After telling me yesterday, and having me drive there today, and then not having any in stock after all, the MINI dealer admitted that the BMW stuff is the same, and can be used. Save yourself some motoring if you need coolant.

I pressed further. Can I mix regular anti-freeze w/the MINI stuff if I'm in a pinch? 'Yes, as long as it doesn't have phosphorus in it.'

This was the parts guy, though, and not a tech. YMMV.

Jeff

 

He was correct. BMW and MINI and probably lots of newer cars use aluminum in their engine blocks, heads or the radiator. The non-phospherus coolant is necessary to lessen the decomposition of aluminum in the coolant thus blocking passages for coolant to flow. This is not a technical explanation so forgive my lack of technically correct terms etc.

 

From what I understand, the only thing you have to remember about anti-freeze is not to mix green stuff with orange stuff. Green stuff is the traditional ethylene glycol and orange stuff is GM's "Dexcool", which lasts longer. However, once you have green or orange in your system (the factory fill), you should never attempt to change because mixing of the two types causes a nasty reaction and you can say bye-bye to your cooling system and probably your motor. Flushing your cooling system will never fully get rid of what you had in there before, so it's just not worth the risk in trying to change from one to the other.

Edit: Holy crap, I just realized I hit "second gear"! What a rush!

 

So does the MINI have the green stuff or orange stuff in it? I was NOT aware I had to put MINI or BMW specific coolant in my MINI. Is this a load of crap to make more money off us or what? Come on, does it really matter? If I go to an auto parts store, will coolant bottle be clearly labelled as "phosphorus free" or do I need to pull out a magnifying glass and look at the ingredients?
Thanks!

 

I asked this question to my service tech a couple times. He stated that I could use any non-phosphorus brand of coolant. Although, he then threw in the recommendation of using the MINI/BMW specific brand. But what's the point of that? I want to get rid of that color changing crap in there now. Not just swap it for newer crap. I want something that'll hold up. So until 'they' figure out what the issue is with the color change and anything else involved regarding that problem, I've gone ahead to my Ford dealer and had the coolant flushed and new stuff put in.
Cheers,

 

Hey guys, after I got the BMW coolant, I pulled the manual to look something up and it actually says "...never use anything other than factory-approved, nitrite and amino-free extended duty antifreeze with corrosion inhibitor."

It sounds like you can use what you want as long as it meets their guidelines. Remember to mix 50/50 with water, and given the previous post about mixing, I'd flush, drive, and flush again just to be sure you're clear before adding anything new.

HTH,

Jeff