E70 X5 48i Coolant Everywhere!!!
 

A few days ago the low coolant light came on in the X5. I had just bought the car and i couldnt really make out the color of the coolant. So i took it to my mechanic and had it topped off.

Today i was driving home, maybe a 10min drive from work. Got home went inside when i notice that there was a fair bit of white smoke coming out of my engine bay. Opened it up and there was coolant everywhere, and on everything. Even on the underside of the hood and there was practically a lake of coolant under the car. It looked like someone intentionally sprayed it down with coolant.

I got in contact with the previous owner of the car, had a sneaky suspicion that my mechanic filled the coolant with the wrong color And you guessed it, he sure did. The previous owner used OEM BMW blue coolant and my ex-guy used red offbrand coolant.

Also its 2 hours later now and there is still a bit of smoke coming out, everything is still warm to the touch.

I know there are multiple threads for this on here, but i havent read one, or been able to fine one that describes this much coolant everywhere.

I know the n62 is infamous for a "valley leak", im thinking the reservoir was over filled and wrong coolant causing it to explode under pressure? Any ideas, most garages are closed now where i am, so ill be taking it first thing tomorrow.

uh, mixing colors of fluids will NOT cause explosions, leaks, or acute damage.


So dont blame your mechanic.




More likely the car had issues w the cooling system, the guy sold it, and now you are seeing the issues.






Edit: we humans have a tendency to try and create order out of what we can see IMO, you are doing that with the very limited data you have- a convo with the prior owner, reflilling low coolant, a blue and red coolant...... all gets turned into a cause and effect.

My train of thought was this ; i know mixing red and green coolant can create a gel like substance, i assumed maybe possibly something like that happened causing increase pressure? Idk probably not, just a theory.

Ive had the car for a little while now (3-4 months) , havent experienced any issues with leaks or anything. Weird.

Gonna have it checked out in the morning. Hopefully its nothing major.

Edit : Yeah i agree, know heat of the moment, reading that this could potentially cost a boat load of money, tried to think of something more favorable. But after calming down, I highly doubt thats it because if it had caused a gel, there wouldnt be liquid everywhere.

Any number of things could cause this, cross over pipe, valley pan, water pump, hose failure or expansion tank failure. All of which are well known issues in the E70 and N62. With as much coolant you are stating, I am guessing expansion tank or hose failure.

Had it looked at. Turns out it was the upper radiator hose, about 160$ for the hose at the dealership. Thankfully it was nothing major.

That hose likes to start expanding and bubble a little bit where it meets the radiator over time. A good preventative replacement part as it ages. Glad it was fairly minor.


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if indeed fluids were mixed, probably worth having the system flushed and fill with the proper mix. Good or another 10 years