what's your coolant of choice?

[tacomagabe]

Who here likes the bmw antifreeze and who thinks long life brands like prestone are fine and why? Just curious.

[waltb]

I am curious also. In my E12 I used the normal Zerex green stuff for 18 years without a problem. When our cars were build I do not think they had any real special antifreeze requirements.

The last time I changed my E12 I used the Prestone all makes stuff since that is what I was using in my old Jeep at the time. Its been 2 years and its been fine so far. I recently noticed that Peak now sells an all makes/all types antifreeze now. I personally do not think that it matters that much what antifreeze is used in an E12 just so the coolant is ok to use with aluminum (which just about all antifreeze is now). Conversely on new cars of any brand I would definitely use the specified antifreeze type due to compatibility with seals, plastics, etc. and issues with different formula antifreeze's, mainly Dexacool, sludging up when they are mixed.

I do use the BMW coolant in my E21 with the plastic radiator tanks. It works fine. I think the BMW coolant is similar to the Mercedes, Volvo, etc. G34? spec stuff. I have also heard good things about using G05 spec antifreeze in place of standard green antifreeze. Ford and Chrysler have been using the G05 spec stuff since around 2000. I have been using it for 8 years and 180k miles in my Dodge Minivan (yes I changed it twice) and last time I looked the cooling system was still spotless.

I think our own Peter F. was actually using Dexacool in his E12 (which I believe the new "all makes" antifreeze including Peak and Prestone is very similar to). I think it worked fine for him but I believe he really flushed things out to make sure there was no old antifreeze in the system before he changed to Dexacool.

The www.bobistheoilguy.com website has a forum on antifreeze which can be an interesting read.

Walt B.

[T.Hanson]

I use Valvoline 10-40, 80-90 for trans dif, Prestone or Xerex coolant. If it's all wrong the cars haven't known it for twenty years. The advice I have believed is the changing. Coolant, brake fluid every 2-3 years, oil 3,000, etc.

[Adam W in MN]

BMW OEM blue coolant from the dealer, ONLY. Mixed 50/50 with distilled water from Target and usually with some Redline Water Wetter.

[Robert Bondi]

I've been happy with the Prestone long-life formula (orange). We switched to it after rebuilding the engine 8 years ago. Unlike the the old silicate and phosphate additives in the green formulas, every part I've expected so far has been free of scale.

[Mike W.]

Walmart ethylene glycol. No silicone silicate or propelyne glycol, AKA the "safe" antifreeze you can drink. I prefer beer, not antifreeze Besides, in my experience it doesn't cool as well and even Prestone said that along with it biodegrading slower and is more toxic to manufacture.

[munkeeboi83]

Since I've been getting into motorcycles lately, I've come across two very top quality coolants that are far superior than your off the shelf Water Wetter, which is not too bad.

1. Evans NPG
$29.95 for a gallon
Best Bang for your buck
NPG being Non-Aqueous Propylene Glycol, which is non water based so you don't have boil over or expansion.

http://www.evanscooling.com/high-performance/


This is pretty high performance stuff used in race cars and motorcycles, from what I've read on the internet on forums and seen people use in their motorcycles, it performs exceptionally well.

2. Engine Ice
this is a little pricey and the container seems smaller than the Evans NPG container. it's about $20 per container. The performance is up there with the Evans NPG, but I think the NPG is slightly better and also cheaper as well.

http://www.engineice.cc/automotive/

I'm not sure how much a E28 radiator conversion costs, but as soon as I get the time to convert the radiator fan so it's electronically controlled, I figure I'll switch to Evans NPG. On warm days and with spirited driving, the temp is about 75-89%. The car does not do well on warm days + heavy LA traffic as well, so I figured I post this up and share with you guys. I figured $30 or so every 2 years is not too unreasonable esp. for the peace of mind that your E12 will be running nice and cool all the time.

[1st 5er]

One had best be sure every coolant related part was in tip top shape prior to pouring that liquid gold into the system.

Definitely wouldn't be a good choice for mine now.
Hopefully in the not too distant future though, it'd work.