If you're wondering, “when to change coolant?” The short answer is once every 60,000 miles at the beginning and then once every 30,000 miles.
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Our vehicles contain a lot of fluids that do different jobs to maintain a healthy vehicle. For you as a driver, you must maintain the proper level of these fluids. It is also critical that you understand when to change these fluids because they might have different characteristics and might not do the right job over time of use.
Since coolant is one of the most vital fluids in your vehicle, it is important to understand when to change the coolant. This article walks you through all details you need to know about understanding coolant change frequency, and it also helps you get an idea about how critical it is to perform coolant change and never skip it.
What is the coolant, and what does it do?
Before we discuss the details about “when to change coolant?” It is important to understand the main role of coolant in your vehicle and why it is important to change it.
The coolant is the main fluid used in the cooling system, and the cooling system is responsible for maintaining the engine separator within a specific range. If the engine temperature exceeds the maximum threshold, you'll deal with what's known as engine overheating.
When engine overheating happens, it immediately leads to significant damages to the engine, and in many scenarios, you'll end up needing a new engine. Therefore, it is critical to maintaining the optimum level of coolant all the time.
Coolant consists of a 50/50 ratio of both water and antifreeze. Water has the characteristics to cool the engine down, and the entire freeze prevents water from freezing at very low temperatures.
Coolant is responsible for running around the engine when it's allowed to. In other words, the coolant won't be continuously running around the engine all the time because otherwise, the engine won't reach the minimum optimum temperature. The thermostat is the small component that allows or prevents coolants from running our engine depending on the engine's current temperature.
Why is it important to change the coolant?
While it is very critical to maintaining the optimum coolant level, it is as important to consider changing the coolant as specified in your vehicle's owner’s manual. Coolant is fluid, and it's expected to break down over time. When coolant breakdowns, it doesn't maintain the right characteristics to cool the engine down, and that's why it will be just running around the engine without doing anything serious.
Let's take a closer look at some of the benefits you'll get from performing a coolant flush or changing your vehicles coolant:
1- Get rid of rust
When coolant runs around the engine, it collects a lot of debris and rust, and this rust impacts the functionality of this coolant. Therefore, when you perform a coolant flush, you're getting rid of all these contaminants and pouring a new fresh coolant that will do the job properly in no time.
2- Improve lubrication
Most fresh coolant includes no additives that help clean up the engine and provide the best lubrication for the engine and other components, including the water pump. Thus, by performing a coolant flush, you'll achieve an extension to the lifetime of the water pump and other components involved in the cooling system.
3- Eliminate rust buildup
Coolant helps clean up the rust; as we indicated earlier, when you install a new coolant and perform a coolant flush, the new coolant will prevent any rust from building up around the water pump. The water pump is an expensive component, and making sure that it doesn't have rust buildup is a great goal of any coolant.
4- Take advantage of the inspections
When your mechanic performs a coolant flush, he won't only focus on the cooling system. Still, also, he will take a closer look at some of the other components that help you determine early signs of internal damages before dealing with major breakdowns.
In other words, your mechanic might tell you that your vehicle is due for an oil change very soon, and he will encourage you to maintain these scheduled maintenance and preventive damaging your vehicle parents
5- Eliminate acidity
One of the worst things that your vehicle might deal with is an acidic coolant or antifreeze. Over time of use, the colon becomes very acidic and impacts the water pump and other components. Therefore, changing the coolant at the right time helps prevent these issues and eliminate any potential damages.
When to change coolant?
In general, changing your coolant depends heavily on your vehicle's type, age, and condition. However, you'll need to change the coolant once every 60,000 miles at the beginning, and then you can change it once every 30,000 miles.
It is important to note that you contribute to the amount of older waste in the environment when you change the coolant. That's why many automotive experts are now advising automakers to create vehicles that have coolant, which lives for a long time without needing to be changed frequently.
Therefore, changing the coolant is not something like an oil change, where you must change it multiple times a year. Instead, it is something that you must change in longer intervals, which means that it should be critical for you to follow these intervals and never skip a coolant change because it's not going to require a lot of continuous effort.
Although the mentioned 60,000 miles and 30,000 miles is a rough estimate for the frequency of changing your cool ones, you must go through your vehicle's owner’s manual to generate a clear idea about when exactly to change the coolant depending on your vehicle's type. Also, your mechanic will provide you with good advice about whether the mentioned thresholds are ideal for your vehicle's condition or not.
