Hello everyone and welcome back to our series on automotive tools and repairs for the new weekend warrior auto mechanic. These articles aren't written for the professional, but for the average Joe just looking to get his hands a little dirty on the weekends. In this article I'm going to cover how you can look at your engine radiator fluid and know if it's maybe time to do a flush and change it for fresh fluid. But now it's time for the safety message.
If you have an older vehicle that does not use a reserve coolant tank system and depends purely on the radiator for fluid, make sure you never open the radiator cap when the system is still warm or near operating temperature. Doing so can cause you to be burned if you are not careful, so always allow your car to cool down before checking the fluid. A great way to do this is to grab and squeeze the upper radiator hose. If it's warm than don't open the radiator cap.
So, when checking your radiator fluids condition, you should look for these two things. The first thing you will want to keep in mind is that coolant is green, orange, pink, blue, or yellow. If your coolant looks colorless, rusty, or has debris floating in it - flush the system and change the fluid. The second thing to look for is oil cross contamination. If the coolant has an oily or sludgy appearance get it into a trained mechanic that you trust as soon as possible.
If this is the case, your car may be suffering from a damaged head gasket or worse and will need repair beyond just a radiator flush. The last thing to look at is your hoses. If your hoses are bulging, squishy or looked cracked it's probably a good time to replace them as well. They are going to be the large hoses on the top and bottom of your radiator.
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