[hayko_M340]

22' M550I sitting at 13K miles. Coolant needed to be topped up twice within 5-6k miles. No visible leaks or anything unusual, most likely being burnt. Possible lemon on the third time? Confident message will pop back up soon enough, seems like these N63TU3's are a hit or miss with eating coolant. TYIA!

[c18]

Originally Posted by hayko_M340

22' M550I sitting at 13K miles. Coolant needed to be topped up twice within 5-6k miles. No visible leaks or anything unusual, most likely being burnt. Possible lemon on the third time? Confident message will pop back up soon enough, seems like these N63TU3's are a hit or miss with eating coolant. TYIA!

'13 S63TU here, Topping off a quart or two of coolant does not seem to be something i'd deem lemon worthy but to each their own. If you drive the car aggressively and live in warmer parts of the country I think you're fine.

[Boosted_8]

I think there might be several factors at play. Reports of leaky tanks and lines coupled with the fact the V8s do seem to use more by default. Next step is a pressure test.

[zinner]

you should be able to test for exhaust gas in the coolant I believe.

[Joe-BMW33]

These cars do not "consume coolant" as the dealer might tell you. You have a leak, a small leak that will eventually rear it's ugly head. Most likely the leak is dripping onto the valley pan and burning off. So nothing on the ground and nothing to see in the engine bay.

I was adding a pinch of coolant every other month. Dealer said normal. Then the leak increased to the point where I could smell the burn off coming through my interior vents. Nose burning and eye watering. My turbo coolant lines were leaking and they were replaced with the updated stainless ones as this is a known issue. I have not had to add coolant since, problem solved.

Tell the dealer you have the same smell even if you don't. This will at least make them look hard for coolant burn off powder on the valley pan or other places.

[hayko_M340]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

These cars do not "consume coolant" as the dealer might tell you. You have a leak, a small leak that will eventually rear it's ugly head. Most likely the leak is dripping onto the valley pan and burning off. So nothing on the ground and nothing to see in the engine bay.

I was adding a pinch of coolant every other month. Dealer said normal. Then the leak increased to the point where I could smell the burn off coming through my interior vents. Nose burning and eye watering. My turbo coolant lines were leaking and they were replaced with the updated stainless ones as this is a known issue. I have not had to add coolant since, problem solved.

Tell the dealer you have the same smell even if you don't. This will at least make them look hard for coolant burn off powder on the valley pan or other places.

Next oil change going to tell them to check it out. Car took a whole gallon of coolant between the charge air intercooler reservoir and main engine coolant reservoir, I tried to get them to put it on paper that this was the third time and it just consumed a whole gallon but they refused. There was 6-7 workers standing looking at the engine watching it just take more and more coolant.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by hayko_M340

Next oil change going to tell them to check it out. Car took a whole gallon of coolant between the charge air intercooler reservoir and main engine coolant reservoir, I tried to get them to put it on paper that this was the third time and it just consumed a whole gallon but they refused. There was 6-7 workers standing looking at the engine watching it just take more and more coolant.

Are you smelling anything putrid in the cabin? That’s a lot to add to not have a noticeable leak.

[hayko_M340]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

Are you smelling anything putrid in the cabin? That’s a lot to add to not have a noticeable leak.

Nope no unusual smells or leaks. These N63TU3's in all the LCI cars are a hit or miss when it comes to coolant consumption.

[Joe Shmoe]

I had the same issue as Joe-BMW. I started smelling something coming from my vents when the heat was on. It didn't smell like typical coolant from say a leaky heater core. But it did bother my eyes and nose. Then the low coolant message came on.

The dealer said it was the turbo coolant lines and replaced them with the updated ones. Luckily all under warranty.

[Manley00]

I have a 2020 M550- in the shop right now. Coolant reservoir tank split at the seem. 🤷*♂️

[HerkHealer]

You lost a GALLON of coolant ? That's ridiculous. I cant believe the Dealership let you drive the car off the lot. Do you see any white smoke coming from exhaust on start up ? That's a sign of a blown head gasket.

