BMW i8 Coolant Type?

BMW i8 Coolant Type?

Author
Discussion

Wicker Man

Original Poster:

824 posts

250 months

Saturday 8th June
quotequote all
My 2015 i8 has a low coolant warning message and the expansion tank is empty.
The handbook just says take it to a dealer and no mention of the type of coolant. I think a pressure test is in order to check for leaks, so I will get it checked over. But I don’t want to drive it with low, (or no?) coolant.

Can anyone tell me what type to use. Google hasn’t helped. Water would be better than nothing but I’d prefer to top it up with the right stuff.

soad

33,454 posts

183 months

Saturday 8th June
quotequote all
Halfords suggests a NAP-Free Hybrid Antifreeze & Coolant Ready Mixed, based on the reg plate.

Can always call a BMW dealer?

d_a_n1979

9,669 posts

79 months

Saturday 8th June
quotequote all
Wicker Man said:
My 2015 i8 has a low coolant warning message and the expansion tank is empty.
The handbook just says take it to a dealer and no mention of the type of coolant. I think a pressure test is in order to check for leaks, so I will get it checked over. But I don’t want to drive it with low, (or no?) coolant.

Can anyone tell me what type to use. Google hasn’t helped. Water would be better than nothing but I’d prefer to top it up with the right stuff.
Comma G48 - that's all you need

Ready mixed or concentrate with deionised water

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comma-XSG48M5L-Xstream-An...

Wicker Man

Original Poster:

824 posts

250 months

Saturday 8th June
quotequote all
Thanks both. My local Halfords also suggested the NAPS free one but couldn’t say what was in it, except no NAPS! wink
Wilco said it was a hybrid!, and I had to go to BMW. But I picked up a litre of ethylene glycol there for £5.99

.

There seemed to be a few drops of blueish coolant left in the expansion tank, which I presume to be ethylene glycol. The new stuff is vivid green, but I think green is the new blue.

So it’s now topped up with 50:50 mix and the warning message has gone. It only took a pint so wasn’t empty. I’ll keep an eye on it, but this is the first time I’ve opened the bonnet since I bought it last August, and I done know if this coolant loss was gradual or sudden.

VeeTenM

681 posts

121 months

Mr Squarekins

1,183 posts

69 months

Saturday 8th June
quotequote all
The low coolant warning message in an i8 is a very common issue. Both mine had it. Not serious, just a sensor on the coolant tank under the bonnet. Coolant could be low, but not necessarily.