Low Coolant Warning

[delrosa81]

Dear Bros,

My E90 320i has a low coolant warning 2 or 3 months back, so I topped up with quite abit of water and since then there has been no issues. Yesterday the car prompted a low coolant warning, so does it mean now my 2 yr + 320i have to top up coolant once every 2 to 3 months???

Is this abnormal ?

 

[Kookk]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Dear Bros,

My E90 320i has a low coolant warning 2 or 3 months back, so I topped up with quite abit of water and since then there has been no issues. Yesterday the car prompted a low coolant warning, so does it mean now my 2 yr + 320i have to top up coolant once every 2 to 3 months???

Is this abnormal ?

How much do you top up each time? High chance of a minor leak somewhere. Best to check it out.

 

[delrosa81]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

How much do you top up each time? High chance of a minor leak somewhere. Best to check it out.

Normally I top up 1 to 1.5 litres of water into the radiator. Yeah I was worried there might be a leak somewhere, hopefully its not too serious...sighs....

My car is coming to 3 yrs old this dec, would my radiator still be covered under warranty?

 

[Kookk]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Normally I top up 1 to 1.5 litres of water into the radiator. Yeah I was worried there might be a leak somewhere, hopefully its not too serious...sighs....

My car is coming to 3 yrs old this dec, would my radiator still be covered under warranty?

How high is your mileage?

1-1.5l of topping up is a lot. Best to bring it back to PML for a proper preesure test.

 

[gadaffi]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

had the same experienced a month back. Total damaged $5000, no joke.
My advise is to go n check n pls stop topping water in it. I did the same and one day my 320 just cant go above 50km/h.

 

[delrosa81]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

had the same experienced a month back. Total damaged $5000, no joke.
My advise is to go n check n pls stop topping water in it. I did the same and one day my 320 just cant go above 50km/h.

Wah 5000!!??? :shock: okok I better send it for checking man....now U r really scaring me!

 

[nYteMarE]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

bro, how come end up same problem at same time, my car still in workshop (not pml). have to wait for new radiator to sit aeroplane here.

best to bring it in before warranty ends to get the system checked for leak and replace. your leak isn't as bad i think. i had to top up twice since last friday.

also be prepared to wait a bit. pml took close to 3 weeks with mine the last time i sent in for a cooling system check.

 

[blacklights]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi All,

wanted to dwell a little on this topic. my 320i of 6 years, at 63K mileage, started a yellow low coolant warning. I'm about to go out and get a RadKool in order to fill her up. Do you still recommend this before I bring mine to the workshops to get it checked out? Normally, topping up on RadKool is acceptable? What brands are suggested?

 

[epong]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

I had warning too but not necessary to top up with coolant. Water will be fine. Watch the situation and get it looked during servicing.

 

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi All,

wanted to dwell a little on this topic. my 320i of 6 years, at 63K mileage, started a yellow low coolant warning. I'm about to go out and get a RadKool in order to fill her up. Do you still recommend this before I bring mine to the workshops to get it checked out? Normally, topping up on RadKool is acceptable? What brands are suggested?

Whatever you are on at the moment - just top up with the same stuff and do a pressure test / observe. If ok - other brand you may consider that seems ok - Engine Ice.

 

[blacklights]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Thanks all. I drove to Esso and they didn't stock up a large amount of coolant choices so I'm left with DIAX some jap based coolant. I'll be taking a short risk and out of desperation and panic, I'll top up a little tonight or tomorrow morning. Will get it looked over the coming week if I'm gonna do some servicing. Hope it's not a leakage issue.

In anycase, my comfort came from "Justanswer dot com" and that's where peeps pay for some answers from experts. Said "store bought is fine as an alternative until actual BMW approved coolants are available".

Will keep everyone posted. Btw, I had a bottle of drinkable distilled water on standby too.

 

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Thanks all. I drove to Esso and they didn't stock up a large amount of coolant choices so I'm left with DIAX some jap based coolant. I'll be taking a short risk and out of desperation and panic, I'll top up a little tonight or tomorrow morning. Will get it looked over the coming week if I'm gonna do some servicing. Hope it's not a leakage issue.

