Coolant Change: Zerex G48 Ok to use?

[sev]

Fellas, Im doing a coolant change on my m3, and i went to put the zerex g48 i got in and the color was a bit different. It's labelled as approved for BMWs but not sure if the S54's iron block requires anything else that's special. Anyone use the stuff?

[Icecream]

Any reason you don't want OEM, it is around the same price The OEM stuff has never been corroded, dirty. sludged in my experience. Always comes out just as clean and blue as the day it went in. Can't say the same for other coolants I have seen.

[sev]

no real reason other than my brother has a shop and he gave me a couple jugs of it.

So I went to put it in and realized its GREEN!!!!!!! I looked in my garage and I had an older jug from 2018 I put in my 330cic, and it was blue. I got pretty upset and called valvoline and they told me they changed the dye not too long ago. Still unnerving to put in green coolant. Supposed to meet all the same specs as BMWs stuff including ATSM D 3306, which is the same spec as BMWs stuff.

[sev]

it’s really bothering me this stuff is green. I really hope they didn’t mis bottle it or something like that.

in the second pic, the top bottle is the recent stuff i got which is green. the bottom bottle is the older stuff from 2018 that’s blue. Both are g48 coolants supposedly.

i wish i just got OE. How hard is it to do a flush?

[heinzboehmer]

i wish i just got OE. How hard is it to do a flush?

Couple hours if you've never done it before. Not hard at all, but incredibly messy.

[Lukem3]

Nothing wrong with the zerex but I would not use the green. It s possible they changed the dye but I would buy another bottle of the blue dye just to be on the safe side. If it is actually mis bottled it will cause more harm than good

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[Lukem3]

Any reason you don't want OEM, it is around the same price The OEM stuff has never been corroded, dirty. sludged in my experience. Always comes out just as clean and blue as the day it went in. Can't say the same for other coolants I have seen.

Where I'm at the zerex is half the price of oem. For a bottle or 2 doesn't seem much difference but when your car likes to dump your coolant on the floor every couple months, the zerex savings are there.

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[sev]

man,i should have spent the extra time to go buy bmw coolant yesterday. I'll flush it all out. What's the best way to get all the remnants of this stuff out? Can i drain the rad/block, then fill with distilled, run it to operating temp, let it cool off, drain and put in the BMW stuff?

[Flat-Six]

If you’re doing it that way, I’d fill/empty with distilled until water comes out clear. Then refill with blue. Obviously you have to keep the engine warm and run it a few minutes in between fill/drain to circulate.

[sev]

So I called valvoline again and was more firm with them this time. As I suspected, the previous person I talked to was a moron. The woman I spoke to this time confirmed that it should never be green in color, and she even put me on hold and confirmed with her manager. She told me to send me the batch number, and pictures of the coolant. She said it could be the incorrect dye.

She said they keep a sample of every single batch they make and can check the formulation, (which will take a few days). She said if it is incorrect, they will pay to replace it in the car.

[Icecream]

So I called valvoline again and was more firm with them this time. As I suspected, the previous person I talked to was a moron. The woman I spoke to this time confirmed that it should never be green in color, and she even put me on hold and confirmed with her manager. She told me to send me the batch number, and pictures of the coolant. She said it could be the incorrect dye.

She said they keep a sample of every single batch they make and can check the formulation, (which will take a few days). She said if it is incorrect, they will pay to replace it in the car.

Nice, while they shouldn't mess up formulas, kudos for them actually looking into it.

[Flat-Six]

Excellent news for you!

[sev]

Followed up with Vavoline, they provided, in writing, that the formulation is correct, see below:



Sev, thank you for contacting Valvoline Product Support.


Thank you for your patience while we confirmed with our new product development lab why you are experiencing this issue. The product formulator for Zerex G-48 has confirmed that this batch number (C1931645193 13:15) was dyed Volvo green and not BMW green/blue at the plant. The chemistry is correct and the product is safe to use, the only difference is the color dye.


If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via phone at 800 TEAM VAL or by email at productsupport@valvoline.com for assistance.


Thank you and have a great day.

Michael

Valvoline Product Support


If I ever sell my m3 to any one of you and it still has this stuff in here, dont yell at my about wrong coolant

[Icecream]

Followed up with Vavoline, they provided, in writing, that the formulation is correct, see below:



Sev, thank you for contacting Valvoline Product Support.


Thank you for your patience while we confirmed with our new product development lab why you are experiencing this issue. The product formulator for Zerex G-48 has confirmed that this batch number (C1931645193 13:15) was dyed Volvo green and not BMW green/blue at the plant. The chemistry is correct and the product is safe to use, the only difference is the color dye.


If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via phone at 800 TEAM VAL or by email at productsupport@valvoline.com for assistance.


Thank you and have a great day.

Michael

Valvoline Product Support


If I ever sell my m3 to any one of you and it still has this stuff in here, dont yell at my about wrong coolant

I think that's so cool they tracked it down, had a record of what actually went into the mix and got back to you. Now the curious question is, how did that happen?

[sev]

I think that's so cool they tracked it down, had a record of what actually went into the mix and got back to you. Now the curious question is, how did that happen?

I actually emailed them back to ask that very question.