Which Antifreeze?

[Paul Rice]

What anti freeze is everyone using?
Does it matter?
Z4 2.5 with 118k on the clock

 

[Zephyr]

OEM BLUE._
I am so confused on colours, types, black magic abilities etc, so I just use what the book says.

 

[mwpe]

I always use the OEM blue, there are so many different types out there but I prefer to stick with what it came with.

 

[abh29]

EOM blue and in view of the tap water we have I use distilled water.

 

[Z Victor 1]

Surely you're not expecting cold weather.

 

[brilie]

A garage

 

[Paul Rice]

A garage

I wish

 

[TriumphZ3]

Just to resurrect an old thread (rather than start one!!) I suspect my 1.9 Z3 engine has been filled with plain water, unless the BMW antifreeze is totally clear? No colour at all and feels like water...
I have stocks of both red and blue antifreeze, I'm going by the above and will use the blue glycol based stuff I use on my Classics in a 50% mixture, if that's ok?

 

[Nodzed]

Either, just not a good idea to mix different colours, but I'm sure you know this.

Which Coolant / Anti Freeze?

I will soon be changing the water pump on my zed which means draining the cooling system and refilling with the relevant coolant / anti freeze mixture. Looking on eurocarparts they are listing blue, red or even purple coloured coolant for my 2.0. It there anything specific I should be looking...

zroadster.org

 

[t-tony]

If you have blue, use that.

Tony.

 

[Nodzed]

If you have blue, use that.

Tony.

Well now hang on there Tony, this day and age ignoring pink is a bit of a controversial thing to do.

 

[TriumphZ3]

Complete noobie question here - how I love to be able to say that and admit I know sod all - but what colour is original BMW antifreeze? I was convinced mine was pure water, today I siphoned some off into a clear jug and it's a very faint pink tinge. Now that might just be very weak pink OAT antifreeze, far short of 50%, but I'd like to make sure it's not the 'proper' BMW stuff and meant to be like that. Asking first saves a lot of time and money later...

 

[Zephyr]

Oem antifreeze is dark blue and diluted 50/50 with distilled water turns to a nice turquoise or light blue.
they now sell a green one for modern engines.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Probably a good idea to drain as much as you can of that dodgy looking stuff, and then flush it a time or two. And then faff about bleeding it all. Yeah, we've been there before, haven't we now.

 

[PhilH67]

Well now hang on there Tony, this day and age ignoring pink is a bit of a controversial thing to do.

if you mix them does that mean that it's non binary anti-freeze, or you could put blue in and say it identifies as pink

 

[Zephyr]

Probably a good idea to drain as much as you can of that dodgy looking stuff, and then flush it a time or two. And then faff about bleeding it all. Yeah, we've been there before, haven't we now.

Looks like rusty water if you ask me…

 

[Nodzed]

if you mix them does that mean that it's non binary anti-freeze, or you could put blue in and say it identifies as pink

Don't get me started! .....................

 

[TriumphZ3]

Definitely not rusty water, I know what that looks like. Ever drained a 60 year old Triumph?

Probably a good idea to drain as much as you can of that dodgy looking stuff, and then flush it a time or two. And then faff about bleeding it all. Yeah, we've been there before, haven't we now.

Now you've done it, though.... mentioned the B word, as in bleeding. I don't like the way you make it sound like a nightmare... I'll suspect there's a guide about here somewhere?

 

[SV8Predator]

if you mix them does that mean that it's non binary anti-freeze, or you could put blue in and say it identifies as pink

I've got an MG that identifies as British Racing Green in the MGBGT community.

 

[Brian James]

OAT = Organic acid technology and should not be used on classic engines and definitely not mixed with Glycol (Blue).
BMW recommend blue glycol and that is what was in my car and what I replaced with when doing a major service.

Anything else should be drained out, flushed through and then an antifreeze mix made up using distilled water. If you use anything else, it will casue precipitation of salts (especially in Lincolnshire where the water is hard) which will have its own effects on the cooling system. If you are in a hard water area do not use tap water for the flush through - use distilled water by displacement washes by emptying and filling the cooling system in the normal manner.