In anycase, my comfort came from "Justanswer dot com" and that's where peeps pay for some answers from experts. Said "store bought is fine as an alternative until actual BMW approved coolants are available".

Will keep everyone posted. Btw, I had a bottle of drinkable distilled water on standby too.

Make sure the workshop check the coolant tank's physical structure ......

 

[blacklights]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi Red Bean Bun,

Good advice. Will do. DIAX is luminescent green. They also recommend on it's label to top up with distilled water. So I did but only about 40% of the coolant content at most. So this morning I drove to town via CTE and warning signs are gone. My remaining range to travel meter jumped up by about 10KM so it's really a life saver. From this experience it's probably better to get one more bottle of any BMW approved coolant whenever possible just in case.

 

[Red_Bean_Bun]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi Red Bean Bun,

Good advice. Will do. DIAX is luminescent green. They also recommend on it's label to top up with distilled water. So I did but only about 40% of the coolant content at most. So this morning I drove to town via CTE and warning signs are gone. My remaining range to travel meter jumped up by about 10KM so it's really a life saver. From this experience it's probably better to get one more bottle of any BMW approved coolant whenever possible just in case.

Glad things work out for you ............

 

[Racebred]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

sounds like there's a leak. If there's really a leak, the hole will get progressively bigger with each heat cycle. Then you will have to top up more, and more often. Best is to get it checked out and then plug the leak.

 

[blacklights]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi Racebred,

You are a seasoned pro. The yellow low coolant light came back up and it worried me. So I drove to one of the approved workshop in my list to have a check. Guess what? It was truly a leak! And at the radiator itself. My fans and hoses works fine. Tank is fine.

At least there's some good news in all this. I'll have to have the radiator replaced with an OEM one. Damage should be around $700. Tomorrow is the work schedule so will keep everyone updated.

Advice from actual foreman: not encouraged to top with any store bought coolant as those have a higher content of acid and it could cause some unwanted degradation of your Bimmer related parts at the coolant sections. Better to use either water or distilled water before the next actual top up. Approved Bimmer coolants are priced at $20. Lasts a great long time.

Distraught, but happy at the same time at least I detected the situation before it got any worse.

 

[chinweyngee]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Normally I top up 1 to 1.5 litres of water into the radiator. Yeah I was worried there might be a leak somewhere, hopefully its not too serious...sighs....

My car is coming to 3 yrs old this dec, would my radiator still be covered under warranty?

I replaced my rediator @ 80kkm but before that I also top up coolant tank. The cooling system took up to 7L of water+coolent so is normal to top up 1-1.5L of water. After replacement, everything ok for a few mth even wack the car till 180km/h along NS highway. The coolent tank is still @ max level.

 

[blacklights]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Just to update, I topped up just about 300ml I believe to get slightly at 80% level of the indicator with water. No more leaks in radiator. So about 1.5L wafer after few months should be fine.

 

[delrosa81]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Just to update, I topped up just about 300ml I believe to get slightly at 80% level of the indicator with water. No more leaks in radiator. So about 1.5L wafer after few months should be fine.

Hi blacklights, I also had a similiar case of topping up radiator water once every 1 to 2 months or maybe longer (slow leak). Then when my car was sent in for a transmission replacement, they say water pipes that were leaking and replaced those. Up till now no more leaks. Sometimes it may not be the radiator but just some hoses thats all. You might want to get it checked out.

 

[Bigbird00]

Re: Low Coolant Warning

Hi Racebred,

You are a seasoned pro. The yellow low coolant light came back up and it worried me. So I drove to one of the approved workshop in my list to have a check. Guess what? It was truly a leak! And at the radiator itself. My fans and hoses works fine. Tank is fine.

At least there's some good news in all this. I'll have to have the radiator replaced with an OEM one. Damage should be around $700. Tomorrow is the work schedule so will keep everyone updated.

Hi Blacklights,
I am having the "Low Coolant light" problem today and realized water is dripping from under the car. Looks bad.

My is past warranty by a mile now. Can you please let me know which workshop did you go for the OEM radiator replacement?

Thanks.
BR

Cheers