Everything You Need to Know About Changing Your Engine Coolant

By Admin
•
21 Jun, 2017

Keeping your car in great shape means more than just keeping its fluids topped off. You'll also have to change these fluids as they break down with age and wear. Just like your engine oil and transmission fluid, your car's engine coolant will need changing every so often to prevent unnecessary wear and, more importantly, to keep your engine from overheating.

Why Change Your Engine Coolant?

If motor oil is the lifeblood of your engine, then think of your engine coolant as the fluid that helps it stay hydrated. As the years and miles add up, your coolant can steadily become inundated with dirt and scale deposits, which can impact its ability to keep engine temperatures in check and prevent overheating.

Engine coolant also contains a number of anti-corrosive additives that eventually wear out over time. Once these additives are spent, your radiator and other cooling system components will have a much harder time fighting against the effects of rust and corrosion. Changing your engine coolant not only helps prevent corrosion throughout your cooling system, but it also helps preserve your engine's cooling performance.

What Happens If You Don't Change Your Coolant?

Putting off a coolant change can have some major consequences for your vehicle. For starters, the continued buildup of sediment and other contaminants can clog up the water pump, coolant passages, and other parts of your cooling system. This blockage can create hotspots where your engine coolant is unable to reach, causing your engine to run hotter than normal. Eventually, these hotspots could cause your engine to overheat.

Engine coolant that's past its prime may also be lacking in anti-corrosive properties. This lack means that your aluminum cooling system components, including your water pump, may become more susceptible to corrosion. Corrosion can cause the water pump to fail prematurely, eventually resulting in a complete cooling system failure that leads to overheating.

How Often Should You Change Your Coolant?

The answer tends to vary among car manufacturers and it can even vary among different vehicle models. Some manufacturers recommend coolant changes every 30,000 miles or two years, whichever comes first, while others allow as many as 120,000 miles or 12 years to pass before a coolant change is required. It can even come down to the type of coolant you're using—many "long-life" varieties of engine coolant offer lifespans of 150,000 miles or more.

What you shouldn't do, however, is wait until you see that dreaded "low coolant" light on your dashboard or watch your temperature gauge go into the red before you change your coolant. At that point, the damage to your engine is already done.

Is It Better to Flush or Drain Your Coolant?

A "drain and fill" is the most common way of changing your engine coolant and it's also easy enough for you to do on your own. It might remove all of the old coolant from your radiator, but it won't get rid of the fluid that's trapped within the water pump, coolant hoses, and engine cooling passages. It also won't get rid of the gunk and debris inside your cooling system.

A coolant flush, on the other hand, is designed to force out all of the contaminants and old coolant from your engine and radiator. This flush is usually done with a special machine that pushes the old debris-filled fluid out of the cooling system while pushing new, clean coolant inside. Coolant flushes are usually more thorough when it comes to removing contaminants, giving your vehicle better cooling performance in the long run.

You can rely on the experts at Kell Radiator Service to take care of your car's cooling system needs. Don't hesitate to contact us to schedule your next appointment.