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"You can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamn contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbrush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you'll see something, maybe." ~ Ed Abbey

Steps on How to Change Radiator Fluid

April 20, 2007

Having a car gives you a big responsibility on maintaining its physical condition. We can’t afford to have a malfunctioned car so we better give our tender loving care to our very own vehicles by giving our one hundred percent attention and providing the proper methods in car maintenance as well.

You want your car to last longer do you? So better listen up and learn one of the easy ways of preserving your car’s life.

Every year, make sure to change the fluids on your radiator. It is very important to replace your old coolant in your car’s cooling parts and system especially when it starts to become the cold season and every two years in moderate weather. If you are a nice owner or caring enough for your car, doing this would definitely bring back the new car kind of flavor to you!

A well-conditioned car is a good auto performance car! Here are the easy steps on how to change radiator fluid.

First, you have to drain your cooling system. Following these steps, draining will be over in no time! But first you need to prepare the tools needed in this process.

  • buckets
  • 3 To 5 Feet Of Radiator Hoses
  • Large Pans (5 Gallons)
  • Hose Clamps
  • Antifreeze
  • Flushing Guns
  • 1 Bottle Of Radiator Cleaners
  • Compressors
  • Wrenches
  • Screwdriver Sets
  • Car Creepers

    • What do you do? All of these steps, by the way, are courtesy of www.ehow.com. I felt like I was not doing much justice if I changed the way they set out these steps.

    1. When the engine is cold, open the radiator cap.

    2. Below the front of the car, crawl down and locate the bottom of the radiator. Look for the radiator “drain cock” or known as the “radiator petcock”. Drain cock is distinguished as a small plug or a bolt with a T-shape located just underneath the radiator. Sometimes it is made of plastic.

    3. Put a big pan - 5 gallons will do- under the radiator. Open the drain cock using your hand or an fitting-size wrench. Allow the radiator to drain into the pan.

    4. Close the drain cock.

    5. Refill the radiator with water until the water is at the top of the radiator or just visible.

    6. Return the cap.

    7. Turn on the engine for 5 minutes; let it run to circulate and move the fresh water.

    8. Turn off the engine, let it to cool slightly and repeat steps 1 through 4.

    Tips & Warnings

  • Don’t keep the petcock open and use a hose to flush the water through until it runs clear. There’s no way to capture all the water, and it will run into the street and gutters. This used to be standard practice until we realized that coolant should never be dumped into the sewers - it kills fish and is bad for the environment.
  • When running the engine, keep an eye on the temperature gauge. Never let the gauge go into the red zone - shut off the engine if the car starts running warmer than usual.
  • “Cooling system flush treatments” that you buy at an auto parts store are not good to use in older cars or cars with very rusty cooling systems. They’ve been known to cause leaks because they clean so well.

    •  

    Now let’s proceed to the steps on how to add the coolant to your cars cooling system:

    1. Add a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 antifreeze to the radiator. Fill it right up to the top.

    2. Fill the overflow/coolant reservoir with the same 50-50 mixture.

    3. Leave the radiator cap off, turn the engine on, and let it run until the radiator “burps.” There may be pockets of air trapped in the system: You’ll see the coolant level drop and may see a large air bubble come to the top as the system burps. Be sure to keep an eye on the temperature gauge throughout this process.

    4. Refill the radiator to the top and the coolant reservoir as needed.

    5. Put the radiator cap back on.

    6. Add more coolant if the engine runs hot after this procedure - there may have been another pocket of air that burped.

    7. Put the old coolant and water in plastic jugs using a funnel.

    8. Dispose of coolant properly - don’t pour it down the drain or sewer. Many service stations, repair shops and parts stores will take it so it can be recycled, or you can take it to a recycling center.

     

    Tips & Warnings: Cats and dogs like the sweet taste of antifreeze. Don’t leave it around where they can drink it - it can kill them.

    Posted by auto101 at 3:33 pm | permalink

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