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I agree, I wouldn’t do it every 20,000 miles either. More like every 50,000 after initial fill.
Coolant flush vs drain and fill
- Thread starter Jay3702
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I really don't understand why anyone would do it this way personally. It doesn't make any logical sense to me. To each his own, but I feel like it's better to have 100% clean fluids for some portion of the lifespan than always dirty except the first year when the vehicle is new.
Have you looked up the price for a heater core? That can write off a modern vehicle. What do you mean coolant doesn't deteriorate?
I mean modern aluminum engines with modern coolant don't corrode like they used. 150,000 miles on the original fill and the radiator still looks like new inside.
Well I wouldn't do it on purpose. But if you do an oil change every 5000 miles, your oil, ON AVERAGE is 2500 miles old over the life of the OCI. The same age as if you drained a quart out every 1000 miles and then added a new quart. That was my only point. I have a car that burns a quart every 1000 miles. I never change it anymore, there's no point. The oil is renewed as if I am changing it at 5k OCI. FOr some people, it's a difficult concept to grasp. A Bob's reader's head might explode over this.
I'm supposed to change it?
Yep....I prefer to do three D&F's within two weeks
If you have that significant loss I would fully agree with just topping it up and changing the filter instead. But if things are in perfect working order at 200k and you're hoping for another 200k without engine work, I'd just change it out as completely as possible for a reasonable effort.
I do a coolant flush on every vehicle I own bi annually regardless of mileage. I flush with a few gallons of white vinegar and distilled water until it comes out clean. Refill with 50/50 distilled water and Asian coolant in my Lexus's/ DexCool in my GMC. My last Chevy truck got over 275,000 miles on same radiator, heater core and water pump.
Going 100,000 miles plus on coolant is just testing fate. I have replaced enough water pumps, heater cores and corroded radiators to know better.
Going 100,000 miles plus on coolant is just testing fate. I have replaced enough water pumps, heater cores and corroded radiators to know better.
While I understand what your saying much of your experience is with older technology coolants. One could ask you what is your experience with using Ford yellow coolant? My comments are not directed at you or anyone else in particular.
Hi there Donald, the Ford "Yellow" is nothing more than an everyday ethylene glycol-based antifreeze/coolant. Only difference are the dyes used. Sadly there is really no advancement in this coolant. It's all about the EPA and marketing.
Of course take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm sure there are many members here on BITOG that believe in lifetime transmission fluids, 10,000 mile plus oil changes /20,000 mile filters and 200,000 mile coolants. I'm not that guy.
and I could change it out completely and still not make a bit of difference. Perhaps the math is not registering. My regime is no less than a complete changeout every 5000 miles, which you recommend......
I am not sure of the exact chemistry but my 2015 pickup came with Ford orange coolant and if I move onto the newer Ford yellow there is less maintenance involved. I do not need to add the Ford VC-8 coolant additive at midway into a coolant change.
You should easily be able to go atleast five years with gold. Every year is way overkill. These aren't the old days with the green stuff. I use a volt meter to check for the possibility of electrolysis.
I personally see more than just that math. I see a bunch of contaminants drained out when the oil is drained completely and refilled with fresh. That's not happening if all you do is replace what's burned on your engine that's already on its last legs anyway (makes me wonder why your engine is an oil burner in the first place)
I keep hearing that stated here, but the first time I personally saw extremely bad coolant was in the mid 2000s when I was a service advisor at Ford. Certain engines (especially the 3.0 ohv) had extreme electrolysis and it would turn the yellow coolant to black in 2-3 years. Sometimes multiple flushes would fail and they would have to replace the heater core or more.
I think in most cases though about 5 years is fine. I'm doing every 2 years now on my truck because it was left 15 years on original dexcool. Only failure was the water pump but you can't see through the coolant reservoir at all anymore and it gets dirty fast now because of the previous neglect.
don't you trust your oil filter? I think you have a point but just not sure what contaminants they are and why the filter would not remove them but I suppose they could be chemical in nature.
I trust the oil filter but I don't believe they remove everything. If it's smaller than their micron rating then it's just going to keep building up over time and maybe not all the contaminants are removed when the oil is consumed. I'm not saying I know for sure that I'm right, but I don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel on changing oil. I'm not a risk taker like most guys on this forum.
Not only the price of the part, but labour will cost more than the part itself.
Why ?
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