NAAA! I use good quality antifreeze from Ford/GM/BMW.
If you just want to top up then use GM. Its pink/Red and quite thick. You can use Green BMW one but I wouldnt mix the two types. You get a rubbish colour but I dont think it will harm the engine.
For flushing I didnt want to mess around with the screw at the bottom of the radiator as if it breaks then you need a new radiator (mega bucks I suspect).
I just undid the big hose at the bottom of rad and flushed with cold water and added half/half antifreeze/water from tap. The bottom fat hose is held by a jubilee clip so no probs! Just jack up the car - you may need to remove the offside tyre (thats passenger side in US).
Good quality coolant has corrosive inhibitors apparently. You can put more antifreeze rather than less-it just protects it better at LOW temp unless someone can correct me.
Get a gallon of Dex-cool and a gallon of de-mineralized water and have at it... Remember you need to flush it all out every 2 to 3 years but that's all the special it get's... The reason for the special anti-freeze in Europe is that their water is not filtered as much as ours and has tons of minerals in it, which leads to problems whereas here our water is filtered and cleaned better so any good high grade antifreeze and de-mineralized water should work fine...
Question: So if good ole antifreeze from say Preston is just fine, then why dilute ? The freeze and heat tolerances are both higher without dilution. Why would you dilute then ?
IF you run pure antifreeze you will overheat, it does not release the heat as well as water, and water has its own issues. So mix it up, or pay the price...
Live up North so I definitely need antifreeze ! But per the bottle, the max high temp for pure antifreeze was higher than with a 50/50 dilution. Thus my question of why would anyone dilute ?
Take a look at the various antifreeze manufacturer's FAQ pages. All of them recommend a mixture from 50/50 to 70/30 (antifreeze/water) Water is needed to chemically activate the corrosion inhibitors and to transfer heat. Go with less than 30% water and the antifreeze properties start to degrade.
I have a 08 grandtorimo and the rep light is coming on and it's saying that my coolant levels are two high doesn't that mean I need antifreeze it start out wits the two light just blinking and the temp gauge wasn't moving.. Now it seems like it wants to run hot