This article covers Par#2 of “how to change every fluid in your car?” Once you finish this ultimate guide, you'll be able to perform the following fluid changes:
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- Oil change
- Transmission fluid change
- Power steering fluid flush
- Coolant flush
- Brake flush
- Differential fluid change
- Suspension system greasing
Every vehicle has scheduled maintenance listed in detail in the vehicle’s owner’s manual. It is critical that you follow this maintenance and never skip one because it leads to negative consequences that could cost you the entire vehicle.
In a previous article, we provided you with step-by-step guidance as part#1 of the ultimate guide on “how to change every fluid in your car?” In this article, we provide you with part#2 to continue the guidance and details about how to perform coolant flush, brake flush, differential fluid change, and suspension system greasing.
How to change every fluid in your car? Part #2
Like the previously mentioned article, before you perform any of the following fluid changes, you must maintain a vehicle in a horizontal position by raising it from both sides to the same level. Also, you want to confirm that the vehicle is secured using double methods to prevent its scrolling, which could cause some safety issues. But, again, there are plenty of available online tutorials on how to Jack up your car safely without trouble.
In this article, we will continue the details about “how to change every fluid in your car?” And in this part, we will cover the following fluid changes:
- Coolant flush
Flushing the coolant is an essential step that prevents engine overheating. Unfortunately, as coolant gets older, it loses some of its main characteristics that help cool down the engine and maintain its proper temperature. So, let's take a closer look at how to flush your vehicles coolant:
- Prepare the necessary equipment, which includes deciding on the coolant type and a specific final to fill the coolant easily without any issues. Note that you can go with either the universal coolant or any coolant specified in your vehicle owner’s manual. You also need a small pocket to collect all the old coolant and prevent it from spraying on the floor.
- Allow your vehicle to cool down for at least 30 minutes to prevent dealing with safety issues from the pressurized coolant in the system.
- Locate the coolant reservoir cap, which is typically marked with a specific pressure label. If you have difficulty locating it, you can always refer to your vehicle owner’s manual for better guidance.
- After confirming that the vehicle is cold, you can go ahead and open the cap.
- Then, move underneath the vehicle and locate the radiator valve. Again, depending on your vehicle type, you might find a different system for draining the radiator.
- To remove the valve, you want to use a 19-millimeter socket, and as you are moving it's, consider removing it gently, so you don't cause breaks to the plastic valve.
- After removing the valve, collect all the old coolant inside the bucket until the radiator is completely drained. Then, you can go ahead and place the valve back and tighten it using the socket.
- Inspect the status of the old coolant. For example, if you find that it's cloudy and dirty, you most likely need to flush out the coolant from your system completely. However, in most scenarios, you need to add a new coolant and allow it to mix with the old one to get a better mixture.
- This step-by-step procedure does not cover draining and flushing all the coolants but focuses more on draining some coolants to achieve better engine performance.
- After completely draining out the coolant from the radiator, you can go ahead and add the required amount of coolant as specified in your vehicle's owner’s manual in the reservoir. To do so, you'll have to use a specific funnel that prevents coolant from spraying around the engine compartment and causing some problems.
- It is important to note that the coolant is a 50 to 50 mixture of antifreeze and water. Therefore, you must review the product you bought to confirm whether it's a premixed mixture or something you must mix with water before using it in the vehicle.
- Note that to fill the coolant, you'll need a specific funnel that doesn't immediately allow coolant to get inside the system. Instead, you need to start your vehicle, and then all air bubbles will leave the system through the funnel.
- As you're filling the cooling system, keep an eye on the temperature gauge to confirm that your vehicle is not overheating. Otherwise, you'll have to stop the process and love your card to cool down before repeating.
- A good pro tip here is to start the heating system and set it to the highest to allow the vehicle to suck up all the coolant faster and prevent air from getting stuck in the cooling system.
- Once you notice that no air bubbles are coming through the coolant funnel, you're good to go!
- Brake fluid flush
The next step is to learn how to flush your brake fluid.
- Prepare all necessary equipment and tools, including the brake fluids, arrange, and a container to collect the old fluid.
- Locate the brake fluid reservoir, typically somewhere close to the master cylinder on the driver side. But, again, you can always refer to the vehicles owner’s manual for detailed guidance.
