2011 Seat Altea coolant level

Checking and refilling levels
234Opening the bonnet
The bonnet is released from inside the vehicle.
Before opening the bonnet ensure that the windscreen wipers are in
rest position.
– To release the bonnet, pull the lever under the dash panel
⇒fig. 161 in the direction indicated (arrow). The bonnet will be
released by a spring action ⇒.
– Lift the bonnet using the release lever (arrow) and open the bonnet.
– Release the bonnet stay and secure it in fixture designed for this
in the bonnet.
WARNING
Hot coolant can scald!•Never open the bonnet if you see steam, smoke or coolant escaping
from the engine compartment.•Wait until no more steam, smoke or coolant is emitted from the bonnet,
then carefully open the bonnet.•When working in the engine compartment, always observe the safety
warnings ⇒page 232.
Closing the bonnet– Raise the bonnet slightly
– Release the bonnet stay and replace it in its support.
– At a height of about 30 cm let it fall so it is locked.
Fig. 161 Detail of foot-
well area on driver side:
lever for unlocking the
bonnet.Fig. 162 Arrester hook
for bonnet.
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Checking and refilling levels239
Safety First
Operating Instructions
Practical Tips
Technical Specifications
•Never pour oil down drains or into the ground.•Use a suitable container when draining the used oil. It must be large
enough to hold all the engine oil.CoolantCoolant specifications
Coolant is a mixture of water and at least 40% coolant addi-
tive.The cooling system must be filled with a mix ture of water and at least 40 % of
our coolant additive G12+ or an additive with the specification TT-VW 774 F (it
is dyed purple). This mixture provides the necessary freeze protection down
to -25 °C and protects the alloy parts of the cooling system against corrosion.
It also prevents scaling and raises the boiling point of the coolant.
The concentration of coolant must always be at least 40% - even if freeze
protection is not required.
If greater freeze protection is required in very cold climates, the proportion of
the antifreeze additive G12+ can be increased. However, the percentage of
coolant additives should not exceed 60%, as this would reduce the freeze
protection. It would also reduce the cooling effect. A mixture with 60% addi-
tive will give antifreeze protection to approx. -40 °C.
WARNING
•The coolant additive is toxic. There is a toxic risk. Always keep the
coolant additive in the original container which should be stored out of the
reach of children. The same applies to coolant which you have drained off.
•The coolant additive G12+ must be added in sufficient quantities to
provide anti-freeze protection at th e coldest ambient temperatures that
can be expected. At extremely cold outside temperatures, the coolant could
freeze, causing the vehicle to breakdown. As the heater would not work
either, there is a risk of freezing to death.Caution
•Other additives may give considerably inferior corrosion protection. The
resulting corrosion in the cooling system can lead to a loss of coolant,
causing serious damage to the engine.•The coolant additive G12+ (purple) can be mixed with the additive G12
(red) or G11. Never mix G12 (red colour) with G11.WARNING (continued)
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Checking and refilling levels
240Checking the coolant level and topping up

The correct coolant level is important for fault-free func-
tioning of the engine cooling system.Before opening the bonnet, read and observe the warnings ⇒ in
“Safety instructions on working in the engine compartment” on
page 232.
Opening the coolant expansion tank
– Switch off the engine and allow it to cool.
– To prevent scalding, cover the cap on the expansion tank with a
thick cloth and carefully unscrew the cap ⇒.
Checking coolant level
– Look into the open coolant expansion tank and read off the coolant level. – If the level is below the “MIN” mark, top up with coolant.
Topping up coolant
–Only use new
coolant liquid.
– Do not fill above the “MAX” mark.
Closing the coolant expansion tank
– Screw the cap on again tightly.
The position of the coolant expansion reservoir is shown in the corresponding
engine compartment illustration ⇒page 291.
Make sure that the coolant meets the required specifications ⇒page 239.
Do not use a different type of additive if coolant additive G12+ is not avail-
able. In this case use only water and bring the coolant concentration back up
to the correct level as soon as possible by putting in the specified additive
⇒ page 239.
Always top up with new coolant.
Do not fill above the “MAX” mark. Otherwise the excess coolant will be forced
out of the cooling system when the engine is hot.
The coolant additive G12+ (dyed purple) may be mixed with G12 (dyed red)
and also with G 11.
WARNING
Any work carried out in the engine compartment or on the engine must be
carried out cautiously.•When working in the engine compartment, always observe the safety
warnings ⇒page 232.
Fig. 165 In the engine
compartment: Coolant
expansion tank cap
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Checking and refilling levels241
Safety First
Operating Instructions
Practical Tips
Technical Specifications
•When the engine is warm or hot, the cooling system is pressurised! Do
not unscrew the cap on the expansion tank when the engine is hot. This is
a burn injury risk.Caution
•When mixed with other additives the colour of G12 will change to brown.
