How Often to do a Coolant Flush

At times, a coolant is defined as 'an agent ( liquid or gas) that does the job of transferring heat from one object to another'. In automobiles, a coolant which is in the form of a mixture of water, oil and some other antifreeze chemicals, takes away the heat from the internal combustion and maintains suitable operating temperature of the automobile. The coolant flush thus, refers to the flushing and replacement of the coolant from the radiator of the automobile.

How Often and Why Flush It?

Before we proceed to the coolant flush frequency, let us try to understand why the coolant needs to be flushed out in the first place. There are two principle reasons for why should a coolant be flushed from time to time. Most of the automobile coolants are made up of water and oil. In such a situation the pH level of the coolant is maintained, but over a time period, basic-acidic balance of the coolant which ideally should be equal begin to change. If the level is more acidic, then the auto parts might get corroded and if, it is basic, there will be severe depositions within the car parts. The coolant concentration is another matter that one should be worried about. Due to usage, concentration of coolant within the car parts deteriorates, and the car begins to heat up frequently.

Contamination of coolant is a very dangerous situation, and it can drastically harm the car's health. While in use, a coolant may get contaminated by several different agents such as metal chips, tramp oil, salts and even bacteria. On the whole, frequent and timely change of coolant plays a highly instrumental role is upholding the performance of the car. In some cases, the replacement of coolant might prove to be a bit costly, but if you look at the bright side, flushing coolant at a regular intervals proves to be beneficial in terms of engine mileage, reduction of harmful emissions and also in avoiding car repairs.

How Often to do a Coolant Flush?

There are several different factors that are to be considered before you decide the frequency at which you are going to flush the coolant. Some prominent ones go as follows...

• Size of the engine
• Total number of miles that are completed
• Climate (antifreeze concerns)
• Age of the current coolant
• Type of coolant
• Recommendations of manufacturers (of car as well as coolant)

On an average, manufactures of cars and coolants, will recommend a certain number of miles as an interval before one changes the coolant. If you are using the vehicle as a commercial vehicle (such as a taxi or truck), then the frequency of flushing the coolant will obviously be more.

There are 3 types of coolants that are used around the world, namely, Green Antifreeze, OAT based extended life coolants, and Hybrid OAT based coolants. All three coolants have different nature and also different flushing patterns. The Green Antifreeze coolants were almost universally used coolants before the introduction of extended life coolants. Manufactures recommend a coolant flush after every 30,000 miles. OAT based extended life coolants include some organic acids and are usually dyed. These coolants are to be changed once in every five years or after 150,000 miles. The hybrid OAT based coolant is a variant of normal OAT coolant, and is to be changed after the same time duration as that of OAT based. The specialty of such a coolant is that it contains silicates, that provides protection to aluminum surfaces.

Thus, the best solution is to consult a car mechanic as well as the manufactures of the coolant. My opinion is that, you should periodically check the coolant and the temperature of automobile engine and radiator to ensure that the coolant is in good shape.