Green coolant?

[Jon K]

Ok I took the M60 apart this morning and got it back together. Just going for the t-stat for now since sister needs to get back down to NC soon and I don't have time to drop the water pump and all today. The coolant is actually green - it must have been watered down in the expansion tank as well as the expansion tanks color that made it look gold/amber. Its actually green. What should I replace it with?

[yaofeng]

Green coolant.

[632 Regal]

just put water into it until you have the time to do the water pump.

[bubba966]

just put water into it until you have the time to do the water pump.

True.

You'll still have plenty of anti-freeze in the system to prevent corrosion over the short term (like a few months or so, maybe more). Topping it up with distilled water is fine for now.

When you do the pump, use either the BMW blue, or that gold/amber stuff that was talked about in the other thread.

Why?

Because the BMW & gold/amber anti-freeze's are much more pure than any of the normal green anti-freeze types. Impurities will cause clogging and corrosion.

Use the better anti-feeze's to prevent cooling system problems.

[Jon K]

True.

You'll still have plenty of anti-freeze in the system to prevent corrosion over the short term (like a few months or so, maybe more). Topping it up with distilled water is fine for now.

When you do the pump, use either the BMW blue, or that gold/amber stuff that was talked about in the other thread.

Why?

Because the BMW & gold/amber anti-freeze's are much more pure than any of the normal green anti-freeze types. Impurities will cause clogging and corrosion.

Use the better anti-feeze's to prevent cooling system problems.

nah im anti BMW blue - its damaging to plastic, which mostly comprises bmw cooling systems.

I got Peak long life green. Good to go. thx guys

[bubba966]

nah im anti BMW blue - its damaging to plastic, which mostly comprises bmw cooling systems.

I got Peak long life green. Good to go. thx guys

What info do you have the BMW blue damages plastic? I've not seen or heard anything like that before.

And I do recall that the Peak anti-freeze was one of the more pure green anti-freeze's. So it's certainly a better option than most of them.

[Paul in NZ]

Ok I took the M60 apart this morning and got it back together. Just going for the t-stat for now since sister needs to get back down to NC soon and I don't have time to drop the water pump and all today. The coolant is actually green - it must have been watered down in the expansion tank as well as the expansion tanks color that made it look gold/amber. Its actually green. What should I replace it with?

i think the most important thing is you change it regularly

[Jon K]

What info do you have the BMW blue damages plastic? I've not seen or heard anything like that before.

And I do recall that the Peak anti-freeze was one of the more pure green anti-freeze's. So it's certainly a better option than most of them.

Mr Winfred himself as well as my experience with broken thermostat housings or radiator necks - you can see how the coolant gets into the plastic

[e34.535i.sport]

I get mine from the dealer, they say they only do one... It's Green?

[Bill R.]

radiator necks on cars that have green as well as blue. On my own i've used blue with no problems , no broken necks and no broken thermostat housings. I use prestone extended life on virtually all of my customers cars unless they specify something else. I usually ask them. Most of the older bmw's i see including e46 and e39's somebody at some point put green in and i've now been having good results with the Prestone long life ,all models all makes. Costco has it in a pack with 2gallon of unmixed antifreeze and 1 gallon of windshield washer bug cleaner or deicer. Its about 22.00 for the 2 pack or 11 a gallon each with a freebie on the bug cleaner. I've had good results on every car i've used that in .... in fact i'll probably change my own bmw's over when i do the next fluid change on them ...... maybe. My only rationale for not using the bmw is that its getting pretty prices these days... much more so than it used to be.

[bubba966]

Mr Winfred himself as well as my experience with broken thermostat housings or radiator necks - you can see how the coolant gets into the plastic

I think most of the problems with broken plastic BMW cooling system parts is due to the repeated prolonged exposure to heat cycles under pressure with moisture. Heat, pressure, moisture are very hard on things. And plastic doesn't fare well forever under those conditions.

I've got green coolant in my car right now. Not sure how long the PO had been running green stuff. And I've got leaking (rad) and broken (plastic return line from expansion tank) cooling system parts.

It won't be green when I swap rad hoses, the rad, and the stat in a month or two. Not saying that you & Winfred haven't seen your fair share of busted cooling system components. But that doesn't tell me that it was a chemical reaction from the blue coolant being used and not just the eventuality of being subjected to the heat/pressure/moisture of the typical cooling system.

[ryan roopnarine]

it doesn't have anything to do with the quality of other antifreezes. it has to do with water conditions in germany (which used to be the target market for all of bmw's offerings) and the material with which the head and engine is made of. conceivably, now that bmw has specific market vehicle lines (like certain abortions of minivans...) they could switch up the antifreeze characteristics.