refill coolant ?

[Scotty]

Just had the 'brittle' upper coolant reservoir hose crack.
(same hose as here )

I have replaced the hose (2 min job), $32 part. Quicker to do this myself than flatbedding and waiting for dealer backlog !

I lost quite a bit of coolant as 'steam' and am refilling with 50% BMW antifreeze and 50% purified water.

The instructions indicate that you should fill with a cold engine; then run engine to normal temp. with the reservoir cap OFF (to assist air escaping)

Isnt this going to 'belch' a lot of rather hot air/coolant mist everywhere ?
Any thoughts on this from the knowledgeable here ?

[motordavid]

Have never done a coolant refill, myself, on the X5, but have done many on
other cars and two of my sleds:
-cold as in stone cold Is the deal.
-I've never run/idled it All the way to fully warmed up; ran it just enough to get
thermostat open and "warm".
-I've always revved the motors as it got to warm, to help in the blow/belching of air from the res. orifice.
-"some" coolant mix comes out, (on my non-X rides), but some well placed throw away towels captured 95% of the belch out.

None of the above may apply to the X, but it's gotta be v. similar...plus, you are not dealing with a huge capacity coolant system. But, that belching Is the deal, imo.
GL,md

Edited add on: to really reduce any coolant flying, a couple layers of light weight material, eg diapers, over the open coolant res. orifice, do wonders to allow the sys to burp, but contain most of the spillage.

[Bill K]

Scotty, what you need to do is leave the cap off, run the engine with the heater on full blast (this opens up the heater core to flow coolant through and push out any air gaps. With the cap off (make sure coolant level is full), the needle will climb much slower because of the lack of pressure. When it gets to about 1/3, and everything is really hot to the touch, go ahead and close the cap, then slightly unscrew the bleed screw. Its the screw on the component you just replaced. Open it so slightly so that coolant starts to flow. The purpose oif the bleed screw is to bleed out air. You might see air bubbles rush out of it. When nothing but uninterupted coolant flows from it, go ahead and close it off (not too tight-plastic threads strip easily). I recommend you recheck the coolant level the next morning when everything is stone cold and top off as necessary.

[Scotty]

MD and Bill K,

many thanks for all the details on this real simple procedure !

I let the X get stone cold overnight and then refilled this morning. Took 6 litres of fluid (50% coolant - darn, that BMW antifreeze is $$$$ !). So I lost 50% of the capacity in very short order.

Just a little 'gurgling'; no major belches ! Just drove 40 miles, temperature rock steady, no computer complaints on coolant level. Will recheck level tomorrow first thing in the AM

Bill K : 'bleed screw' ? I replace one hose - there is no screw on it. I do see a crossheaded plastic screw head on the top of the reservoir right near the filler cap. Is this what you mean ?

Thanks again guys, X5World is awesome.

P.S. MD : I don't have any diapers handy !! But old towel did the job just fine.

[Bill K]

Scotty, the bleed screw is that black phillips head screw. On mine (2001 3.0) it is located on the upper radiator hose, on the plastic portion which couples to the radiator. On other models, I have seen the bleed screw on the reservoir, adjacent to the filler cap. You will find this screw at the upper most portion of the cooling system because it is intended to bleed out air.