Substitute for Porsche Antifreeze?
 

My coolant level has dropped to just below the MIN. mark on my '97 Boxster. Are there any acceptable substitutes for the Porsche brand antifreeze/coolant? I have some PENTOSIN PENTOFROST SF (G001200?) that is silicate, nitrite, amine and phosphate free which seems like the right substitute, but it is a pink color, and the stuff in my Boxster is green. I have always been told not to mix colors. Advice?

if it needs just a splash put water in it

I'd suggest against adding any other coolant to the OEM stuff; we have seen too many episodes of gellation issues for it to be worth the risk of spending a lot of money if the system cruds up (we handle them on a strict "time and materials"basis, and none of them have been cheap). The OEM stuff is available, not that expensive, does a good job, and holds up well for a long time (when mixed with distilled water). Yes, there are products that will mix with the OEM stuff and not cause problems, but there appears to be several that won't; mixing them is akin to tap dancing in mine field. You might get lucky, or you might not............

Pelican offers the OEM stuff for a very reasonable price. I flushed my system last year and refilled using the OEM fluid and distilled water...no way I'm placing my engine at risk!

dont quote me but peak global ?

I apologize for the not recalling all the terms names but basically GM was the developer of this sort of coolant called Dexcool (?). Early on it had big problems with gelling. It's come a long way, sorted that out. Basically what Porsche has is devoid of corrosive Silica and phosphates. Thats what Dexcool is. Everybody does a version of it. Some manufactures like Zerox(? something like that) spec a version of dexcool for Porsche.

Again, my exact terminology and brand names are messed up but a bit do some research on GM coolant (remember, google is you best friend) and you'll wind up with what you need to know to make a decision.

Regards, Pk

BTW: My car has had it for 8 yrs (albeit not many miles) and it's fine.

Again, fully drained and refilled, just about any coolant will work (within certain bounds, such as ones that attack aluminum)........ The problems with gelation occur when different chemistry coolants are mixed (topping off, partial refill after slight dump, etc.). If you are not fully emptying the system, you need to be careful......

And no antifreeze contains silica, which is an insoluble inorganic (read it's like a rock) material; but many use silicates (potassium silicate to be exact) which is water soluble, an excellent pH buffer, and metal chelating agent..............

OAT (Organic Acid Technology) long life/extended life coolants were originally orange. Later versions were green or yellow to indicate their semi-compatibility with green EG (ethylene glycol).

There's been a lot of bad press and law suits surrounding GM's DEX-COOL. GM engineers blamed, amongst other things, trapped air pockets left behind after a system flush.

Many OEM car brands now proliferate. Maybe that's nothing more than liquid badge engineering.

I miss the plain old green EG - just had to change it every 2 years. Meantime, I'll bend over for a $25 jug of Porsche antifreeze.

My 97 manual says the coolant is for the life of the engine. Is anybody flushing on a more regular basis?

The cost of buying the genuine Porsche coolant vs the (potential) problems that a cheap non conforming fluid can cause is a no brainer!!
Change the coolant every 5 years and sleep easy........
Whats $100 over a few years ????

My 986S has the original green porsche stuff in it. It was a little low so I bought the oem pink porsche stuff, not wanting to take any chances. They (P-dealer) told me they would mix fine because the green stuff was porsche also, just older. Is this true??

sean

Yes. A couple years back, Porsche made a change in the antifreeze to improve corrosion resistance even more, and the color changed from green to pink/orange. The new pink stuff is totally compatible with the older green product for the reasons I mentioned earlier....................

Thanks Jeff!

Thank you all for your advice and replies. I will use the official Porsche antifreeze and play it safe. Thanks again.

Charlie

You can buy the same thing in a WW dealer. They use the same antifreeze.

hmmmmm believe it or not I seem to recall potential electrical issues being avoided by using the pink Porsche coolant...

My local mechanic just put some Pentefrost ++ in my 03 base boxster. So far so good. Wished he would have used the porsche stuff instead. Will keep my fingers crossed.

You have the right stuff (Pentosin G12). The green stuff is wrong. Flush it and refill.

50/50 G12 and distilled water.