Coolant Topoff

[Rinkydink]

Checking my ‘17 RT’s coolant this am and it needs a top off. No BMW scoot dealership within 300 miles. Do people use just any brand coolant? Thinking I’ll just go the the local BMW car dealership and pick some up. I have never taken the Tupperware off of her. Which panels have the tabs that break so easily? TIA

[Skywagon]

Rinkydink.....I bought a gallon from the BMW dealer. A quart will last you a lifetime.  It looks like any old green antifreeze, but who knows whats in it.  Prestone would probably be ok .  Maybe DR will weigh in.  Im sure BMW fluid from car dealer would be fine.

 

Panels....this is the very panel that the tabs are easily broken.  It's the big panel on the right side up front.  I've taken mine off several times with no issue.  The key is when you get all the screws out is to lift straight up.  See if you can find a video first.  The tabs are on top and fit down in little slots.  Do not pull panel off sideways.

 

Antifreeze.... the little bottle doesn't hold very much.  It has a fill line on it.  The first time I topped it off I went a little above the fill line.  The problem with that is once it put back together and above the fill line you can't see it from the observation panel later.  So...I decided to take a little battery bulb or syringe and extract it to the correct level...well the problem with that is you can't get far enough down to draw it out.  My advice....easy job.....DO NOT GO PAST FULL LINE as you will be forever frustrated wondering if it is full or empty.

[strataj]

Mine is Blue in the reserve tank and in the quart I purchased from a dealer.  I've been told you should stay with the OEM antifreeze. 

[Rinkydink]

Just what I needed. Thanks guys. 

[szurszewski]

If it’s the standard bmw coolant used in cars and the K bikes, and if it’s blue I bet it is, you can either get it at a car dealer in the gallon or get liters at any good auto parts store. Zerex G-48 by the gallon or Pentofrost NF by the liter (usually for not much less than the gallon, but you get a smaller bottle to put on your shelf). 

[dirtrider]

3 hours ago, Rinkydink said:

Checking my coolant this am and it needs a top off. No BMW scoot dealership within 300 miles. Do people use just any brand coolant? Thinking I’ll just go the the local BMW car dealership and pick some up. I have never taken the Tupperware off of her. Which panels have the tabs that break so easily? TIA

Afternoon

 

Due to the BMW engine's alloy components you need a silica free anti-freeze.

 

I usually use  ( Pentofrost NF ), I  can usually get it at an Advanced Auto parts store, if they don't have it they can usually order it in for you in about a day. 

 

 

 

 

 

[LAF]

I just bought a gallon at a BMW car dealer.   Mixed 4 oz of it and 4 oz of distilled water and it took a couple oz of that to hit full. Mixed it in a soda bottle and capped it for later.  Sooner or later I will attempt a coolant change.  And will use the gallon. 

[Poco183]

6 hours ago, dirtrider said:

Afternoon

 

Due to the BMW engine's alloy components you need a silica free anti-freeze.

 

I usually use  ( Pentofrost NF ), I  can usually get it at an Advanced Auto parts store, if they don't have it they can usually order it in for you in about a day. 

 

 

 

 

 

You are a wealth of knowledge! Thanks for the information.

[szurszewski]

5 hours ago, LAF said:

Mixed it in a soda bottle and capped it for later.

Careful where you keep that - looks just like blue Gatorade!

[alegerlotz]

My 2016 has used about 6 oz of mixed coolant (3oz of distilled water and 3oz out of the coolant bottle from the BMW dealer) over 3 seasons.  It used more the first season than either of the subsequent ones.  I top it up at the 6K service intervals.  As others have said, at this rate, a quart size jug from bmw will last a good long time.

[Rinkydink]

I got Pentofrost NF from Advance Auto Parts. Thanks for the tip Dirtrider. You are appreciated. 

[Veefore]

Beware the two front clips on the side panel that screw in from the front.  I removed the panel and topped last year, all was well.  Got the 6k service at the dealer over the winter and checked it today - the plastic portion that holds the metal clip was cracked. Not placing blame because honestly I don't know.  Pretty frail design....some creativity with my glue gun (not at all visible from the outside) and it's all fixed.

[Rinkydink]

On 6/17/2020 at 9:21 PM, szurszewski said:

Careful where you keep that - looks just like blue Gatorade!

I put it in a fruit punch Gatorade bottle so it should be painfully obvious and safe.  

[Red]

Rinkydink,  as a guy who has worked with pesticides I can tell you if you really don't want someone ingesting a toxic chemical, do not repackage in a container meant for a food product.  Believe me, shit happens.

[LAF]

We appreciate the warnings on storage but I think we got it. 

 

First mine is in a 16 oz Pepsi bottle with the label cut off.  So I dont know anyone who is taking a swig of something with no label on it.  Also it is stored with my oils, additives, and other antifreeze types for various vehicles.  My children are grown and my grandchildren are never in that area. 

 

Again The warning is cool I (we) got this.

 

What is more important is to keep it away from animals.  They LOVE it and will drink it.  So I drink Folgers coffee I buy from Costco in big plastic jugs.  So open oil bottle or open gear oil or a unmarked bottle of mixed coolant I set inside all of those I collected over the years so if the bottles leak or have run down the side it goes into the bottom of the plastic Folgers can.  I then can clean them, and with masking tape and a sharpie I mark what is in the Folgers can. 

 

At 63 have not had a issue raising two children with stored chemicals, or a firearm carry permit.  I think I got it

[Paul De]

On 6/21/2020 at 8:36 AM, LAF said:

First mine is in a 16 oz Pepsi bottle with the label cut off.

For my wife's car it was an Ice Mountain water jug, label off and a Sharpie noting it is antifreeze mixed at 1:1 with water.

 

You're right about keeping  ethylene glycol based antifreeze away from pets as it tastes sweet and is toxic (something like 400x sweeter than sucrose).

 

 

A tangential factoid: (skip if you want avoid off topic blabber)

Back in 1937 the then drug company Massengill had a new sulfa drug that they wanted to have a convenient way to administer.  Some chemist found the new sulfa compound dissolved readily in diethylene glycol  and had the bonus of being very sweet to cover the terrible sulfa compound taste.  They released this new concoction to the market, without review of existing literature on DEG toxicity, or their own safety testing (was not required to back then).  More than 100 adults and children were killed before the product was withdrawn from the market.  The fall out from this disaster resulted in the modern FDA where you have to go through a lot of hoops for efficacy, safety, and dosage testing....and Massengill basically barley surviving to become a fem hygiene products company.