Coolant Type?

[James Crivellone]

What would you guys recommend, I had BMW OEM coolant in it before, but its kinda pricey, so what would you recommend as a nice alternative..


Also what mix would you run? I use to run 50/50 Coolant/Distilled Water

[Ryan Stewart]

I run 60% water and 40% BMW coolant.

How much are they charging you? I think I paid $14 for a bottle.

[mjc85]

I just run some stuff from the local auto store. $8 for 5 litres which makes 15 litres. I use 33% coolant 66% water because i don't have any weather extremes here. The coolant i'm using is recommended for engines with alloy parts

[James Crivellone]

I run 60% water and 40% BMW coolant.

How much are they charging you? I think I paid $14 for a bottle.

20 bucks a gallon, so around 18 with CCA

[Ryan Stewart]

That is expensive.

Well the reason I get it is in the manual and every techincal manual I have ever seen for a BMW it has specifically stated that you must use a phosphate and nitrate free coolant and although most are phosphate free every other one I have looked at containted nitrates (or the other way around, never both).

As often as I have to actually flush the coolant the $12 I would have saved every two years doesnt add up to me. Im not sure about using a recharge agent on BMW coolant. The basic ethel/glycol mix will last for a decade or so its just the corrosion inhibitors that crap out. On fleet vehicles we have always strained the coolant and added something from valvoline that was designed to replace the dead inhibitors.

[James Crivellone]

So you figure 2 gallons of bmw oem and the rest with distilled water is enough?