coolant change

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Npath
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Location: Vancouver, Canada

coolant change

Postby Npath » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:39 pm

I know this has been asked before, but is it a straight forward job... drain the radiator and fill up?

Any special work I have to do, since there's a heater core in the back?


macbell7
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Location: Charlotte, NC

Postby macbell7 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:09 am

Basically, If your going to do that you might as well have it flushed. No need to mix all that new coolant in with any kind of build up that may be present. I would shop around for prices on a coolant flush and fill, some shops are very reasonable and eager to get your business.

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xd9-g19
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Postby xd9-g19 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:44 am

Yep thats pretty much it, just so you dont have to mix it, just buy the one that comes mixed.

Npath
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Location: Vancouver, Canada

Postby Npath » Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:24 pm

xd9-g19 wrote:Yep thats pretty much it, just so you dont have to mix it, just buy the one that comes mixed.
OK, thanks guys.

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fat_frog
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Postby fat_frog » Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:50 am

As I recall from reading Haynes some years ago, changing radiator fluid involves little more than just drain and refill. Draining coolant from radiator does not drain all the fluid from the cooling system, and you actually need to drain, fill with water, run the engine, drain, (I might have skipped a step or two), and repeat that for 2 to 3 times to remove all old fluid and dirt/slime out of the system before adding new, clean coolant.

As macbell7 said, I prefer to have a shop do it for me. I do not want to deal with gallons of old coolant...(you cannot just dump the old coolant, and it is not like I have a bunch of buckets available to transport old coolant safely w/o making mess in my Pathy)...

fresnoDave
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Location: Fresno, California, USA

Postby fresnoDave » Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:54 am

Like Frog says, disposal of the old coolant is the deal breaker for me.
In the old days noone thought twice about letting it run down the driveway into the gutter, but not anymore. I let the shop do this one, they have the set up to recover and dispose of the old fluids properly.

cruzstyle
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Postby cruzstyle » Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:44 am

in think places like autozone and kragen ill recycle your old fluids for you. i mean a 5 gallon bucket cost around 5 bucks at walmart plus new antifreeze will run u around 5-10 bucks so thats way cheaper then going to a shop. i would think the min. they charge is around 80.00

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fat_frog
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Postby fat_frog » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:25 am

Right. Those autoparts stores participate in recycling. But, when you try to change coolant the right way by yourself, you do not just drain and refill the fluid on the radiator once. You do that multiple times with clean water. Then, you fill it w/ 50/50 coolant at the end. Every time you fill the cooling system with water to run it through the system as a part of cleaning, the fluid that comes out contains some coolant. When you repeat that 2 to 3 times...until the cooling system is clean, you are left w/ gallons (probably multiple...more than just 1 5-gallon bucket) of fluid w/ coolant to dispose properly. Some of us are saying that dealing w/ gallons of coolant contained fluid is the deal breaker. That's all...

After learning what's really invovled, it is up to you to decide whether to deal w/ gallons of fluid and do it yourself, or spend some more money and have a shop take care of it for you...

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pawjr74
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Postby pawjr74 » Thu Apr 01, 2010 2:14 pm

I recomend the Nissan coolant. It is a very dark green vs a light neon green like the autozone stuff. Also you must only use Distilled water in the cooling system. Hose water can have a lot of bad stuff in it that could harm your cooling system.


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