Fluids help

I am so stuck.

I am trying to top up the fluids in my 2003 4.4 V8 (BMW M62) but not sure what coolant the car takes, as its ran dry and clear when dipped.

I need PAS fluid too but manual states I need Texaco Cold Climate PSF 14315 fluid but I cant see anywhere to buy this.

Any help is appreciated.

When you say it's ran dry, as in overheated ?

Others will have their favourites and you don't want to mix blue and pink coolant but I use inugel expert which is a blue coolant but whatever you buy make sure its the concentrated type rather than ready mix as you can't drain the entire system of water easily without getting to drains in the block if water is all you have in it so ready mix will be diluted. I drained mine using the tap at the bottom passenger side of the rad and added the correct amount of concentrate for the entire system which i think is 18 litres total and topped up with water.
You will then need to bleed it and in doing so your nice new ciolant will find its way back out so I filtered mine and put it back or you could mix up some and use that to top up during the bleed process
I did experiment with a pipe joining the bleed screw straight back into the reservoir but I am not convinced this worked well.

Not sure on PAS, download rave and then Google alternatives to rhe recommended if you can't find what they say to use.

i use oat antifreeze its pink

Its not overheating, temps are smack in the middle of gauge.

Float is below cap and when dipped with tissue, its coming up clear like water? The side of the cap has a pink circle? Not sure if its pink or blue I need as cant determine anything but the clear colour.

You want cold climate PAS,

doesnt matter what brand it is, LR stuff is roughly £10 a bottle (1 ltr)

Coolant wise, doesnt matter, just remember not to use too much water content or you'll rust the cooling system

Drain a bit out of the radiator, hopefully it will show you what colour you need.

Jonnyb1990 said:

You want cold climate PAS,

doesnt matter what brand it is, LR stuff is roughly £10 a bottle (1 ltr)

Coolant wise, doesnt matter, just remember not to use too much water content or you'll rust the cooling system

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Regards to coolant, are you sure as others are stating against mixing and my issue is that I can not determine the colour used?

Haven't seen many on here that advise mixing them

The underside of my tank cap shows a pink circle, is this coincidence?

I have the same pink cap which is not related to what coolant to use I don't think , the cap type is written on the cap and more likely refers to opening pressure which is another topic on its own.

I think to be sure you can just get your arm down to the coolant drain which is engine side of the rad in the passenger side and mine undoes with my fingers but you could probably use a coin or if it's not pressurised you could pop off the top hose to see what's in it.
I catch my coolant in a large plastic storage container which is about 24"x12" so I don't have to remove the under tray

Once you take coolant out like this you will need to blead the system.
If you are sure it's just clear water then choose your coolant and book it in to your weekend

If you spill any antifreeze don't let any pets drink it as it will kill them a bit

Shouldn't think so

ive heard that if blue (glycol?) and pink (oat) are mixed it can turn to gloop like jelly which would not be good!

ChrisRange said:

Regards to coolant, are you sure as others are stating against mixing and my issue is that I can not determine the colour used?

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Drain it and start from scratch

Jonnyb1990 said:

Drain it and start from scratch

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+1

Isn't expensive

Gives it a good flush out
The pink stuff is much better anyway

2.0_hippo said:

+1

Isn't expensive

Gives it a good flush out
The pink stuff is much better anyway

Click to expand...

Why do you think that pink (OAT) is better? It's got some very nasty chemicals in it. Monopropylene glycol does the job without so much nasty stuff in it.

blue 2 year lifespan oat 5 year lifespan there's one reason

2.0_hippo said:

+1

Isn't expensive

Gives it a good flush out
The pink stuff is much better anyway

Click to expand...

Rave states a procedure to drain flush and refill but doesnt mention how to flush. just says to set heater to max, remove drain plug from block and rad and when all the coolant is out replace them both and then how to refill and bleed.

if the vehicle is cold and the stat is closed, am i correct in thinking that even if the rad drain plug is removed the coolant will not drain from the block and anything else behind the stat unless the block drain plug is removed?

then my second question would be, if the stat is closed and the block drain plug is out, if you tried to flush out the entire system, would the flushing fluid get past the closed stat to the block and heater etc?

my third question is, have i massively over complicated this thread ?

holidaychicken said:

Rave states a procedure to drain flush and refill but doesnt mention how to flush. just says to set heater to max, remove drain plug from block and rad and when all the coolant is out replace them both and then how to refill and bleed.

if the vehicle is cold and the stat is closed, am i correct in thinking that even if the rad drain plug is removed the coolant will not drain from the block and anything else behind the stat unless the block drain plug is removed?

then my second question would be, if the stat is closed and the block drain plug is out, if you tried to flush out the entire system, would the flushing fluid get past the closed stat to the block and heater etc?

my third question is, have i massively over complicated this thread ?

Click to expand...

Take the RAD and block drain plugs out, take top hose off the RAD, insert hose pipe into RAD, then into block, until water runs clear. Any small remaining amount water will just dilute the antifreeze a bit, you can compensate by mixing it a bit stronger

That makes sense, the OP has probably thought stuff this and took it to halfords or sold it

holidaychicken said:

That makes sense, the OP has probably thought stuff this and took it to halfords or sold it

Click to expand...

haha I am no Mechanic, so will ask dealership or local garage to flush coolant and replace with Pink stuff. I also need PSF so will buy LR approved stuff, it says it suits all models but not sure.