- Before you open the cab, try using a dry towel to clean up the area to prevent any contaminants or debris from getting inside the system and causing some problems.
- Using any simple method, take out the old fluid. You can rely on either a vacuum and a pump or any other approach that helps you take out the old fluid without any problems.
- If you dropped brake fluid on the vehicle’s pains for any reason, you must wipe it off and soap the area because there's a very high chance that it could damage your vehicle's paint.
- Choose a specific funnel that allows you to drain the required amount of brake fluid inside the reservoir without causing any spills. As you're filling the brake system, you'll need to keep the funnel because you must go back and forth until you flush the entire system.
- Start by flushing the fluids on the first wheel next to the driver's side. To do that, you'll have to remove the tire and locate the plug and remove it. Then, connect a specific hose and a can to collect all the old fluid. To flush the fluids, you must have a family member or friend help you press the brakes to kick the fluid outside of the Brake system.
- Monitor the color of the brake fluid as you're sucking it out of the braking system. You'll need to keep removing the fluid until you see a clean, clear fluid. Once you get to this point, you can stop and move on to the next step.
- Put the plug back in place. The tire
- Before you move on to the next, we'll; you'll need to confirm that you add more brake fluid to the reservoir, so you prevent any air from getting inside the system and causing problems.
- Then, repeat the same process for the three other wheels until you completely flush out the braking system fluids.
- Finally, you can go ahead and top off the brake fluid until you reach the maximum mark.
- Then, you can give your vehicle a quick test drive and see how the rating system is behaving.
- Differential fluid change
At this point, you can go ahead and follow these tips to replace the differential fluid:
- Prepare the required material and tools, including the exact type of differential fluid specified near the vehicle's owner’s manual, a pump, and a container to collect the old differential fluid.
- Go underneath the vehicle and locate the differential plug. Remove it out using a ratchet.
- Using the pump, pump out any differential fluid inside your bucket.
- You will immediately notice that the differential fluid is thicker than all fluids indicated in this guide, and it will smell more like sulfur than others. Therefore, it might be worth wearing some masks or any other protective material that helps you prevent the smell as much as possible.
- Then, you can go ahead and pump the new fluid inside the differential. You'll need to keep pumping until you see fluid coming out of the drain opening, indicating that the differential is filled.
- Put the plug in place and use the ratchet to tighten it but do not overtighten it because this will give you some hard time the next time you perform a differential fluid flush.
- Suspension system greasing
Follow these steps to grease the suspension system in your vehicle:
- Prepare necessary equipment, including a grease gun and a wheel bearing grease
- Follow the proper instructions to remove your vehicle's tires. Although we will not cover these instructions in this article because it will need some details. There are plenty of available YouTube videos or other articles that help you learn how to remove the tire safely.
- Once you remove the tire, look for the bolt joints in the area around the wheel. Check if the bolt joint has a grease fitting. If it doesn't, then look at the rod ends four any grease fitting location. Again, referring to vehicles, all this money will help the seal get a clear direction about where the grease fitting is located.
- Once you locate the grease fitting, it is recommended that you clean it up using a dry towel to get rid of any rust buildup. Then, use the grease gun adapter, place it in the right location, and start pushing grease inside your suspension system.
- You will also need to repeat the same process to the lower bolt joint if it has a grease fitting.
- After that, repeat the same process on any grease fitting around your wheels. Then, look underneath the vehicle. Locate other grease fittings across your driveshaft. Grease fittings are typically located on EU joints at the end of your driveshaft. You'll need to add enough amount of grease to help your suspension system work properly.
Conclusion
By completing the second part of the ultimate guide on “how to change every fluid in your car?” You'll be able to perform an oil change, transmission fluid change, power steering fluid flush, coolant flush, brake flush, differential fluid change, suspension system recent, and windshield fluid topping easily and safely.
As we indicated in the previous article, learning how to perform these changes doesn't solve your major mechanical problems in your vehicle if they are already there. In other words, if your car suffers from some major issues in the transmission or if the engine has overheating problems, you might want to evaluate repair costs and compare it to your vehicle's overall value to confirm whether it's worth it or not. Otherwise, it might be time to sell your car and use its value to buy a better vehicle!
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