[axehind]

I grew up working on cars. I'm older now and havent worked on any in 20 years now, so I'm a bit embarrassed about asking this... Where the heck do I put the coolant?
Some background.... 2016 550I I bought used this July. Since it got cold the last couple of days here in New England, I get a low coolant alert when starting it up only sometimes. Looked yesterday and I didnt know what one of these I put the coolant in. I'm adding pictures

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[Jalumi69]

Try the arrow is pointing to

[FrannieMoral2017]

Originally Posted by Jalumi69

Try the arrow is pointing to

So the middle arrow I believe is the turbo oil/coolant

Top arrow looks like brake fluid the master cylinder should be right behind.

On my n63 (look straight on) my coolant reservoir is on the lower right side below/maybe above the Power Steering Fluid (will send a picture when I get off work).

[Qsilver7]

EDIT: couldn't see all 3 of your pics yesterday when I replied...today when on my desktop CPU...I can see that the layout is exactly the same:

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If the coolant fill pipe is in the same location in the 550i as it is in the 650ix...then it is at the rear right (standing in front of the car) of the engine bay.

DO NOT use the fill cap at the front of the engine (unless it is low when you remove the lid to check the fluid level)...because that is the reservoir for the charge air cooler. It's kind of a separate system that is used to cool the air going to the turbos located on each side of the front of the engine as well as the engine CPUs (slim silver thingies on the far right/left of the engine bay at the front).

If you have electronic steering...then you WON'T have a power steering reservoir. (Edit: I can see now that you do)

Once you remove the cap...you fill 110m-160mm below the filler neck (so you'll need a tool that you can stick down into the fill pipe to see how low the coolant is:

[550iBM3]

Don't worry about filling it to the right level. Just make sure you get BMW coolant, mix it 50% with water and fill it to the top. It will puke out excess coolant if it has to. Every so often, just check the level, these 550's use oil and coolant, not sure why they use coolant but they do, just periodically check and fill if needed.

[Qsilver7]

Why waste coolant by overfilling the system...and since there's no room for expansion if you fill it to the top...this is extra pressure within the coolant system's pipes and hose connections.

Its simple to make an easy tool to determine the level in the fill pipe. I'm sure 99% of homes have something laying around that can be marked off between 4"-6" (or the equivalent centimeters mentioned in previous post). You can use a straw, chop stick, and old ruler...or cut a sturdy strip from a box top that you can hold on to and that would meet the depth requirement.

If you do use one of your wife's cooking utensils (like one of her wooden spoon handles or turkey baster)...then make sure you keep it in the garage and don't return it to where you got it since it's been dipped in anti-freeze. Go buy her a new replacement. Thanksgiving is approaching and I wouldn't want your family and friends to have funny tasting gravy or turkey with a blue tint that makes them sick.

[550iBM3]

You can absolutely measure it, that's fine. There is a pressure relief valve in the cooling system. My point was don't worry too much if you overfill it from the measurement spec that is called out.

LOL about the turkey baster, that blue coolant is just extra flavor!