Best coolant for a little fleet, and is oem manufcaturer better/cheaper?

Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
302
Location
The Netherlands
I am pretty educated (not like some degree like people on here) in motor oils and a little in gearbox/atf and driveline oils etc...

However i never really looked into coolant and regulary use oem mercedes 325.0 coolant becuase my dad works as a mb mechanic and we have a couple of jugs.
But we are almost running out of them and i would like to but some coolant in bulk like in like 20l jugs because its a little cheaper. The mb oem is also pretty expensive.

However i really would like to use the same coolant in my current vehicles and those of my relatives.
I am most ocd on my own vehicles so those are the most important:), my relatives dont care.


my vehicles:
Both vehicles came with blue color coolant from the factory/previous owner when i bought them and i would like to keep m like that.

I daily drive a BMW e91 325i 2005 n52 inline 6 automatic,
Magnesium/alluminum block, lots of plastic parts and rubbber hoses in coolant systems and electric waterpump which is also lubricated by the coolant.
Car has different cooling modes and is allowed to run on maximum 110 celcius during low load driving.

From BMW manual:
Antifreeze raises the boiling point and lowers the freezing point of
coolant. BMW recommends engine coolant that is a 50 I 50 mixture
of distilled water and ethylene glycol-based antifreeze.

my other vehicle:
Honda crf450X 1 cylinder 450cc high performance dirtbike engine
alluminum engine/radiator and coolingsytsem with rubbers hoses, regular mechanical driven coolant pump. No thermostat or cooling fan so coolant temps go all over the place depending on how its driven/used.

From honda manual:
Use high quality ethylene glycol antifreeze
containing corrosion protection inhibitors
specifically recommended for use in aluminum
engines. Check the antifreeze container label.
Use only distilled water as a part of the coolant
solution. Water that is high in mineral content or
salt may be harmful to the aluminum engine.
Using coolant with silicate inhibitors may cause
premature wear of radiator pump seals or
blockage of radiator passages. Using tap water
may cause engine damage.
The factory provides a 50/50 solution of
antifreeze and water in this motorcycle. This
coolant solution is recommended for most
operating temperatures and provides good
corrosion protection.
Decreasing the concentration of antifreeze to less
than 40% will not provide proper corrosion
protection.


Other vehicles from my relatives are a: diesel campervan, some honda motorcycles ranging from 1980 til 2005, some regular 4 cylinder cars from around 2005.
I dont think any of these vehicles have any specific special needs.


My other question is there a specific brand that is recommended? Do note that not every us brand is available in Europe. And how about the oem coolants, i guess they would like the best for their vehicles? Althoug these are sometimes hard to find in 20l bulk.

Honda and bmw only specifi distilled water, i guess this is also superior to regular water which i have never used.

I am curious if you guys can teach me more about this subject. Like coolant in the bmw is for life, but does coolant eventualy deterioate? And are certain types superior to others?
 
This is compatible with Euro, Asian, and US coolants - and importantly cooling systems. I'm slowly switching all my maintained vehicles to this as the service intervals come up:

 
This is compatible with Euro, Asian, and US coolants - and importantly cooling systems. I'm slowly switching all my maintained vehicles to this as the service intervals come up:
okay, i looked for it but its not available in europe. I do see that its free of silicate nitrate and boron, honda also recomends that.
I see its also ethelyne glycol based so it would be a great contender. But as i said its not available in europe.
 
Since you are already familiar with Mercedes I would go with G05. That is what I run in all of my cars for the past two decades.
 
G48 is BMW’s blue factory fill and MB branded 325.0 is also G48 as blended by BASF. Mercedes retired G05 two decades ago but you can find it in europe as Glysantin Classic coolant, no real reason to run it though.

You can also use more modern G40 but it’ll be pink, or the latest and greatest G64 but it’ll be green.
 
Last edited:
I almost always look at coolant like this...coolant is something you change so infrequently that it’s probably worth just throwing OE coolant into it and not worrying about it for five years.

Why mess with it? it’ll only cost you a few dollars more for OE and you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues...and believe me that is something to worry about...been down that road before, not going back.
 
G48 is BMW’s blue factory fill and MB branded 325.0 is also G48 as blended by BASF. Mercedes retired G05 two decades ago but you can find it in europe as Glysantin Classic coolant, no real reason to run it though.

You can also use more modern G40 but it’ll be pink, or the latest and greatest G64 but it’ll be green.
Thank you for the information, indeed BASF glysantin is still available at around 45 euros for 20l. I am looking into this because this would be a great option.
I almost always look at coolant like this...coolant is something you change so infrequently that it’s probably worth just throwing OE coolant into it and not worrying about it for five years.

Why mess with it? it’ll only cost you a few dollars more for OE and you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues...and believe me that is something to worry about...been down that road before, not going back.
Yes thats true, i basicly i only do a little refil here and there. I worked a lot on my bmw cooling system alot . I did change it once with mb 325.0.

Might also be reasonable to only get a 5 liter jug but it depends on the pricing.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top