[chris-c]

As per the whole "my ac doesnt work" and the "look at these stone chips" yesterday I noticed that my expansion tank was bone dry.

I've never checked before yesterday (12 weeks ownership) as I didnt feel the need to. I can only assume I've been driving it since I bought it like this as I've never had any sudden puddles and I've not got any warnings on the dash/idrive.

My car is booked in on Tuesday for an AC investigation but due to the garage being lame there is no courtesy car available or I'd have to wait weeks and weeks. Already had to wait over a week to get it booked in.

Do I call up the BMW assist and get it recovered to the same garage because of the coolant issue? Will it get seen quicker? Do you always get a courtesy car because of this?

Or do I just carry on driving it around like I have done for the last 1800 miles and just be blissfully unaware of anything being up.

Going out for a quick walk with the kids so its make my mind up time in an hour.

[teaston]

No just fill it up, preferably with de-ionised water.

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by teaston

No just fill it up, preferably with de-ionised water.

Because everyone keeps a decent stock of that

Also it's a good way of getting a courtesy car as far as I can see. If there is no guarantee of that I won't bother

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

Because everyone keeps a decent stock of that

Also it's a good way of getting a courtesy car as far as I can see. If there is no guarantee of that I won't bother

Tesco sell 2.5l for £1! I always keep a few bottles of it for many uses.

You’ll be calling out recovery for your windscreen washers being empty next!

[chris-c]

That's a good idea!

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

That's a good idea!

Only fill it to the line though, and when the engine is cold.

[Deen435d]

Originally Posted by chris-c

As per the whole "my ac doesnt work" and the "look at these stone chips" yesterday I noticed that my expansion tank was bone dry.

I've never checked before yesterday (12 weeks ownership) as I didnt feel the need to. I can only assume I've been driving it since I bought it like this as I've never had any sudden puddles and I've not got any warnings on the dash/idrive.

My car is booked in on Tuesday for an AC investigation but due to the garage being lame there is no courtesy car available or I'd have to wait weeks and weeks. Already had to wait over a week to get it booked in.

Do I call up the BMW assist and get it recovered to the same garage because of the coolant issue? Will it get seen quicker? Do you always get a courtesy car because of this?

Or do I just carry on driving it around like I have done for the last 1800 miles and just be blissfully unaware of anything being up.

Going out for a quick walk with the kids so its make my mind up time in an hour.

Not sure with BMW assist, but with Porsche Emergency Assist (according to Porsche Centre Hatfield), if you get need to recover your car to a dealership, the dealership puts everyone else’s car on hold to make sure that the car brought in gets seen to, diagnosed, fixed and back on the road.

However, I’m not sure if they will check and fix your other issues at the same time though, or if they only check and fix the issue that it was brought in for?

[hudson012003]

Worth a phone call to BMW assist & let them decide? If they say it’s ok to just top it up. then IF something does happen in mean-time (before car goes in) at least you’re covered

[chris-c]

Well it's been filled 3x to max and it's gone back down.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

Well it's been filled 3x to max and it's gone back down.

Oh, you didn't mention that originally!

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by teaston

Oh, you didn't mention that originally!

That's because that hadn't been done yet

I forgot that I had some coolant so I filled it up. Let the engine run for a bit to let it move it all about and it went back to near empty.

Filled it up... went back to near empty
Filled it up to right on the max line and now its about 1-2inches below min but still not empty.

On the other hand the larger expansion is now well over full.... cocks.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

That's because that hadn't been done yet

I forgot that I had some coolant so I filled it up. Let the engine run for a bit to let it move it all about and it went back to near empty.

Filled it up... went back to near empty
Filled it up to right on the max line and now its about 1-2inches below min but still not empty.

On the other hand the larger expansion is now well over full.... cocks.

Oh i see! Wow it was really low!!

[teaston]

BTW, the second smaller expansion tank is for your coolant-based charge air cooling. It's essentially a separate coolant system with its own electric pump and expansion tank.

(Higlandpete's words from another thread)

[chris-c]

If there is no leak it takes far more fluid than I'm happy to put into it. I only had 750ml of coolant (needed the rest previously) so did a 1:1. It's taken 1.5l now and it's still low :

Explained the situation to BMW assist and someone is coming out.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

If there is no leak it takes far more fluid than I'm happy to put into it. I only had 750ml of coolant (needed the rest previously) so did a 1:1. It's taken 1.5l now and it's still low :

Explained the situation to BMW assist and someone is coming out.

Into the small tank or the big one?

[jenshb]

With so much liquid put in, there must be a telltale leak underneath the car, no? For this I would certainly call BMW Assist. If they can't fix it on the drive/location, they will take it to the nearest BMW dealer and you should get a hire car for the duration of the check and repair.

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by teaston

Into the small tank or the big one?

Well I hope I've not cocked this up... I put the additional into the smaller empty tank.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

Well I hope I've not cocked this up... I put the additional into the smaller empty tank.

Ok, so at a guess that stone damage on the charge cooler radiator has caused a leak.

[chris-c]

Oddly enough it's not going down further... Maybe it was absolutely empty. It's not hard to imagine it needs more than 1l from bone dry.

It's taken a smidge over 1.5litres and without knowing the capacity I don't know if it's lost any or if it's okay. I'll wait for the man with a van to let me know.

Either way it was absolutely bone dry which makes me worry what damage this could have done and why was there no warning?!

They should be here at 1430ish so the car will have cooled down by then.

The whole assist process is quite cool. Told them no rush as I was at home and since then I've had a text telling me the ETA and another giving me an update of their location.

Guy is doing a fair few miles to come and see me. Makes me feel special.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by chris-c

Oddly enough it's not going down further... Maybe it was absolutely empty. It's not hard to imagine it needs more than 1l from bone dry.

It's taken a smidge over 1.5litres and without knowing the capacity I don't know if it's lost any or if it's okay. I'll wait for the man with a van to let me know.

Either way it was absolutely bone dry which makes me worry what damage this could have done and why was there no warning?!

They should be here at 1430ish so the car will have cooled down by then.

It will just increase the temperature of the air going into the engine, which will decrease performance. It shouldn't cause any damage.

[Daftasabrush]

Please tell me you used the right coolant when you topped it up? I'm sure you already know this but mixing coolants is definitely not a good idea.

[chris-c]

I used a universal coolant. Didn't think it needed that much and I was kinda confident it'd piss all over the floor.... I was wrong about that.