If this occurs you should have the coolant changed immediately. Failure to do
so will result in engine damage!•If a lot of coolant fluid has been lost, wait for the engine to cool down
before putting in cold coolant. This avoids damaging the engine. Large
coolant losses are an indication of leaks in the cooling system. See a special-
ised workshop immediately and have the cooling system checked. Other-
wise, there is a risk of engine damage.
Washer fluid and windscreen wiper bladesTopping up washer fluid
Y
The water for cleaning the windscreen should always be
mixed with washer fluid.The windscreen washer and the headlight washers are supplied with fluid
from the windscreen washer fluid container in the engine compartment.
The reservoir is located on the right-hand side of the engine compartment.
Plain water is not enough to clean the windscreen and headlights. We recom-
mend that you always add a product to the windscreen washer fluid.
Approved windscreen cleaning products exist on the market with high deter-
gent and anti-freeze properties, these may be added all-year-round. Please
follow the dilution instructions on the packaging.
WARNING (continued)
Fig. 166 In the engine
compartment: Cap of
windscreen washer fluid
reservoir.
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Technical Specifications291
Safety First
Operating Instructions
Practical Tips
Technical Specifications
Technical SpecificationsChecking fluid levelsFrom time to time, the levels of the different fluids in the
vehicle must be checked. Never fill with incorrect fluids,
otherwise serious damage to the engine may be caused.
Coolant expansion tank
Windscreen washer fluid reservoir
Engine oil filler cap
Engine oil dipstick
Brake fluid reservoir
Vehicle battery (underneath the cover)
The checking and refilling of service fluids are carried out on the components
mentioned above. These operations are described in the ⇒page 232. Overview
You will find further explanations, instructions and restrictions on the tech-
nical specifications as of
⇒page 287.
Fig. 208 Diagram for the
location of the various
elements
A1A2A3A4A5A6
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Index
306CCatalytic converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
CD changer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Central lock button
Locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Central locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Automatic locking system for involuntary unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Automatic speed dependent locking and un- locking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Emergency unlocking system . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Selective unlocking system* . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Unlocking system* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Centre armrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Cetane number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Changing gear See Manual gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Changing gear in tiptronic mode . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Changing the bulbs Main headlight bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Tail lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Changing the main headlight bulbs dipped beam headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Main beam headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Side lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Turn signal bulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Changing the tail lights Luggage compartment lights . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Rear fog light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Reverse light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Side lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Turn signal light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Changing windscreen wiper blades . . . . . . . . . 242
Chassis number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Checking battery electrolyte level . . . . . . . . . . 247
Checking engine oil level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Child safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Child seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Categorisation in groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Group 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Group 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Groups 0 and 0+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Securing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Child seats ISOFIX system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
on the front passenger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Top Tether system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Cigarette lighter* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Cleaning alloy wheel rims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Cleaning chrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Cleaning engine compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Cleaning steel wheel rims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Cleaning windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Climatic* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Climatronic General notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Cloth seat covers cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Clothes hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Cockpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Compartment for on-board documentation . . 144
Control lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Control lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Controls
Electric windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Exterior mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Sliding/tilting sunroof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Convenience closing Sliding/tilting sunroof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Convenience opening Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239, 240 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Coolant level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Coolant loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Coolant temperature Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Safety instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Correct adjustment of front seat head restraints . . 13
Correct adjustment of rear seat head restraints In-use and non-use positions . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Correct sitting position Front passenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Incorrect sitting position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
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Index307
Cruise control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Cruise control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Cruise control* Turning off the cruise control system . . . . . 194
Curtain airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42DDanger of fitting a child seat on the front passenger seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dash panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Dash panel cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Daytime lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Activating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Deactivating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Deactivating front passenger airbag Safety notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Deactivating the airbag Front passenger airbag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Diesel engine Winter driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Diesel engine particulate filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Differential lock fault (EDL) Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Digital clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Dipped beam headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Display (without warning or information texts) . 61
Disposal
Airbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Seat belt tensioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Door lock cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Door release lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Doors Childproof locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Drive wheels traction control system . . . . . . . . 198
Driver See Correct sitting position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Driveshaft differential XDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Driving Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Economically / Environmentally friendly . . 207
With a trailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Driving abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Headlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Driving programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Driving safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Driving with an automatic gearbox / DSG automatic gearbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Duplicate keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Dust filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Dynamic cornering lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Dynamic headlight range control . . . . . . . . . . . 122
EEconomical driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Electrical sockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Electronic differential lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Electronic immobiliser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90, 174
Electronic Stability Programme . . . . . . . . . 88, 199 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Emergency braking warning . . . . . . . . . . 124, 197
Emergency manual locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Emergency opening Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Emission control system Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Engine Running in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Engine compartment Working in the engine compartment . . . . . 232
Engine coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Engine fault Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Engine management Warning lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Engine oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Checking engine oil level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
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