Wrong coolant issue

This is a prime example of what the wrong antifreeze in your car will do. The triangular shaped ducts are for coolant to run through your engine. As you can see it is extremely corroded and this one specifically is completely clogged. This ended up warping the head due to lack of cooling to this cylinder. The bottom right photo is what it should look like.

 

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Using the Correct Coolant / Antifreeze

Using the correct coolant /antifreeze in your car seems like a frivolous and unnecessary thing to worry about. However in most European cars this is not the case. You must use the correct type in your vehicle or else damage could occur over time. Putting the wrong brand in can lead to component failure such as clogged radiator / heater core, water pump failure and blockages in the cylinder head and engine block.

As you can see from above the wrong coolant was used in this engine and lack of coolant flushes over time will result in this kind of damage. In this instance, it completely clogged the coolant ports that flow into the cylinder head causing the head gasket to fail and warping the head. A simple cooling system flush at Meister Werks every 50k would have solved this problem. Also using green prestone or over the counter products you find at the gas station is the wrong antifreeze. Specifically this car needs G13 or pink antifreeze. VWs and Porsches need the same thing. BMW uses proprietary blue antifreeze, early VWs use Blue G12 and some Mercedes use a special yellow antifreeze / coolant.

If you have any question about the type you need in your car, feel free to E-mail or call us at 425-254-0627 and we can suggest the correct type for your vehicle.