96 golf coolant drain/replace

"Raymond Cruz" <nospam.DeleteThis@noplace.net> writes:

>After much G11/G12 confusion concerning my 96 Golf, I tracked down
>TSB 199601 which says the switch to G12 from G11 for Mexican
>produced vehicles occurred in January 97. This explains why my
>original coolant appears blue/green for a car produced in early 96.
>However the TSB indicates G12 is the preferred formulation but it
>won't mix with G11. If I drain and flush myself am I unlikely to
>remove all traces of the existing G11 therefore would it be wise to
>stick with G11 for the refill? Also my Bentley manual doesn't
>appear consistent with what I see under the hood. What are the
>best drainpoints for getting out the maximum amount of old coolant?

Thermostat housing/hose seem good. You must also *flush* before
changing to G12. If you remove the thermostat, you can run distilled
water through the whole system for a while from cold. Drain and
repeat with the thermostat installed, running the engine until the
thermostat is open and the cooling fan kicks in.... then a while
longer.

The proper procedure (which probably differs from what I described)
is in a TSB somewhere.
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