always go the extra mile and buy direct from a VW Group outlet and retain the sales receipt. This could be a simple "trapped air" in the system getting purged back into the reservoir, and so after topping it up you will never have any more "level dropping" issues, but it might not be.

[john M]

I think that my older daughter's May 2019 Leon Cupra has now stopped needing top ups - it has not been used much so I think it is just over 4.5K miles, I needed to top it up twice, so maybe a total of 0.7litre added (2 X 0.35litre).

Do you mean that its normal for a new car to need top ups initially as this hasn't been my experience with quite a number of new (VW) cars, I would only have needed to top up after ~ 18 months or longer and even then with less than 0.25 litres, a family Jan 2019 Polo has exactly its original coolant level.

[SRGTD]

@john M; judging by comments on many of the VW / Audi group (VAG) forums, quite a few owners of new VAG cars experience a drop in coolant level in the expansion tank to the minimum level or below, necessitating a top up of coolant. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s normal, but it does happen. Seems that in most instances this is a one-off - so as @RUM4MO has said, is likely to be due to trapped air in the cooling system when the system is filled in the factory, and that air then being purged into the expansion tank - usually during the first few months of ownership / use.

I experienced this early on in the life of my 2016 previous generation Polo GTI; topped it up and it’s never been an issue since. I still check the level regularly though when I carry out my regular maintenance checks (oil level, top up washer fluid level, check tyre pressures).

[john M]

Yes, point taken as the expansion tank is also a degassing tank, its just that I have never experienced it and only for reading @RUM4M0,s post I would have been slightly worried at topping up with 0.7 litres. It would be interesting if one had it topped up (when relatively new) by the dealer and see if its done FOC which means that its a well recognised "normal" event.
Whenever I change the coolant, I run the engine with tank cap removed and I keep topping up until the radiator fan has cut in/out once.
Edit: Also I couldn't just pour in the correct amount of coolant with a cold engine, once the thermostat opened, then I could fill up, I would think that VW have a specific method for the initial filling of the system and just don't pour it into the expansion tank.

[RUM4MO]

Logically, to minimise time/money, all car makers would initially fill their new cars automatically by using a filling rig that initially depressed the system pressure, ie slight vacuum, then back filling with a predetermined volume of mixed coolant.

Now, most car engine's cooling systems have maybe 3 zones to optimise heating up etc, so maybe the standard filling rigs are not able to ensure that no air is trapped.

I've never ever had this sort of issue with any cars that I have bought new over my 40 years of buying mainly new cars, but, from being a member on the Skoda motoring forum, and SEAT motoring - this sort of thing is far from being unusual, and even with the 1.2TSI 16V petrol engines, which might seem a bit strange as few if any 6C Polo owners with that engine reported this issue - maybe it differs from factory to factory although Skoda factories built all the 1.2TSI 16V petrol engines.

Just "one of these things" - it looks like your coolant level is just down to the join in the reservoir so is mid way between Min and Max, so maybe okay, I've always aimed to have the "cold" coolant level on or just above that point.

[ho8882000]

I read the owner's manual and it says my Polo should come with G12 evo coolant from the factory, as shown below:

But on the expansion tank of my car, it says G13:

I am a bit confuse on which coolant is filled into my car.

Can someone also check their owner's manual and expansion tank label as well, and tell me if it says "G13" or "G12 evo"?

According to the Ravenol website VW Polo factory changed over from G13 to some other coolant on the 08-July-2019, as shown below:
(My Polo is assembled on the 24-AUG-2019 in South Africa.)

[S_94]

My tank says G13 as well. Took delivery of car in May 2019.

[ho8882000]

My tank says G13 as well. Took delivery of car in May 2019.

Thanks for the information.

But in your Owner's Manual, did it say G13 or G12 evo coolant?