While many of us think that only gasoline cars are expected to overheat, some minor systems looked at vehicles that are responsible for cooling down the vehicle not because of the hot engine but to prevent overheating in general. Many electric vehicle automakers are going green and trying to save the environment as much as possible. That's why a recent article published by greencarreports.com highlighted a new technology for providing a faster cooling process for certain electric vehicles
How do you know when to change your coolant?
Since they mentioned thresholds are just a rough estimate for when to change your coolant, it is very critical for you as a driver to keep an eye for common symptoms indicating that your vehicle is due for a coolant change. That's a great thing to keep an eye for because your car will communicate with you by showing you these symptoms to bring your attention so you can resolve the issue without dealing with major breakdowns.
Typically, when your coolant is due for a flush, you'll notice one or more of the following symptoms:
1- High-temperature gauge reading
The small temperature gauge on the dashboard is responsible for communicating with you and letting you know about your engine's current temperature. It is important for you as a driver to always keep an eye on this gauge because it will give you the initial signs when your engine is dealing with overheating.
Whenever you notice very high readings on the temperature gauge, you must pull over and stop your vehicle to resolve the issue. Reading could be an issue with the coolant requiring an immediate flush among the different reasons for a high-temperature gauge.
2- Coolant leaks
Whether your coolant is due for a flush or not, you must never ignore any fluid leaks. It sometimes can be tricky for inexperienced drivers to differentiate between the different types of fluids. Still, whenever you deal with a fluid leak, it is critical, and you must take it seriously.
Depending on the type of anti-freeze for use, you'll be able to tell whether the fluid underneath the vehicle a coolant leak is or not. If you confront that it's a coolant leak, then your vehicle needs to be checked because there could be some cracks within the court system, or it could be that your court is due for a coolant flush
3- Weird grinding noises
Whenever you hear any weird noises coming from your vehicle, it indicates something wrong going on. These noises should be taken seriously because they help you detect problems early and prevent dealing with sudden major breakdowns.
One of the very common symptoms you'll notice when your vehicles do for a coolant flush is hearing weird grinding noises from underneath the hood. When this happens, you must consult your mechanic to get an idea about what needs to be done next.
4- Rust in the antifreeze
Another easy way to confirm whether your coolant is due for a flush is to perform a visual inspection. First, look at the coolant and see if it's clean or not. Many times, when the coolant is very old, you'll see some bits of small rust around the coolant, indicating that it is sturdy and it's not functioning properly.
5- Strange Maple syrup smell
Finally, another very common sign indicating that your colon is due for a flush is when you notice a weird Maple syrup smell appeared. At the same time, we always mentioned that whenever you hear or smell anything weird, it is critical to take it seriously; it is important to note that even if this smell is good, it also can indicate an internal problem.
Therefore, whenever you realize this Maple syrup smell, it can be an initial sign that something is going on wrong in your cooling system, and you must perform a thorough inspection to confirm whether it's a coolant flush or not.
Why is my coolant low but no leak?
One of the very common problems you should never ignore when dealing with a low coolant bought no leak. When this happens, it means that the coolant is leaking somewhere inside your vehicle, not outside. This could be due to a problem with a fractured cylinder or probably a blown head gasket.
These problems are very costly to repair, and it might indicate that your vehicle could be beyond repairs. First, consult the mechanic and perform a thorough inspection to confirm what is causing this issue and how to resolve it. Then, evaluate all your options before spending a penny repairing this vehicle.
Can I use just water as coolant?
The short answer is yes, you can, but it shouldn't be a habit and only be used in emergencies. There is a reason for having a ratio of 50/50 coolant to water in your cooling system. This is because water only won't be able to do the job, and it's expected to evaporate at certain high temperatures and freeze at certain low temperatures. Therefore, the coolant should not be only water because it's a combination of water, anti-freeze, and some additives to get the job done properly.
How much should coolant flush cost?
Typically, a coolant flush would cost you between $71 and $115. This involves both labor and parts costs. However, if you have the means and can do the coolant flush yourself, it shouldn't cost you more than $30 on parts only.
Conclusion
Maintaining the optimum coolant level is an absolute necessity in any vehicle. However, it is also critical to understand when to change coolant to get the best advantage out of this coolant and prevent engine overheating.
According to experts, you'll need to change the coolant once every 60,000 miles and then once every 30 1000 miles. However, we still recommend that you go through your vehicle's owner’s manual to get an accurate recommendation about when exactly to flush your vehicle's coolant.
Note that skipping coolant change add never maintaining a coolant level leads to significant engine damages. When this happens, your options will be very limited because repair costs will be very expensive, and selling your vehicle won't make you as much money as you expect because most private buyers want by car with major engine damages. However, cash cars buyer does!
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