Hello?! Do you expect anything different from Connecticut? Plenty of states and municipalities allow coolant dumping through the home sewer systems.Not in CT
Hello?! Do you expect anything different from Connecticut? Plenty of states and municipalities allow coolant dumping through the home sewer systems.Not in CT
The radiator isn't the lowest point so you're still going to have a lot of coolant remaining. If it were then BMW shop manuals wouldn't require removal of the hose at the electric water pump.I'm planning on flushing out the coolant on my BMW sometime next week.
I don't really want to take off the water pump hose and the other hoses to let coolant out. It'll create a big mess, which I don't really want.
So, I plan on unbolting the radiator drain plug and letting all the coolant drain out the radiator. Then Adding 2 gallons of distilled water and bleed the system/ turning the water pump on without starting the car.
After I'm done bleeding the system and draining the water out, I'll add the 50/50 BMW coolant.
Can I harm the water pump or other coolant items by just bleeding the system with distilled water?
If I turn the water pump on when there's no coolant in the system, can I harm the water pump that way by running it dry?
Any other things I should be cautious of?
Hello?! Do you expect anything different from Connecticut? Plenty of states and municipalities allow coolant dumping through the home sewer systems.
Running just water in your system for a short period of time is fine. I just question doing this in Chicago in early March. Seriously wait for warmer weather unless that's somehow not an issue here...Any other things I should be cautious of?
It's supposed to be 61 next weekRunning just water in your system for a short period of time is fine. I just question doing this in Chicago in early March. Seriously wait for warmer weather unless that's somehow not an issue here...
Yeah, that's what some people on the BMW forums said. They said to do a drain and refill with BMW 50/50 is the best route to go. Just repeat this procedure every 2-3 years.The radiator isn't the lowest point so you're still going to have a lot of coolant remaining. If it were then BMW shop manuals wouldn't require removal of the hose at the electric water pump.
As for running the water pump with distilled water only. There's no issue with causing damage to the pump. Constantly running the water pump will use a lot of charge from your battery. The bleed procedure runs for 12 minutes.
Finally your coolant/water mix is going to be well below the 50/50 recommendation.
I guess it's possible that if you parked the car with the nose facing downhill you could get most of the coolant out. and then just refill with 50/50 mix but that's going to be a mess as well.
IMO I would just wait to change the coolant whenever you go in the replace the water pump or just pay a shop to do it.
This is what one forum member said:The radiator isn't the lowest point so you're still going to have a lot of coolant remaining. If it were then BMW shop manuals wouldn't require removal of the hose at the electric water pump.
As for running the water pump with distilled water only. There's no issue with causing damage to the pump. Constantly running the water pump will use a lot of charge from your battery. The bleed procedure runs for 12 minutes.
Finally your coolant/water mix is going to be well below the 50/50 recommendation.
I guess it's possible that if you parked the car with the nose facing downhill you could get most of the coolant out. and then just refill with 50/50 mix but that's going to be a mess as well.
IMO I would just wait to change the coolant whenever you go in the replace the water pump or just pay a shop to do it.
IIRC the fluid is lifetime or 100k miles and it actually performs as advertised. It's why I always suggest to change the fluid when the water pump is changed out. You can of course do it as often as you want but it's not really necessary. I think lifetime coolant has been the industry norm for over a decade.Yeah, that's what some people on the BMW forums said. They said to do a drain and refill with BMW 50/50 is the best route to go. Just repeat this procedure every 2-3 years.
If you run your system with distilled water, then drain it fully, and fill it with 50/50, you will end up with much less than 50/50 protection.
There is water in the heater core and hoses, and other bends, that does not come out. If you flush, or do multiple drain/fills with water, you need to allow for up to a quart of water in your system BEFORE you start adding coolant. If you use 50/50, you end up with less freeze and corrosion protection. If you consider it comes out to 40/60 - a reasonable assumption -, that's still a 20% drop in additives and corrosion protection, and a 20F increase in the freeze protection (from -35 to -15F roughly) point. Not worth it at all. If you go the "full drain" route, you must refill with straight concentrate in a volume equal to 1/2 the total system capacity in order to get to 50% (or better yet, 60%). Then you top up it up in a second step with straight dH20.
If you don't really know exactly what's going on with a cooling system, play it safe and just drain the radiator. Refill that and then worry about it in a few more years.