E46 what type of coolant

E46 ci Antifreeze. Rsdop Original Poster posts 88 months. Whilst doing some engine maintenance on my I noticed the radiator was about to burst, so its getting a full cooling system refresh. Genuine BMW coolant is nitrate and phosphate free. Note that BMW coolant must be diluted with distilled water to a mixture before adding to vehicle. Sort By:. T : Part : In Stock. Add to Cart. Add to Wish List. Show More Show Less. View More Info. Vaico Coolant Tester.

Anti-Freeze Tester. Expected Ship Date: Dec 3, Show only OP. Need to top up the coolant but want to put in the correct antifreeze - manual says ethylene glycol not the OAT stuff extended-duty antifreeze with corrosion inhibitor.

Going past Halfords tonight but I can't see them stocking this type, any suggestions please? Halford's do that type of coolant, its named advanced engine coolant or something, I was going to get some for the mr2 but it was cheeper to get coolant direct from Toyota.

Think the important thing is not to mix the colours, red blue or green. Clarkey Capodecina Joined: 18 Oct Posts: 18, Get one that's the same colour as the one in the rad, this is very important.

If you top off with coolant, your car will have a bit better freezing protection down to like, say, F whereas it'd normally be F but will "cool" the car a bit less. Top off with distilled water and your freezing protection gets worse F?

The decision is yours - if you already have coolant and distilled water, then absolutely mix them and use that to top off I had the light come on and off before, ignored it. Eventually it would stay on all the way. The light never came back on since. Thanks man for the tip!

I probably will just top it off with some distilled water for now. I think mixing said amount prior to adding is preferred. Will do! I'm doing this tomorrow and am also going to try and see if there might possibly be a leak :crossing fingers there isnt: or the sensor has gone bad.

Searching for leaks, take the tension off your serpentine belt and try to wiggle the pulley on the water pump, there should be no play. If there is, leak is probably from the weep hole on the bottom side of the WP. Also look at the o-rings on the expansion tank cap. If they're not plump and protruding, you may be losing some vapor right there and it leaves no sign of a leak. This latter situation was the case for my wife's car. And while you have the cap off, look at the coolant level thing, it looks like a bobbing thermometer.

A tech told me it should be dark red in color, if it's faded to pink or white then it's time to replace the expansion tank at a minimum and maybe a whole cooling system refresh. Good to know! I checked all of the above and all seems fine. I think its simply a sensor and that is about it. My indy mechanic is gonna look more into it sometime in the next week.