matts6887

Just as the title states; how often should the coolant be flushed/changed out? Plus; the other day as i was checking the oil level I noticed that my overflow tank was just about empty. So I immediately got some distilled water and filled it up. I couldnt believe that it had just about gone dry in the overflow tank and i didnt even know it til i looked.

salimshah

Lexmex did a DIY on coolant change.

I hope your distilled water add to the overflow worked, but I would not advice that during winter time. What happens is that the overflow gets 100% H2O and that would freeze at 0C. I would get a turkey baster and suck some out of the cooled radiator and add it to the reservoir and add the H2O to the radiator.

One of the reason for loss of the overflow fluid is, during winter you tend to run the heater and if the coolant had bubbles in the heater core, due to lack to circulation the air is purged when you run heat. More details about the heater core are in Lexmex's DIY.

Finally: One should open the hood and give a good visual ONCE A WEEK. Check fluid levels and belts and battery terminals. Walk around the vehicles too and not just climb in the driver's seat.

Salim

matts6887

Well; it never gets to 0 degrees here so i shoudlnt have to worry about it freezing so thats not a issue as far as that goes. But yea doing a visual check once a week is probably a good idea now that i think about it, Especially for a 17 year old vehicle like mine. Salim; can u please post the link to that coolant thread as i just dont have time to go searching for it. Thanks.

fastnoypi

Matt, I'm not sure if you are trolling here or going for post count. We all know by now from the pattern of your posts you have limited tools and space for any diy maintenance. You end up paying a mechanic at the end of the day which is perfectly fine.

In the stickies at the top of the forum, in the List of RX300 DIYs thread you could have found the link to change your coolant in the second post by Lexmex during your leisure. Make a little effort if you are just doing research.

salimshah

Lets take the high road gents.

Salim

artbuc

Surprised you are using the Celsius temperature scale. Are you from the USA?

artbuc

Is your time more valuable than Salim's?

matts6887

Look; we are all supposed to be here to "assist" one another when needed. Not criticize. I simply asked him to post the link. You are making it more of a big deal than it needs to be art.

matts6887

fast; I am doing neither of those! so please dont point the finger at me for that. As far as this topic goes; I just asked how OFTEN it should be done; not necessairily the whole procedure for actually doing it.

salimshah

How often?

Old school 3yrs/36000miles.

Some of the new coolants are supposed to be lifetime.

Examine once a year ... check no oil in the coolant. There is a an instrument 'hygrometer' (i could be mistaken) that checks for coolant's capability to handle sub-freezing temperature.

When you do timing belt change, you should replace the coolant too.

Salim

salimshah

All questions answered.

Time to close this thread.


Salim