[fisc0h]

Hi all,

This morning I started my car and had a low coolant warning light come on. I checked the reservoir tank and it was bone dry. I topped it off with oem BMW coolant and distlled water 50:50 mixture. I have ~65k miles on the odometer. I did notice this black soot/stuff on the yellow level indicator, mainly on the "max" and "min" indentions. Is this oil?? Is this bad? Car seems to be running fine and I have auto-clear on my JB4 off. Only major work I had done was my valvetronic motor replaced at around 45k mi.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Check if your oil filter housing gasket is leaking.

[fisc0h]

Thanks for the reply. How do I check if it's leaking? I don't see any oil on the outisde of the oil filter cover.

Also, I siphoned out some coolant from the resovoir tank and compared it to a 50:50 fresh mixture (the bluer pic). Is this abnormal? I bought my car CPO 3 years ago; as far as I know, the coolant has never been changed. So, I assume it's only OEM coolant that in there.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

BMW coolant is blue or dark green like yours, so that appears normal. You can check if your oil filter housing gasket is leaking by removing the intake snorkel and inspecting around the pulleys below it. You will see oil around it.

Since it's a CPO, might as well ask them to diagnose and fix it.

[JETmn]

The coolant system is pretty unreliable. I have had my overflow tank, radiator, water pump and thermostat all replaced under CPO. That is basically the whole system. This is common too, so you probably have a leak in one of those components but it isn't very big yet. Look for white water spots.

[STR8-6IX]

isnt the BMW coolant clear coloured?

looks like its time for you to do a coolant flush. yours is pretty dirty

[JETmn]

Originally Posted by 6IX-F10-N52

isnt the BMW coolant clear coloured?

looks like its time for you to do a coolant flush. yours is pretty dirty

I have seen flushes cause 10x more problems than do good. And the coolant is the picture shown, it is blue to start with and turns aqua colored as it ages.

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by JETmn

I have seen flushes cause 10x more problems than do good. And the coolant is the picture shown, it is blue to start with and turns aqua colored as it ages.

really? what sort of problems can it cause, clogs or something like this?

small tip for those of you getting the low coolant warning light - you can always top up with bottled water if you are stuck on the side of the road and it is an emergency. Ive topped up over 3L with bottled water with no problems.

correct me if im wrong, but distilled water isnt necessary

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Originally Posted by 6IX-F10-N52

really? what sort of problems can it cause, clogs or something like this?

small tip for those of you getting the low coolant warning light - you can always top up with bottled water if you are stuck on the side of the road and it is an emergency. Ive topped up over 3L with bottled water with no problems.

correct me if im wrong, but distilled water isnt necessary

It's not necessary for topping up but it's highly recommended. I bought a little 1L bottle of concentrated BMW coolant and mixed it with distilled water. I keep it velcro'd in my trunk. Cost about $10 or so.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Genuine-OE...680?nav=SEARCH

You can also put it in one of these nifty bags.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-BMW-Sp...274?nav=SEARCH

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Welcome to NBA Jam

It's not necessary for topping up but it's highly recommended. I bought a little 1L bottle of concentrated BMW coolant and mixed it with distilled water. I keep it velcro'd in my trunk. Cost about $10 or so.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Genuine-OE...680?nav=SEARCH

You can also put it in one of these nifty bags.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-BMW-Sp...274?nav=SEARCH

hmm.. guess Ill wait until my car burns through half the expansion tank again, then top up with distilled water

[JETmn]

Originally Posted by 6IX-F10-N52

really? what sort of problems can it cause, clogs or something like this?

small tip for those of you getting the low coolant warning light - you can always top up with bottled water if you are stuck on the side of the road and it is an emergency. Ive topped up over 3L with bottled water with no problems.

correct me if im wrong, but distilled water isnt necessary

They normally do the flush with higher than normal flow/pressure. This can cause parts of your coolant system to fail when they normally would not have yet. Also, if they do break some gunk loose, it doesn't always get recovered and can clog up other parts of the system instead of laying there harmlessly where it originally was (gunk tends to collect in low pressure areas). I have several mechanic friends and none of them will do flushes on their own vehicles, especially transmission.

And yes, use distilled water. Most bottled water is just tap water run through some filters. Distilled will have no minerals in it.

[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by JETmn

They normally do the flush with higher than normal flow/pressure. This can cause parts of your coolant system to fail when they normally would not have yet. Also, if they do break some gunk loose, it doesn't always get recovered and can clog up other parts of the system instead of laying there harmlessly where it originally was (gunk tends to collect in low pressure areas). I have several mechanic friends and none of them will do flushes on their own vehicles, especially transmission.

And yes, use distilled water. Most bottled water is just tap water run through some filters. Distilled will have no minerals in it.

so these minerals are damaging to the cooling components?

as for the transmission, i doubt fluid services every 60k would hurt anything. as long as you don wait to long, you will definitely do more good then bad by regularly servicing it.

I changed my fluid at 67k with no problems. it was dirty.

[JETmn]

Originally Posted by 6IX-F10-N52

so these minerals are damaging to the cooling components?

as for the transmission, i doubt fluid services every 60k would hurt anything. as long as you don wait to long, you will definitely do more good then bad by regularly servicing it.

I changed my fluid at 67k with no problems. it was dirty.

Yes, of course you want to change the fluid. You don't want to do a flush though. That is all I was talking about.

The minerals can possibly hurt components in the coolant system and they can also build up on the walls of the radiator lowering efficiency. Adding a bit won't be a big enough deal to do anything about, but always use distilled when possible.