1st coolant change on an Asian vehicle
- Thread starter pbm
- Start date
Oh yes...I have 141 rounds on my Civic and do a drain and fill every couple years. You buy those cars for the second 100,000 miles not the first.
I would probably go 3/4 the recommended interval for the first drain and and fill and half for each subsequent drain.
My calculus on this is also affected by how bad a job it is to replace a heater core in a particular vehicle.
My calculus on this is also affected by how bad a job it is to replace a heater core in a particular vehicle.
Whenever the mfr says to change it 
Honda puts coolant on the minder, but the others put it in the owner's manual.
And I'd use the appropriate Zerex coolant, not Prestone or other garbage with 2-EHA
Honda puts coolant on the minder, but the others put it in the owner's manual.
And I'd use the appropriate Zerex coolant, not Prestone or other garbage with 2-EHA
It’s good to hear opinions. On my Fords I just D&R the radiator and recovery tank every 2 to 2.5 years with no flush. I used Pentosin red cap (which is their Dexcool and meets Ford spec.) in my Escape. In my Focus I do the same using PGL. For my daughters Mazda I’ll probably do a distilled water flush and refill with OEM brand (their blue version of Mazda coolant) or Pentosin green cap which is a Mazda A22 type phoat after 3.5 or 4 years (which will be around 70K on the odo). I’m probably over killing it but that’s me..
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I would probably drain and fill every 50k miles w OEM coolant
5 years regardless of miles is probably a good rule of thumb for any manufacturer.
If you bought it used and the maintenance history is sparse or non-existent, flush the entire system as it could've been topped off with who knows what.
If you bought it used and the maintenance history is sparse or non-existent, flush the entire system as it could've been topped off with who knows what.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I'd do whatever the owners manual says. Coolant is really good these days. It's not like old school green.
I'm curious, where are you finding OEM brand Asian AF these days? Or, have you had it stashed for a while,? It is full strength, right?
The Asian PHoat AFs have a lonnng service interval. Three years ago I did a simple radiator d&f on FF Honda Type2, you can see how it and the radiator looked HERE .
As for topic question, like others I'd use the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation as a guide.
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I changed the coolant in my CR-V at 15 years of age. Similar to what was noted by another poster above, the coolant and system were in pristine condition.
Bud_One
Site Donor 2022
Personally , I do every 50k miles on my Hondas.
I've never had any coolant related failures.
My 97 Accord has 250k miles on it.
I've never had any coolant related failures.
My 97 Accord has 250k miles on it.
I do it every 5 years and buy the jug at Advance auto that says Asian, lists my make, and is the right color. In my garage I have a jug of blue for my Nissan, a jug of red for my Toyota, and I need to get a jug of Chrysler yet, as I used it up last change and haven’t got a new one yet.
I was doing either 100k (which is like 4 years) or 5-6 years, for the first one, then shorter after that. That was one the ones that I could just drain and fill, figured, keeping it freshened up was good enough, just drain the radiator and refill. Now I think I need a vacuum to refill and I haven't looked into that complexity just yet.
I also now have to pay to get rid of coolant (used to be free) so that has put a damper on this front. But I'd be pretty happy with a D&F every 50k I think, 5yr max, if I could.
I also now have to pay to get rid of coolant (used to be free) so that has put a damper on this front. But I'd be pretty happy with a D&F every 50k I think, 5yr max, if I could.
Gotta agree - at least on Asian vehicles using the recent Phosphate OAT coolants.
2006 Accord at 265k miles with the original coolant. Kind of ashamed, tbh. lol. Car is running great, with the same coolant temps (per Scangauge) in the summer as it did when I got it at 70k miles. No noticeable contamination or residue in the overflow tank or under the radiator cap.
