distilled water works very well also. remember that the coolant is often diluted/mixed with distilled water.

 

I don't know how these coolants rate, but I had no idea that there was a less toxic type.

Car Talk Tip: Antifreeze has a sweet aroma and taste, which pets find particularly appealing. As little as a half teaspoon of the stuff can kill an average-size cat, and eight ounces will do in a 75-pound dog. There's no substance that you can add to antifreeze to make it less appealing to animals, but antifreeze made with propylene glycol instead of the usual ethylene glycol is about a third as toxic. Propylene glycol is sold under the brand names Sierra, Prestone Low Tox and Texaco PG.
http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/coolant.html

 

Yeah, I guess my mistake was thinking that "Max" meant the level while the engine was cold. And I kinda panicked because I had to drive from Marin to SF and then across town.

WHat should be the level in the resevour when the engine is cold? slightly above "min"?

 

Maybe your mini just found a friend for the night....

Seriously though....leaking while not running may indicate a hose or resevouir leak - I'd have it looked at if you can't find the source.

 

I just went through the process of replacing my Radiator (did it myself! ) and I noticed that I had developed a leak somewhere in between the actual fins of the radiator and the cylindrical plastic piece highlighted in the picture (courtesy of realoem.com)


It was dripping down into my bumper cover, pooling, and evaporating from that spot so there was very little leakage to be seen. When it got towards the end, I was seeing very small puddles where the coolant had been dripping off of the little underside spoiler on the car. I would suggest laying on your side on the concrete to see if there is any place that might be dripping. Also, peer down either side of your radiator while to hood is open to see if there is any sort of puddling going on in the bumper cover.

It took me about $600.00 and 6 hours (working leisurly) to replace my radiator, modular front end (black plastic piece that carries the radiator), and my underbody splash protector. The latter two were damaged by the previous owner, probably hit a curb or a parking bump.

One thing that helps when trying to find where your leak is coming from is taking off your bumper cover and your aluminium bumper carrier. You can see a whole lot more, and it isn't very difficult to do. 20 minutes max.

-Chase

 

I have developed this leak over the past week. There is a very fine crack in the coolant thermostat housing (just to the right of the engine). It's a pretty slow leak, but today my reservoir was empty.

Making an appointment in the AM, and will top off with distilled water before we head out anywhere.

I was supposed to go on a run this weekend...bahhh....

 

Went in today; thermostat was replaced under warranty.

 

I had a similiar problem this afternoon while idling for 5 min with the AC on. Temperature was 75F outside. Noticed some smoke and the temperature gauge needle was at full red. Turned off the engin, went outside, noticed quite a bit of coolant on the floor. Poped the hood, noticed the cooling blew out of the radiator cap. Refilled with water, drove a litte bit here and there. Every time I checked, I lost a little bit of coolant. However, the car drove fine with the temperature gauge needle never passed the middle. On the way home, traffic was bad and I had to dile for quite a bit. Turned on the heat to full hot and eventually got home safe. Later, checked the coolant level and it was empty again.

Here is the diagnosis:
Refilled with water. Turned on the car and let the car warm up.
When the coolant resoivor got hot enough and the temperature gauge needle was in the middle, there was no pressure at the coolant hose to the radiator and the radiator was cold.
I then suspected the thermostat was not working.
Took out the thermostat and put in boiling water, and noticed the thermostat barely opened. Viola, that explained why at idle the coolant overheated. Thanks got, my head was fine!

 

is there a 'how-to' for thermostat change?
i might have to get to it soon..

 

O btw, is the Zerex G-05, pre-mixed?
I am trying to top it off but before doing that, I just want to make sure if I have to mix it with distilled water.. (searched but have not found clear answer to that)

 

G-05 is pre-mixed ready to use.

 

i heard there is two kinds of g-05, pre-mixed and 100% coolant or something
mine is just normal gold bottle, G-05 with no mentioning of pre-mixed
is it still cool to use?

thanks btw!

 

Strange as mine says ready to use.



If your jug doesn't say ready to use I would just make sure to use distilled water to mix it.

 

All I did was to find the location of the thermostat by checking out www.RealOEM.com/bmw and remove anything along the way to get there. That includes Air box, intercooler, ECU, one sparkplug wire, one senser and disconnect whole bunch of connectors and clamps. Space kinda tight but not too hard.

