Antifreeze tech.
 
If you own a wasserboxer (waterboxer i.e.. a water-cooled flat four, 1.9l - 2.1l) then you need quality antifreeze, you need phosphorous free antifreeze, on these engines the cylinder head studs corrode, this is common knowledge but its caused by not changing the coolant at the correct intervals. Antifreeze contains corrosion inhibitors, which as the name suggests inhibits corrosion of the cooling system, the radiator, the heater matrix, the alluminium alloy engine etc., also your cylinder head studs.
If the interval is not adhered to then the cylinder head studs will corrode, and they won't grow back! and get to a point where they snap leaving you with an expensive repair bill for what will probably end up as a new engine as the broken parts are nigh on impossible to remove.
This can be avoided by regular coolant changes, whatever the engine the coolant should be changed every 2 years, although it is more important for WBX owners.
VW's own antifreeze is the one to go for, there used to be 2 types of VW antifreeze, G11 which was blue and G12 which was pink, the pink stuff is what you want but I now hear they have both been discontinued and replaced with G12+ which is compatible with both G11 and G12 and is purple in colour. There are other manufacturers of antifreeze which are slightly cheaper, Comma being a reputable brand and offering a pink phosphorous type.

Please bare in mind that if you have an empty system the entire cooling system takes 16 litres of coolant, if you want a 50% mix then that's 8 litres of antifreeze you need, and a little fact here that neat antifreeze actually freezes at -6°c! its not until its mixed with water that it lowers the freezing point, so be careful, too much antifreeze could end up being the death of you engine. Another fact worth considering is that you want your antifreeze protection at about -35°c, that sounds a lot and even most mechanics will say its never going to get down to that level, but the correct concentration is essential not just for ice protection but for corrosion protection also.
Weak coolant mixture could cause internal corrosion of your engine, giving the fragile nature of the waterboxer engine this is not good!
 
Other pages worth a visit.
Exhaust emission - Brake fluid

 

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