Hi Guys, any one tried to drain his radiator to change the cooler? I've got an MCS 06. Please help.

 

to drain the radiator its pretty easy, if you look under your bumper you will see the drain for it. What cooler are you talking about? The radiator electric cooler?

 

I'm not sure what is the electric cooler. But I want to change the liquid, the green one. You know what I mean?

 

just curious: why do U feel it necc to change the coolant on a car with barely 10 months on the clock?

 

just so you know, BMW coolant is supposed to last 3 years. I would believe it. Coolant never quits working either, BTW, just the rust inhibitors will stop, but i dont think we need to worry about that for a while. I would also not recommend using anything but BMW coolant, as iron blocks with alloy heads are prone to corrosion in the head if improper coolant is used. Alloy in general is, but ad iron blocks into the mix, and it can get worse. Beecher

 

My winter-beater 1986 Toyota PU (with 300k now) always had cooling problems and issues, at least up to a couple years ago when my mechanic switched to Honda Extended Life. Since then, other than occasional top-offs with Prestone's equivalent, no problems at all (except for a small factory hose that finally gave way), I even asked him if we should drain and flush and replace this winter, he said it wasnt necessary, come back in two years.

It has literally given cool new life to a hot old workhorse. I recc it to everyone with an old car or truck!

 

I've got an '06... got it in Dec of '05, so I've got 2 years on it so far. If he/she tracks the car, they might be looking for a bit of peace of mind and optimum protection.

I'll 'ditto' the comment calling for MINI branded coolant. It's one of those things that I'll trust to the dealership to choose the correct coolant for the metals involved.

When I do the coolant drain, I'll probably upgrade the radiator hoses to silicone. A bit of added protection and some red bling for under the bonnet for only $150. If you are in there with the system drained, why not?

 

Guys, you dont know about the weather here in Saudi. Running the car on usual days and racing would get the coolant temp too high! And because the coolant does contain some glycol and other chemical stuff that I don't know their names now, the heat would make those compound solid and stuck in the radiator pipes. From my past experience, a usual city driving with a normal 4 door car would reduce the radiator performance by 50% running it daily for 4 years. Imagine? I'm planning to fill it with destilled water, the one used with batteries so I'm sure that no minirals or salt in the water. Even if the water temp gets heaven high, I'm pretty sure no solid compounds would build and gather over years. IS my math right? I would like you to imagine Saudi weather as (Texas state weather X2).

 

the other chemicals are rust inhibitors. And i dont think your engine would run any higher than our do, and i dont think the slight increase in running time would change anything. I wouldnt worry about it at all. And whatever you do, dont put anything but distilled water in a rad. If you dont want to run coolant, fine dont, you motor will actually run cooler without it (kind of weird considering the stuff is called coolant...) but you must still add a rust inhibitor in it. I dont have the source of the stuff off hand, but its hard to get in NA, you might not have a problem tho. In fact, if i lived in saudi, or even in any never cold region, i would probably wind up running straight water. If you are going to run coolant tho, run the bmw stuff (certain types of coolant contain organic material that eat aluminum, and cause transfer from the iron). Unfortunatly, i live in a cold region (-5c today), so even tho my car is in the garage, it would still freeze. Beecher

 

Silicon hoses are not really an "upgrade". Looks kinda cool though.

The factory rubber hoses are designed with the correct sizing to withstand the pressure and temps you will see in the Mini and will last many years.

Also, the factory constant torque clamps are superior to the aftermarket worm type clamps b/c they are constant torque and won't damage the material is clamps to when people tighten them down.

I have had a factory rubber hose fail b/c a previous owner used a worm type hose clamp and it dug into the rubber resulting in the rubber eventually breaking. Happened over the course of 2 years. Same issue with the worm type hose clamp on a silicon coolant hose. The clamp digs into the silicon and will eventually cause it to rip and fail.

 

Marwan, if you want more efficiency and protection using straight water, add Water Wetter http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/redtech3.htm .

To drain half of the coolant: remove the lower splash shield and bumper cover, if it is a standard bumper cover, the splash shield and air dam are removed first, if it is an aero kit, the bumper cover is removed first then splash shield, un-clamp the lower hose and pull from the radiator. I place the radiator support in service mode with the bumper off and the lower crush tubes removed to gain access but you can also remove the bumper, crush tubes, and most of the radiator support’s nuts and two bolts, and leave the top nuts on each side, but screwed out to the end of the studs, this way the radiator support can be tilted out from the bottom to reach the clamp easier (it can be done without going this far). For a more efficient drain which will net more than 2/3rds of the coolant, remove the radiator support and tilt the radiator, tilt the upper radiator hose downwards, and the hose from the water pump further downwards with the cap off the overflow tank. To drain more, remove the supercharger with water pump, and siphon pump coolant directly from the block. There is a block drain plug under the exhaust manifold but it is not easy to access. Below are photos of the more extreme methods; a bag is stuffed in the engine block’s hole in the second photo.

