Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzie8
As I was about to head off to the shops today, I received this rather serious message. No warning messages up until this point. I hope I don't have a coolant leak issue.
For the novices like me, there are two coolant reservoirs. Only open them once the engine is cold (suggest first thing in the morning). You can see from my photos both were below low. Inside the tanks you can see the plastic low/high level guide. Bring back the dip stick - so much easier than these things. Essentially you are trying to cover the low level of the yellow plastic tab with liquid but not the high level.
My car gulped down over a litre of coolant. The mixture is 50/50 genuine BMW Coolant / De-mineralised water.
In the good old days driving in country, you'd pull up at the servo and fuel up and ALWAYS check the radiator. Because it was hot and a lack of water in your radiator would often mean you were in for a long walk home.
These days in a our fancy cars, I've never thought to check the coolant. I can read the oil and fuels levels from the digital feeds into iDrive and BMW Connected. But not the coolant.
Anyway team, I just thought I would post this and perhaps prompt you to check your coolant.
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This post really helped me this morning. I want to add a few more points that I learned after re-filling my M8GC's coolant. I know there are multiple places to add coolant for different purposes, for me I have attached a picture with a
red rectangle showing where I put coolant in for my engine.
Standard disclaimer: This is my experience living in Florida. These points may or may not work for you, your car, or your climate.
WAIT for the engine to cool down for a few hours before attempting to remove the cap.
1. If you live in warm weather climates (like I do in Florida), then you CAN safely add distilled water (ex SMART water) to our M8s. I added about 750mL of distilled SMART water and my car was fine with it. The warning indication immediately went away
2. Natural spring water and tap water are NOT recommended b/c they contain too many other minerals.
3. The BMW Part number of the coolant that my BMW dealership gave me is Part #
82141467704 "BMW Antifreeze/Coolant"
4. Buy a plastic funnel while you're at it.
5. Check for leaks. My car wasn't leaking on the driveway but one of the SA's mentioned that the M8 has some kind of catch plate underneath and it may not actually drip onto the pavement even if there is a leak. I looked around the cap and resevoir and saw all sorts of dried up coolant which I will have checked at my next service.
6. Secure the cap back into place with the two arrows kissing BEFORE turning the car on. I know there are some slick mechanics and YouTube car gurus that don't do this, but let's face it, most of us are not BMW engine magicians, so I err on the side of caution and my warranty.
7. Keep extra coolant and a bottle of distilled water in the trunk of your car; just in case.