What Coolant to use for 987
 

THE QUESTION- While at my dealer I bought a 1L bottle of Antifreeze/Coolant to top off the coolant which has settled below the minimum fill line. They sold me what seems to be green colored concentrate (part number 000-043-301-05) but my coolant reservoir has reddish colored coolant in it. Is the green stuff the appropriate concentrate? What is the correct coolant I should use to top off my reservoir? I've heard that mixing colors is bad and can cause gelling.


THE ANSWER- The 2005 and newer cars do in fact come with the red coolant. As per Porsche the green and the red are interchangeable.
Scott Slauson - PCA WebSite - 12/17/2005

They orginally have used an orange/pink color coolant in the past which was safe for aluminum engines. Now i think they probably changed suppliers whose color is green. We noticed the switch a couple months ago that they have been giving us green stuff. Thats my theory anyway. It is still safe for aluminum engines, you should be ok.

Porsche did recently start selling a Green colored Coolant.

But, even though Porsche touts it's coolant as LifeLong. This really isn't so. The Porsche coolant differs from Regular Ethylene Glycol Coolant in that it does not use Phosphates as the Anti-Corrosion Agent. These Phosphates can form Phosphoric Acid which will attack your Aluminum Cooling System Components.

Instead, it uses Nitrates as the Anti-Corrosion Agent, similar to Sierra, Prestone 5/150 and several others. This is significant because the coolant lasts longer, about 5 years or 150k mi. For optimal Cooling System health, this is the change interval you should use.

If you mix the two types of Coolant containing both Phosphates and Nitrates, these will react and form the Gel you are referring to. So long as you stick with Coolant containing only Nitrates, Gel Formation will not occur.

Also, Porsche isn't in the Coolant Manufacturing business. They buy a ready-made Coolant from one of the few Coolant Manufacturers and sell it (at a BIG Premium) under their proprietary label. If your car is out of warranty, it doesn't pay to buy Porsche Coolant, instead, buy one of the other brands listed and use the 5yr./150k mi. change interval.

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

Nice informative post.

Thanks Jim.