![BMW Approved Coolant : [ Here’s A Complete List ]](https://myvehicletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Image-of-Coolant.jpg)
BMW is a luxury automobile brand with over 100 years of operations worldwide. Unlike the other automobile brands of its kind, BMW has gone through it all.
Be it two world wars to an almost bankruptcy stage in the 1960s; the car brand has witnessed all, still has successfully conquered all to evolve as the most happening brand in the industry.
Over the years, the demand for luxurious BMW cars has soared so much that the company delivered over 3 million units last year alone.
Since each model of the brand features an all-unique design and other features, you need to use a unique coolant or antifreeze for the BMW cars.
So, if you own any BMW car and its coolant light has turned on, the time has come for a quick top-up. Read through this article to find answers to your general queries regarding a BMW coolant and my top 3 recommendations for the same.
BMW Approved Coolant
As said above, be it any luxury-line car, every brand asks for its specific coolant or antifreeze to work correctly. Hence, you can’t top it up with any regular variant. For BMW, there are numerous coolants available in the market with different pros and cons.
Below I have compiled and reviewed the top 3 BMW-approved coolants suitable for all its models and series. So, let’s peek into each of these.
1. BMW 82141467704 Grey Antifreeze Coolant
If you’re looking for the best coolant/antifreeze for your BMW, look no further than this product from BMW. Its unique formulation ensures all-around protection against corrosion, boilovers, and heat damage to both the automotive engine and cooling system.
Plus, this coolant has a bittering agent. If you don’t know, all coolants or antifreeze must have a bitter flavor to prevent kids or animals from getting attracted and poisoned from the otherwise sweet flavor of coolants and antifreeze.
Furthermore, this product protects all types of metals like cast iron, steel, and aluminum.
Being Ethylene glycol-based, rest assured of no ill effects of this coolant to your car’s engine or cooling system.
However, please don’t use the coolant without diluting it with distilled water in the 50:50 ratio. The color of this coolant is blue.
Pros
- Protection against corrosion, boilovers, and heat damage.
- Exclusively formulated for all BMW models and series.
- Bittering agent.
- Ethylene glycol-based formula.
- No nitrate and phosphate.
Cons
- Slightly expensive.
2. BMW 82-14-2-209-769 Antifreeze/Coolant
The above antifreeze comes in a bottle of 1 gallon. If you want its smaller version, say, in 1-liter, you should consider this BMW 82-14-2-209-769 antifreeze/coolant.
It’s again in blue and the ideal time to top up your BMW’s coolant tank with this is right after its servicing or if the fluid level goes too low.
In cars, corrosion is a common issue and may ruin your entire car if allowed to happen. Hence, to avoid any occurrence or corrosion in your car, this antifreeze fluid will surely come in handy.
Just dilute it with 50% distilled water and fill in the coolant tank. It will open the blocked coolant passage and prevent corrosion.
Pros
- Ideal for all BMW models.
- 100% OEM product.
- Works against corrosion, heat damage, engine freezing, etc.
Cons
- With just 1-liter in quantity, you may have to stock multiple bottles.
3. RAVENOL J4D2023-1-04 HTC Coolant Antifreeze Premix MB 325.0 (G11)
RAVENOL manufacturers world-class lubricants for automobiles and is utterly famous in the whole of Europe. This HTC Hybrid Technology Coolant Premix is an all-season coolant/antifreeze.
Furthermore, it comes in a ready-to-use form; that is, there is no need to dilute the product before use, unlike the above two. In addition, the product is free from harmful chemicals like amine and phosphates.
Being a mono-ethylene glycol-based coolant/antifreeze, it prevents the car engines from frosting and rusting.
Besides BMW, you can also choose this RAVENOL HTC hybrid technology coolant premix with other brands like Opel, Mercedes, Saab, Land Rover, Porsche, Jaguar, General Motors, and VW.
This particular product comes in a pack of 4 packs of coolant. However, you can also purchase individual units. The coolant is blue.
Pros
- Amine and phosphates-free.
- Ideal for multiple automobile brands as listed above.
