[monkey_wrench]

I'm going to change out my waterpump and thermostat housing in the next few days, and can't seem to find what kind of coolant I need, and how much of it.

Anyone?

[Efthreeoh]

2 gallons total. 1 gal BMW coolant +1 gal distilled water. The DIY covers it.

[monkey_wrench]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

2 gallons total. 1 gal BMW coolant +1 gal distilled water. The DIY covers it.

Missed it.

BMW coolant or BMW spec coolant? I assume local purchase of coolant would be dealer only?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by monkey_wrench

Missed it.

BMW coolant or BMW spec coolant? I assume local purchase of coolant would be dealer only?

What was there to miss? B M W coolant sold by a BMW dealer that says "BMW coolant" on the 1 gallon jug. The newest package is a gray jug with a dark gray label that says "BMW Coolant" in black letters. Buy 1 gallon mix it with 1 gallon of distilled water, available at any grocery store; you'll have just enough to refill the system. Buy it on line, it's a few bucks more than coolant at the auto parts store. Really you should buy two gallons of BMW coolant so you have one on hand for top ups of the system.

Search the forum next time you'll get all the answers you need. Read the DIYs; they are very clear on the procedure and the type and amount of coolant needed.

[monkey_wrench]

I missed the bit where it said, in the DYI I searched for and found, that I needed to mix a gallon of BMW coolant and a gallon of distilled water.
Perhaps I'm looking at a different DIY.

My question then was, will any coolant do, or do I need special BMW coolant.

[Chriztofor]

Originally Posted by monkey_wrench

I missed the bit where it said, in the DYI I searched for and found, that I needed to mix a gallon of BMW coolant and a gallon of distilled water.
Perhaps I'm looking at a different DIY.

My question then was, will any coolant do, or do I need special BMW coolant.

I use peak longlife. http://www.peakauto.com/antifreeze-peak-long_life.shtml. It is phosphate and silicate free. Change it every two years for the hell of it.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by monkey_wrench

I missed the bit where it said, in the DYI I searched for and found, that I needed to mix a gallon of BMW coolant and a gallon of distilled water.
Perhaps I'm looking at a different DIY.

My question then was, will any coolant do, or do I need special BMW coolant.

From the DIY for water pump replacement on the N52:

"Coolant Refill procedure:

33) Reinstall the blue radiator drain screw.
34) If you didn’t open the bleed screw on the coolant reservoir, open it now (about 4 turns)
35) Slowly fill the system with a premixed 50/50% mix of BMW coolant and distilled water.
36) Fill the reservoir all the way up to the bottom of the filler neck. The bleed screw will bleed air as it gets trapped in the reservoir. Keep filling until the bleed screw is passing coolant with no bubbles in it. (Keep a paper towel handy to soak up the coolant coming out of the bleed screw).
37) Close the bleed screw.
38) Once the reservoir (system) is full (it will take almost two gallons of antifreeze) fully close the reservoir cap."

I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand. Just use BMW coolant. It's properly formulated for use in your car and the metals in your engine are selected for BMW formula coolant in the engine. Mixing BMW coolant with distilled water keeps other unwanted minerals present in tap water from forming deposits in the engine. Use of some other coolants with different formulations are not recommended by BMW and may be harmful to the long-term operation of the cooling system. It's not like BMW prices their coolant at twice the price of other brands, so just use it and you know the coorect coolant is in the system. Simple.

[Chriztofor]

You don't HAVE to use BMW coolant. It is not magical coolant. The most important part is to make sure you follow the venting procedure, which is a simple process. Do a search on here. I believe eninty has a DIY on here. How I do it is to remove the undercover, remove one of the blue screws to the radiator, refill, vent, refill, and vent (not a typo; when you vent you will need to add more coolant. Eninty has you remove the waterpump hose(s) which can be a PITA. It is the correct thing to do, but I skip that.

[monkey_wrench]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

From the DIY for water pump replacement on the N52:

Got it. Thanks.

I guess I was looking at the wrong DIY, I didn't see the writeup you posted in there.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Chriztofor

You don't HAVE to use BMW coolant. It is not magical coolant. The most important part is to make sure you follow the venting procedure, which is a simple process. Do a search on here. I believe eninty has a DIY on here. How I do it is to remove the undercover, remove one of the blue screws to the radiator, refill, vent, refill, and vent (not a typo; when you vent you will need to add more coolant. Eninty has you remove the waterpump hose(s) which can be a PITA. It is the correct thing to do, but I skip that.

You should use G-48, which is what BMW coolant is. And there doesn't seem to be any handy sources of G-48 that are significantly cheaper than the dealer, so you might as well use dealer coolant unless it's really hard to get.

G-48 has plastic compatibility specs which are different from some otherwise very similar coolants.

[Chriztofor]

Originally Posted by Surly73

You should use G-48, which is what BMW coolant is. And there doesn't seem to be any handy sources of G-48 that are significantly cheaper than the dealer, so you might as well use dealer coolant unless it's really hard to get.

G-48 has plastic compatibility specs which are different from some otherwise very similar coolants.

You are probably right. I am more concerned about using the right oil then the right coolant (don't ask me why). I have been using that stuff for years, even on my e46 which lasted to 200,000 miles. If anything goes wrong I will post an update.