There are a few signs that your car may need a coolant flush: However, this may vary depending on the make and model of your vehicle. If you still have questions, feel free to call or email us.Most car makers recommend flushing your radiator every 30,000 miles or every two years, whichever comes first. If you have a mechanic you trust, their advice may supercede anything we’ve said here. The bottom line: Go with what your vehicle Owner’s Manual says. Dirty brownish fluids are probably no longer doing their job very well, either. A white-ish power steering fluid means there’s water in the fluid, which is bad. Contamination can occur if there’s a leak in the system or if the vehicle has gone a very long time, say at least 125,000-150,000 miles or more. But they can often go the life of the vehicle unless they become contaminated. Topping off these fluids when necessary is important. If it tests OK, there’s no need to flush it!Īs far as we know, most vehicle owner manuals no longer say anything about changing these fluids. Corrosion can harm the radiator and other parts of the cooling system, so the coolant in a vehicle with more than 75,000 miles should be tested periodically. Even if testing shows the cooling and antifreeze protection are still adequate, antifreeze can become more acidic over time and lose its rust-inhibiting properties, causing corrosion. Mixing it with distilled water is highly recommended. However, it gradually will get contaminated with dirt and dust, and possibly from stuff in the water it’s mixed with, since it’s supposed to be mixed 50/50 with water. Modern coolants can go a long time without losing their capabilities. Sometimes a transmission can fail even if the fluid looks “OK”. ALSO, if you check the transmission fluid and it looks OK, that is not a guarantee that everything’s top-notch. You could do it a second time, say 5,000 miles after the first time, to get most of the fluid changed. So it’s better in this case to just manually change the fluid, even though you’re not getting all of it. ***IMPORTANT NOTES: One thing to keep in mind is that if a transmission has a lot of miles on it, maybe 75,000 or more, and has never been flushed, power-flushing can do harm as it will loosen up all kinds of things in the transmission. It needs to be power-flushed to get it all. Just draining it manually and refilling it only gets some of the fluid because you’re not getting what’s in the torque converter, transmission cooler and cooler plumbing. Do it more frequently (every 30-35,000 miles is probably good) under harsh conditions such as a lot of stop-and-go driving, in a work truck, an older vehicle, etc. The experts we’ve consulted say the best thing to do is to have it professionally flushed every 30-50,000 miles. In the old days it was common to change transmission fluid every 30,000 miles or so. Here’s some solid info on typical services they offer: Much of the time that’s just so they can make money. Some lube shops and dealership service departments will push “packages” like a “Get Ready for Summer Service” or other things. Here we’ll cover some basic services that may be offered to you by lube or repair businesses. Our last blog post talked about a question we hear pretty often: “What do I do if the Check Engine light comes on?”
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