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New to the forum and new to MINIs. I just got my first MINI a couple of months ago. A used (2022) MINI S 3 door F56 with about 19,000 miles. I noticed the coolant tank is sitting at the MIN level (cold). I know that I'm fine with it there, but I wanted to see where I could get some coolant for when I want to top it off. I live pretty far from the nearest dealership, so wanted to see if I could pick it up locally in an Autozone, O'Reillys, NAPA or whatever.
That's when the confusion started. Most sites I checked say that I should use the blue G48. But the color of the fluid in mine is green. With less than 20,000 miles on my car I assume it is still the factory fill. A bit more searching on the web indicates that BMW and MINIs switched from the blue G48 stuff to green HT-12 fluid in 2018. So after 2018 should use the green HT-12 coolant.
But almost all of the sites I check (even ECS Tuning) still are recommending the blue G48 when I do a vehicle specific lookup for a 2022 MINI S. It has been 6 years since the changeover from G48 to HT-12. Why are they still recommending the G48? Or am I missing something?
This link is the clearest I’ve found. https://www.koedbmw.com/en-dk/page/engine-coolants
it shows the change from the blue to the green LC18 (HT12) after 2018.
I don’t know why most sites still suggest the blue coolant for my 2022. Even when I locate the HT12, they often say ‘This does not fit your 2022 Mini’. Aggravating.
The only source I could find locally (Colorado Springs) is O’Reilly. The local store doesn’t stock it but they got it in on request in a couple of days. Zerex HT12 (green). $25 a gallon for the concentrate. None of the other U.S. car parts places seem to carry it. They push the blue G48 stuff or some ‘universal’ green or yellow stuff. Preston doesn’t even make an HT12 coolant.
The blue stuff is compatible but it is recommended to use the green if that’s what the car came with.
Yep, its pretty new in the aftermarket, most of those companies that do the OEM level match coolant just came out with theirs. Those autozones, O'reilys, walmarts..etc of the world are the last people to get the Euro stuff.
I was at SEMA /APPEX and again they are not focused on euro cars, they focus on truck and domestic... i know I see their buyers walking the show in large groups and they are NOT at any European manufacture booth lol. They tend to hang out at the domestic brands booths and are worried about truck stuff.
I wouldn’t have thought six years was recent, but I guess it’s relative. Kind of like BMW calling the LC18 a ‘lifetime coolant’ while Zerex says it’s good for 5 years / 150,000 miles.
I hope my Mini lasts more than 5 years.
Yep sometimes its slow as they see it from a warranty standpoint, so four years is typical for euro. So when a car comes out of warranty thats when you see products appear.
