Coolant flush...can somebody help ?

[Dan M C]

I have done my brakes and now i would like to flush my coolant.My car is a '95 318i.I saw this long life coolant (i think a lot of GM vehicles use it...) can i use it in my car ?,i will still change it every 2 years.So how do i do this safely ?,any easy steps for a do it yourselfer ?
Thank you agin for the help.
Dan

[TexasBMW]

I have heard some negative comments on the GM long life coolant, however I can't remember the exact nature of the comments. Try a google search for "dexron problems". It's been some time ago, and perhaps they have fixed the coolant problem.

Most BMW diyr's seem to prefer the BMW coolant. BMW say's it's special for their vehicles, but so do Honda, GM, Ford, et. al.

I use Prestone long life coolant in all my cars, including my daughter's 318is and have been very happy w/ performance. I don't run it 5 yrs though, more like 2 yrs.

I think this decision is one each owner must make for himself.

good luck

[stupenal]

I'm going to change my coolant this summer when I have time to get around to it. Everywhere I've read that details instructions on how to change it says to use BMW coolant. I'm therefore going to stick with bmw coolant. I'm just a bandwagon guy like that. Anyways, the procedure isnt hard. Only hard part I've read is getting to the engine block plug. That one seems kinda difficult.

http://www.logun.org/radflush.htm

That writeup is the best out there. Detailed pictures, a bit of humor, everything. Have fun with it and report back the difficulty! I wanna tackle this in the future so your experience will help!

[Dan M C]

Thank you very much for your help,i will probably use BMW coolant then,i know that it must be phosfate free ....or something like that,and i don't intend in going longer that 2 years anyways...even with long life stuff (if it comes in phosfate free...).
Dan