- Prevention from rusting, frosting, overheating, etc.
- Bitter taste.
- Made using organic additive technology (OAT).
Cons
- You must flush the coolant tank if you used another brand’s coolant before this.
These three are the top-selling BMW coolants/antifreeze, which will ensure the long life of your engine and cooling system.
Can you use regular coolant in your BMW?
Can I use any regular coolant in my BMW? It is the most common question many owners seek a clear-cut answer. The answer is no.
However, there is something more you should know why it is not advisable to use any regular coolant or antifreeze in your BMW car.
Since BMW belongs to the high-end categories of car brands, every automobile manufactured requires unprecedented attention and care.
As a result, everything comes with unmatched detailing, from its engine’s working to the design of its headlights.
Due to this particular reason, you can’t use any conventional element with your BMW. It also includes the coolant or antifreeze.
Since such things go deep into the car’s engine and cooling system, using any conventional product may cause problems, if not immediately, but later surely will.
Plus, the engine and cooling system of the BMW and other luxury line vehicles involve multiple metal types like cast iron, aluminum, etc.
Therefore, the coolants designed explicitly for such vehicles help prevent rusting or cause other harm like damage to the cylinder gasket, water pump, and radiator.
In worst situations, prolonged usage of a regular coolant may compel you to install a new engine in your BMW car. The main culprits of such situations are the chemicals like phosphate and nitrite mixed in conventional coolants.
At last, the coolant made for BMW may or may not come pre-diluted. It enables you to dilute the coolant or antifreeze depending upon the environmental conditions.
Does BMW need special coolant?
Yes, all BMW vehicles need a special coolant or antifreeze. It is because such coolant tends to serve several useful functions in the vehicle. For example,
- Keep the engine temperature in check,
- Adequately lubricate the water pump,
- Protect the metallic parts from corrosion or their build-up,
- Prevent the engine from freezing in frigid winter months,
- Do cool down the engine to prevent its overheating, etc.
Some of the above functions are also achievable with the conventional coolants, but not all. So, that’s the reason why you need a special coolant for your BMW.
Is Prestone coolant OK for BMW?
Yes, the Prestone coolant is OK to use in any BMW series or model. The unique formulation of prestone coolants and antifreeze involves a mix of premium, long-lasting inhibitors.
These guarantee up to 750,000 miles or over 15,000 hours without the need to top up the coolant tank again.
Like the other BMW-specific coolants in the market, the prestone coolants ensure all-around protection against extreme temperatures, frosting, rusting, corrosion, scaling, and premature water pump failure.
The prestone coolants go well with the heavy-duty BMW vehicles for which everything that matters is performance.
Do you mix BMW coolant with water?
Here, you have to understand that your regular tap water and distilled water are separate things. So while you can definitely and you must dilute the coolant concentrate with “distilled water,” you can’t use the regular tap water as its replacement.
Here’s why!
Regular tap water, irrespective of who supplies it to you, is probably contaminated with inorganic minerals, metals, etc. When mixed with the coolant or antifreeze, all this contaminates that too and later affects the car’s engine.
On the other hand, distilled water is the water obtained from the distillation process that involves boiling off all the contaminants of regular water.
Hence, you can dilute the coolant concentrate with distilled water only and that too in a fixed ratio which is mostly 50:50. That is, 50% distilled water and 50% coolant or antifreeze.
Conclusion
Finding an ideal coolant or antifreeze for the BMW vehicles may seem arduous since it involves little research.
You can’t top up the coolant tank of your BMW vehicle or, in fact, any luxury-line vehicle with the conventional coolant. There are several reasons to prove this.
For example, conventional coolants may contain chemicals like nitrate or phosphate that may initiate corrosion in the metallic parts of the engine.
Furthermore, the coolants made explicitly for BMW vehicles have a high-thermal capacity and adequate (low) viscosity. It ensures that the coolant forms a thick layer around the engine for its all-around protection.
Similarly, there are several other reasons why you need to invest in an ideal BMW coolant or antifreeze. In this article, I’ve also reviewed the high-selling BMW coolants for your reference.