BTW, I never had a coolant flush for 720k, and the thermostat is rusty already! Remember to do a flush once in a while

cc

 

I took my 05 MCS in for service around 68K. The service tech said they had to add coolant and to keep an eye on it. I noticed that about two weeks later the coolant level was down again but no evidence of a leak (anywhere the car is parked). So it's going somewhere, but I don't know where. It's held pretty much steady this week. I did get an SES light that my scanner says is P2096 (after cat O2 sensor). So I ordered that from NAPA (Bosch 13878, $165 delivered).

Fan(s) run at normal speeds, and I do see coolant circulating in the tank after the thermostat opens (so the pump is working). Not sure where the coolant is "evaporating" to, but again, there is no sign of an actual leak.

Hmmmm....

 

Hmmm - just noticed a green puddle under the engine on my garage floor. The temp gauge seems to stay the same - guess I'd better call the dealer to find out where the puddle is coming from....

 

Had my thermostat replaced last Friday. No problem ever since. Words of caution: The Duralast thermostat from AutoZone didn't fit. Got a Stant thermostat instead and it was cheaper.

 

Yup, it was the thermostat housing. Dealer fixed it under warranty. Rented a new camry since they don't have loaners at my dealer - it was like driving a marshmallow. Yuck. Good to have Basil back!

 

[quote=Schmagagled;2252633]I took my 05 MCS in for service around 68K. The service tech said they had to add coolant and to keep an eye on it. I noticed that about two weeks later the coolant level was down again but no evidence of a leak (anywhere the car is parked). So it's going somewhere, but I don't know where. It's held pretty much steady this week. I did get an SES light that my scanner says is P2096 (after cat O2 sensor). So I ordered that from NAPA (Bosch 13878, $165 delivered).
So did buying a new 02 post cat sensor get rid of your p2096 SES code, and did you notice while you were running with the code that the car was actually running lean?

 

You could also smell it when there's actual leakage or developing a leakage. My previous car had a small crack around a corner on the plastic radiator. Prior to the actual visible stream of vaporizing hot coolant shooting out from the crack, I could smell it every time the hood was opened. The scent was more pronounced was the engine was hot.

 

A quick note from my experiences... I've got an '02 MCS that popped a leak somewhere in the cooling system recently. It was a bad enough leak that the resivour drained in about 20 seconds. 1 jar of Bar's Stop-Leak and a quart and a half of water and she was patched together for my work commute. I took it to a local shop that does brakes and tires and fluids and asked them to take a look at it (I trust them because there have been several times when they took good care of me at no cost when they could have screwed me good), and they couldn't find any leaks.

A week later I was driving on the highway and hit some stop and go traffic and I noticed the temp gauge was climbing above where it should and rapidly approaching Hot. Got it off the road and let it cool down to check the fluids, the fluid levels were right where they were supposed to be. Got it into the dealer, and here's where it gets interesting: they couldn't find a leak either, but there is apparently another fan on the same circuit as the radiator fan. That fan siezed up and blew the circuit.

Cost to have the fan replaced: $300

They also said they could fix the wiring issue with a determined fix, but that'd run an extra $300 so I politely declined. Been running fine since.

 

FYI - if it's the common problem to 02 - 03 Minis, the other fan on the same circuit with radiator cooling fan is the power steering assist cooling fan, and it may bear repairing. This fan looks like and is about as sturdy as a plastic cooling fan on a personal computer. It is mounted low, so subjected to exposure to snow and water, as well as sticks, etc. Needless to say, it'll fail eventually, causing radiator cooling circuit to blow, and engine overheating.

After this happened, overheating my 03 MCS twice (second time about 15 mins after the dealer claimed to have fixed the problem - stick was still stuck in the PS fan, blowing circuit and overheating once again), I did the research they hadn't bothered to do and came up with the Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) requiring the dealer to fix the wiring harness (separating out wiring systems from previous poor, single harness design) AT NO COST.

Don't see why your dealer shouldn't do the same. Mine happened 3-4 years ago, so I'm not sure I still have the correct TSB number, but think it's either SI M32 03 04 or SI M32 01 04. You may be able to find TSB # searching NAM for "Power Steering Fan Relay Wiring Modification" or similar.

 

My 03 MCS was low on coolant, turned out to be blown headgasket! Then I find out that BMW doesn't make replacement vavle guides for these heads and just stocks several so they can swap them and send you on your way.

The more I spend on this car, the less I like it.

 

My car seemed to overhead very quickly in some stopped traffic. I also noticed the AC was not blowing reallly cold.

Your problem here is very likely that the dreaded resistor has failed in your radiator fan unit and you have no low speed fan.