[admranger]

Coolant is a closed, pressurized (under heat) system. No leaks is the acceptable leakage amount. Anything more is unacceptable and you should hold them to account. If they say it's normal, tell them you'd like to see the design specification from BMW stating that it is normal. Produce the paper or fix the problem.

[hayko_M340]

Originally Posted by HerkHealer

You lost a GALLON of coolant ? That's ridiculous. I cant believe the Dealership let you drive the car off the lot. Do you see any white smoke coming from exhaust on start up ? That's a sign of a blown head gasket.

No smells, no drips, no white smoke, nothing. Gonna ask them to check it out next service less than 500 miles away.

[HerkHealer]

Originally Posted by hayko_M340

No smells, no drips, no white smoke, nothing. Gonna ask them to check it out next service less than 500 miles away.

Definitely.
If that were my car and I lost a Gallon of coolant before the low coolant warning came on, they would be keeping it until fixed.

I've had low coolant warnings on my M550 twice within 13,000 miles. Both times it took less than a water bottle to top off.

[Zwmack]

Interesting. I just got into the m550 club and had the same coolant issue. I didn't realize how common this issue is. Curious to hear back from your dealer at your next maintenance appt. Keep us posted

[dhodory]

2022 m550i with 12k miles here.
Had a "low coolant" warning come on just before my 1st service (around 6k miles). Dealer said they checked the system and no leaks, topped off the coolant.
Had another "low coolant" warning come on just before my 2nd service (right around 12k miles) this time the Dealer said the coolant tank had cracked and they replaced it under warranty.

Given the long time between the vehicle's initial "in service date" and 1st leak (6k miles, almost 1 year) and between 1st service and 2nd leak (another 6k miles and almost 1 more year) I'm not in a position to say whether or not replacing the coolant tank has addressed the issue, but I should be able to tell you in a year or so.

I'm hoping it was a cracked coolant tank, because if the engine burns coolant as a matter of course, that's just piss poor design or quality control, which will definitely impact whether or not I buy another BMW, especially since BMW has been "working on improving" the N63 engine ever since they put it into production.

[G30M]

is there any way to prevent this issue?
any TSBs / recalls ?

[Drifttime85]

Originally Posted by dhodory

2022 m550i with 12k miles here.
Had a "low coolant" warning come on just before my 1st service (around 6k miles). Dealer said they checked the system and no leaks, topped off the coolant.
Had another "low coolant" warning come on just before my 2nd service (right around 12k miles) this time the Dealer said the coolant tank had cracked and they replaced it under warranty.

Given the long time between the vehicle's initial "in service date" and 1st leak (6k miles, almost 1 year) and between 1st service and 2nd leak (another 6k miles and almost 1 more year) I'm not in a position to say whether or not replacing the coolant tank has addressed the issue, but I should be able to tell you in a year or so.

I'm hoping it was a cracked coolant tank, because if the engine burns coolant as a matter of course, that's just piss poor design or quality control, which will definitely impact whether or not I buy another BMW, especially since BMW has been "working on improving" the N63 engine ever since they put it into production.

I got my issue around 8k miles. They did a pressure test and said it was fine and just topped it off. Their diagnosis was “ambient weather”. I’m going to wait and see if the issue arises again but I was going to do tune this year but now I’m waiting until I get this coolant issue under control.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by Drifttime85

I got my issue around 8k miles. They did a pressure test and said it was fine and just topped it off. Their diagnosis was “ambient weather”. I’m going to wait and see if the issue arises again but I was going to do tune this year but now I’m waiting until I get this coolant issue under control.

what is the fix for this issue?

[Drifttime85]

Originally Posted by g21

what is the fix for this issue?

Really depends on the issue. Getting your dealership to do extensive diagnostic is the key. Mine just did a pressure test and found nothing.

[silverydragon72]

FYI mine was a leak at the water pump which was resolved that solved my coolant loss problem.