 

k-huevo, thank you so much for the detailed information, but I have 2 questions:
-I'm going to use a distilled water to make sure that it's clean and miniral free. How many bottles of Water Wetter do you recommend I order? And is it really good?
-To drain it, I'm going to lay beneath the car and unscrew the lower hose. In your opinion, is that enough? Even if this leaves 10%-15% of the original coolant, I don't mind. Still its BMW coolant!

 

It takes one bottle of Water Wetter (follow directions for use). Yes, it is good, and is essential in my opinion if you are going weak on coolant concentration or water only. The lower hose clamp doesn’t unscrew, it requires pliers or offset large needle nose to pinch the clamp's ears, then slide upwards, release, then pull the hose. You could fill with water, drive around, drain and fill with water again to reduce the coolant concentration further without resorting to removing stuff; you can add Water Wetter later to the over flow tank whenever you get it. There is another option for flushing the contents and refilling http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/uv570000.html (someday I’m going to get one), and the pump by hand version http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/uvw-590000.html .

 

where exactly is this drain??? i have been working on minis for 2 years and didn't even know it was there. i always pull off the lower radiator hose...

i'm going out to the shop now to rack up a car and see where this drain is at

 

my bently manual says pull the lower hose, would love to know if their is an actual drain added in later years, didnt look at mine, just pulled the hose, but then again, i had to pull the rad anyway, but pulling the hose can make a mess if your not carefull.

Beecher

 

the drain plug, as far as i heard, is in a somewhat inaccessible place space-wise, so draining is pretty much always done by unclamping the lower hose as told by the bentley manual

 

Marwan, I see radiator obstructions in your signature photo, use a smaller license bracket, mount it higher like the stateside version or mount to one side of the lower radiator intake section, and remove the driving lights. At speed, air will be diverted across a larger area than occupied be the obstructions; every little bit helps.

Any update?

 

Just a note on draining coolant from that lower hose: buy eye goggles... coolant in the eye is not fun, have any of you ever had to flush your eyes for the full 15 minutes? Buy goggles.

 

Thanks man! I'll do so, any products you have in mind for mounting the licens plate somewhere that does not obstruct the air? Please suggest. I'm going to flush the coolant in a week or so. I'm ordering Water Wetter as it was suggest by some members here as well as Mini modifiers. I'll post my experience when done.

 

Any link or a website so I can have look?

 

I got mine at Home Depot. Check any hardware store, the goggles arent specialized, just basic science/carpentry goggles.

 

I'm going to drain the radiator today or tomorrow. I've placed the order for Water Wetter from Amzon already and waiting for the shipping. I'll use distilled water then add the WW when it arrives. I've lifted the car yesterday to have a quick look. I've found the plastic lip covering the car till the steering wheel and it's fan. I understand that I've to remove this lip completely then will have access to the hose. Is my expectations right?

 

Hello guys, I've paid a visit to our dealer here in Saudi inquiring on some points using distilled water instead of the coolant. They informed me that the distilled water would damage the car and the radiator because it is ionized and so. Those electric charges would dig holes in most of the metal part this water passes through as per the dealer. And they offered flushing my radiator but no warranty to cover any single part in the cooling system. So, what shall I do? I've ordered Water Wetter already.

 

I'd keep some coolant in there to help prevent corrosion. Water Wetter is good stuff and should help out as well.

The issue with the MINI's cooling system is that you can't actually drain it all. The block drain is inaccessible so the only way to drain it is by disconnecting the lower radiator hose. This drains probably half the coolant.

Distilled water should be fine. Ideally, you should use deionized water but I think the dealer's main concern is that you plan on using pure water instead of a water/coolant mix. Because of the drawbacks to draining the system, you could probably go with pure water and some Water Wetter on this first coolant change. There should still be a good amount of coolant left in the system. For future drains, I'd try to keep at least a 25-30% mixture of actual coolant in the mix.

 

Definitely go with the MINI coolant WITH the Water Wetter. Modern coolant will not have any kind of detrimental effect on your car. I have my coolant/radiator flushed every 2 years with OEM coolant.