Engine Coolant

antijoke

antijoke

antijoke

Caporegime
Joined
28 Jan 2003
Posts
39,976
Location
England
So the dash light came on saying I need to top-up the coolant, now this is probably the stupidist question but what should I use to top it up? I have never needed to refill engine coolant before.

Car is 2001 330i.

Thanks.
 
I assume it's the same with BMW.

I went into my Honda garage and picked up a 5L tub of the proper coolant, then drained it out and refilled the whole thing

Don't just add water to it!
 
depends how old the coolant is

if its relatively new, you can just add some water

if its been in there years, just replace the lot but have a look to see where its leaking..
 
I have no idea how long the current coolant has been there, I have owned the car a little over a year, I have had a look (from what I can actually look at) but cannot see any leaks.
 
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The coolant should be changed every 4 years. There is no need to replace the sealing rings.

If the coolant light has come on I would be very suprised if there was nothing wrong with the car. The engine should not use coolant and it has nowhere to evaporate away too as its a sealed, pressurised system.

You need to find out where the coolant went.
 
Where should I be looking for signs of leaks? As I say I looked in the engine compartment this morning but could see no signs of it leaking anywhere. I hadn't used the car for two days over the weekend, and the first time using the car on Monday the light came on briefly in the morning. It didn't come on whilst driving to work or on the drive home at night.

There was no signs of any fluid on the driveway.
 
Check your oil for signs of coolant and your coolant for signs of oil.

The car could be boiling the coolant off due to a badly fitting or sealing coolant cap.
 
anticonscience said:
And how does one do that?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1068015

Is it really that simple to drain and replace the coolant?
Click to expand...

No, it is not that simple to drain and replace the coolant because these engines are an absolute nightmare to bleed properly and if you don't bleed it right first time you can get overheating problems, airlocks, etc etc. It's a complete faff.

As for the sensor it should be obvious if the sensor is faulty, when you opened the header tank where was the level?
 
[TW]Fox;15536095 said:
No, it is not that simple to drain and replace the coolant because these engines are an absolute nightmare to bleed properly and if you don't bleed it right first time you can get overheating problems, airlocks, etc etc. It's a complete faff.

As for the sensor it should be obvious if the sensor is faulty, when you opened the header tank where was the level?
Click to expand...

I didn't think it was going to be that easy.

The level was slightly below where it should be.

Seems I'm going to have to ring around some garages and get a better price, I'll be damned if I'm paying £135 to get it done.
 
It might be a good idea to make sure there isn't a problem with the car before you pay for a coolant change. Imagine paying for a coolant change only to have the whole lot done again a month later.
 
I doubt it'll show up as a fault code! You are going to need to top the level back up and check it on a frequent basis. Better than paying somebody else money, surely?

That way if in 3 weeks time its not moved a jot you know its probably fine.
 
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