Coolant and oil

H

HLBMWZ4E85

Member
In need of some quick help

My coolant needs topping up, and is currently the red coloured liquid. I've bought the recommended coolant from bmw which is blue. I believe you shouldn't mix 2 colours, so I will leave the blue coolant until it is time for a service. (5000 miles)

In the meantime will it be okay to top up with some toyota red coolant which I have in the garage - or is this bonkers?

Secondly, the oil needs to be topped up ever so slightly. I have some castrol gym 10w40 and some pennasol 5w30. I believe currently there is 5w30 in - which should I use?

Thanks in advance
 
Agree with your assessment regarding multi-color anti-freeze, but you may not even need to add coolant. Your local auto parts store should have a density tool (glass tube with a float inside, or similar) to check the ration of coolant to water. You may only need to add water.

As for oil, mixing oils is not as problematic. 5W and 10W can be mixed without any appreciable issues. This, of course, depends upon the weather. Are you foreseeing any 5 degree or 10 degree (Fahrenheit) weather? If your winter will be mild, then adding 10W will be no problem.
 
Thanks for the advice

I'll check at the dealers r.e the coolant.

I will be seeing weathers below 5c, so do u think I should stick with the 5w30?
 
HLBMWZ4E85 said:
Thanks for the advice

I'll check at the dealers r.e the coolant.

I will be seeing weathers below 5c, so do u think I should stick with the 5w30?
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That would be appropriate. The "W" after the first number stands for "Winter" and is the industry standard for having the oil tested in winter conditions. The lower the number, the better the oil flows in cold.
 
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