After doing a search on coolant, I am wondering if I bought the right one. I bought mine at Autozone, Part Number AF-2100.

It is Ethylene Glycol and said compatible with ANY antifreeze/coolant regardless of color- for use in all makes or mode of cars and light duty trucks.

Premixed with 50% demineralized water for easy top off use.

Am I okay?

 

If your Prestone 50/50 has "Dex-Cool" on the container, it's probably not quite right for your MINI (but great for GM cars).

When I did a search on antifreeze last year, I found several relevant threads. I don't remember all the appropriate antifreezes, but I do remember that Zerex G-05 was one of them because that was the easiest for me to find nearby. It's phosphate free (one criterion), came in a gold colored container, and even had "Mini Cooper" listed among the applications.

 

Does not say Dex cool. I wonder if I should just return and buy from Mini cooper...

Is it common that the coolant should be low? Since my service last July 2010, I have had about 6 to 6500 Miles and there is only about an inch of fluid left in plastic tank.

I live in Southern California

 

You might have a coolant leak. Check under the engine for wet spots in the morning. If there's no evidence of a leak, top up the coolant to the max line and check the level more frequently.

The thermostat housing gasket leak is fairly common, as is a split coolant reservoir in the MCS. You probably can't detect the former leak, but can check the coolant reservoir by feeling around underneath for coolant.

 

I will go to the Mini dealer to buy the coolant. I will ask them about a possibility of a leak. I don't notice anything on my garage floor but have noticed a small puddle of water before from the condensation of the air conditioner. This was about a year or so ago.

 

This happened to me when I first got mine.
They said it was normal for some evaporation from the reservoir.
I got the BMW coolant and diluted it half with distilled water.
I have not had any problems since then.

(which makes me wonder about their explanation)

 

You need to use BMW Blue Coolant in your MINI. Plain and simple.

 

fwiw, when I had a leak from my heat exchanger, the coolant was leaking out and landing on the exhaust. So it would just evaporate and never leave any puddles. Finally happened to park on an incline one day that caused it to drip out at a different angle.

If you can't find any signs of a leak, I think you would have to get them to perform a pressure test on the coolant system to determine whether there are any leaks.

 

Simple answer is why fool around, just buy the Mini stuff. It is relatively competitively priced (for the right formula that is). The other alternate is something marked G11, commonly the Pentosin brand (of G11, not G12) sold in some specialty or foreign car parts stores.

 

Explain please? Plain and simple leaves a lot to be understood.

I have been wondering about this myself.

 

I think he means BMW branded antifreeze/coolant that one can buy from BMW and MINI dealers. They sell BMW branded oils too. BMW doesn't make that stuff, but they approve it. You can't miss that way, but you'll pay more.

I use Zerex G-05 for the MINI and BMW; it reads for BMW and Mini Cooper on the front of the container. On the back is an application chart to help you sort it all out for those and other kinds of cars.

 

If the coolant is orange, drain it yesterday. It is the biggest scourge on the planet, it eats aluminum engine parts and will destroy your engine. GM has been using this crap under the trade name DexCool for years and their problems are endemic but they are too bull-headed to admit they screwed up.
Type in "DexCool" in Dogpile Search and see how many thousands of negative posts come up. Drain out the garbage, put in the green and change it every 2 yrs, your MINI will thank you profusely. My Cobalt , purchased brand new, had it too and I flushed it all the first chance I had.

 

If you don't want any gelin' in your coolant best be usin' BMW Blue!!!

 

Hello, I have Mini justa 2010 and noticed the coolant bottle was almost empty. I searched this forum and got a gal of Zerex G-05. I opened the bottle and the color was more like green, but Zerex G-05 is red. Is it ok to mix this?

Thanks in advance.

jh

 

Yes, you can mix them. The coloring is just a dye.

 

I have to take back my previous "gelling" statement. This is definitely up for debate but really the largest danger is MINI owners that don't change their coolant at all.

I'm using Prestone in my R56 after flushing out the pricey BMW blue. I plan to flush every two years to keep everything in the cooling system fresh. If there is any other way to escape BMW special tools, parts, or fluids... DO IT!

 

I'll add my dos pesos to this conversation by saying I just bought an 06 MCS and researching all I can about it. One of my questions was proper type of antifreeze. Excellent information on this forum.

As I have an unlimited supply of this, I thought ya'll might be interested.

Looks as though this is as pure as it gets and is rated for 600,000 miles changes in the big rigs.

Now, to look for my other two questions. Best tires and preferred oil!