A week ago I did a coolant change to my car for the first time. I bought this car about a year ago and it have an unknown coolant change history. My plan is to follow more or less the manufacturer recommendation in the future. However, the coolant change was a bit too messy for my liking (had to do it by taking the lower radiator hose off), so I’m not too keen to do this job more often than necessary.
I was able to change total of 3.6 liters of coolant (2.8 liters from the radiator and the engine block + 0.8 liters from the overflow tank). The whole coolant capacity in my car is 6.7 liters.
Nissan recommends that the coolant should be changed every 60k km. With my driving that’s every two years. Now, I was wondering if I could stretch the coolant change interval to 90k km by emptying the overflow tank with a turkey baster and filling it to full with new coolant once a year. This would be done between the actual bigger coolant changes.
So, here’s a comparison between the two different methods. I would prefer the latter one.
- Do a proper coolant change of 3.6 liters every two years
- Do a proper coolant change of 3.6 liters every three years and also a smaller 0.8 liter change with a turkey baster once a year
Does the latter method sound like a good plan? Do you see any pitfalls in the latter method?
Code:
Year
0 1 2 3 4 5
Liters changed
3.6 0 3.6 0 3.6 0 = 1.8 liters/year
3.6 0.8 0.8 3.6 0.8 0.8 = 1.7 liters/year
I was able to change total of 3.6 liters of coolant (2.8 liters from the radiator and the engine block + 0.8 liters from the overflow tank). The whole coolant capacity in my car is 6.7 liters.
Nissan recommends that the coolant should be changed every 60k km. With my driving that’s every two years. Now, I was wondering if I could stretch the coolant change interval to 90k km by emptying the overflow tank with a turkey baster and filling it to full with new coolant once a year. This would be done between the actual bigger coolant changes.
So, here’s a comparison between the two different methods. I would prefer the latter one.
- Do a proper coolant change of 3.6 liters every two years
- Do a proper coolant change of 3.6 liters every three years and also a smaller 0.8 liter change with a turkey baster once a year
Does the latter method sound like a good plan? Do you see any pitfalls in the latter method?
Code:
Year
0 1 2 3 4 5
Liters changed
3.6 0 3.6 0 3.6 0 = 1.8 liters/year
3.6 0.8 0.8 3.6 0.8 0.8 = 1.7 liters/year