Lets just say my weekend took a very hard turn into the unexpected..

On Saturday, i decided it was time to flush the coolant in my MCS. It was like a dark brown color and i had some extra sitting around. So why not? Went to start knowing i didnt really know what doing, (1st mistake). Well when i finally got that clamp, out came the coolant... Only like half a gallon came out, so i was wondering where the rest of it was. I got the suggestion to disconnect the heater core hose to get the rest out, although it wasnt listed in the Haynes manual i was using.. So i went to unplug the hose and couldnt get it off! After about ten minutes, i was like "Fvck it" and left the hose alone (2nd mistake)..

Ok so i went to pour the coolant back in with the top vent plug open (couldnt find any more) and all was good. I started the car up and let it idle a bit. When i thought it had balanced out i revved it a little to get the coolant down to pour more since i still had half the container left. I kinda walked off and took my eyes off the coolant with the cap and vent plug open (3rd mistake) and the stuff came out like a volcano OMG! So i rush to look for the cap and just settled for a towel and held it there and waited for all the steam to go away so i could breathe again and put the cap on.

I started putting all the stuff back onto the bottom of the car with the coolant dripping onto my face (yummy) and started to clean up.. I did one last walk around to make sure i got everything and decided to keep the rest of the coolant in case it came in handy (IT DID)

Fast forward like 6 hours later, im on I-10 in Pensacola going to another car meet when i see like smoke or steam in my rearview mirror... Im thinking "man i hope thats not me" so i merge and the smoke trail is following me! Uh oh. Then I saw my overtemp light come on and i immediately pulled over and shut the engine off. I had a feeling that the coolant had gone down so i grabbed the rest out the back and filled up the reservoir, threw the empty container in the sewer (bad me) and i was on my way. A half mile later, the light came back! Ok so i pull over again and my buddy in an 02 MCS (really fast car) comes over and we realize im leaking coolant from the HEATER CORE HOSE. No bueno. A nice guy in a pretty cool Trans Am comes with a jack and slips the hose back on. Apparently when i tampered with the clamp, i didnt put it back on and when i drove, all my coolant leaked out...

So i called my insurance USAA and got a useless tow truck. The truck had no tools or jack wtf.. So i limp my car over to the McDonalds (25 MPH in 6th gear lol) and park there and rode with my buddy to TGI Fridays. A random guy gave me a pair of channel locks (to keep!) and another guy rode back with us to get this hose on. So we use a tiny scissor jack and finagle with that clamp. Eventually we got it on! Yay! But i still have no coolant...

Everyone leaves and goes on their own way (its like 3 am at this point) and i gotta get coolant! Did i mention that i live an hour from pensacola? So im limping the car to WalMart when the overtemp light comes on again. Dang so now im walking the rest of the way.. I ended up getting the new coolant in and getting on my way home (4am). Although i still had a small leak...
Welp! Lesson Learned! Things Happen!

 

that is bad, at least you did make it back home ok...

 

dark brown coolant

 

Coolant should be blue in color????
Hey, we met in Crestview, Fl with the club back in October.
See my car in my sig. Name is Dave.
Hope you didn't do any long term damage running the coolant out.

 

Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear it, but it sounds like you had some good luck with assistance.

It's the type of tale I keep reading when someone attempts to work on their MINI!

Makes me very cautious, but that's a good thing since we all will (with luck) learn from everyone else's mistakes.

 

Wow!

 

Perfect example of why I do not do mechanical work on ANY of my cars. (Plus I'm very lazy.LOL)

I hope it gets fully repaired with no lasting ill effects.

 

Lol a lot later than planned but yes

 

Hey! How's it going?

 

Yea like a greenish brown

 

As Clint Eastwood said in the original Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations". I'll take mine to the dealer for a coolant change.

 

Getting a gen1 car bleed can be a pain....s or non s...
Failure to do it right results in a buble, and overheating....so if you diy it, be sure to have some spare time, so you can take for a drive...to check your work...sometimes it takes a couple tries...

 

Brown is bad but blue or green the color doesn't matter. Umm overheating that many times do a compression test and check the head gasket. You might have more problems then a leak. And did you mix it with water or did you just pour it straight in?

 

Not to mention head warpage. I've a feeling bad times are ahead for you.

 

You can always use WATER as coolant - just not permanently.

 

Accutally water is the best coolant. If you use destilled water that will work the best. The reason you put the other stuff in is because it has additives to fight off corrosion. But you are right not permanently.

 

i did a coolant flush on my '03 this saturday along with an thermostat replacement(and oil pan gasket)

sucked up all i could from the coolant tank, the radiator, hoses, and the head with a shopvac. filled it all back up with fresh bmw coolant and after a couple drives to bleed the system, it was all good.

sorry your experience didn't go as well as mine :-(

 

Additives are also used to lower the freezing point/raise the boiling point.

 

I used 50/50

 

Im not really worried about damage since the car only ran for about ~5 minutes at a time slightly above idle without coolant. Plus ive been checking my oil and there is no sign of milky stuff

 

I just wonder why the coolant or whatever it was in there was BROWN.
Sounds like looks of rust.

 

Ok maybe I exaggerated a little... It was like a dark dark green... I don't think it's rusting because when it leaked, it leaked light green coolant and clear water

 

That sounds better then the brown. Is it all ok now?

 

Yep runs like a top lol

 

I wish I had your luck! Man I need an oil pan gasket too! Pssh I am NOT trying to tackle that one though... Itll take me like three weeks lol