Calling all Mechanics and car people...please answer my question?

Question

I want to know if it is necessary to flush the coolant once a year, a common car place that i went to told me to do this once a year and it costs like 90 bucks! Is this necessary or are they yankin my chain? I wonder if these car places try and be dishonest especially to women, because we may not know a lot about cars.....(kudos to all you female mechanics out there) I don't want to pay for stuff if i don't need to, thanks for your answer!

Answer 1

It depends on what year an model car you have. If you have a new car it has long life coolant most likley and you can wait 4 years. If it is an older car you should flush and drain every two years to keep your radiator clean.

Answer 2

you don,t have to as long as your anti-freeze looks good and clean. it,s been over 2 yrs. since i did mine and it works good.

Answer 3

As long as the coolant looks clean there is no need to change it every year. All you need to do is get the anti-freeze strength checked before winter. You should be able to buy a tester. It looks like a turkey baster with coloured discs in it .You suck up some coolant and the number of discs that float depict the strength of coolant. Then its just a case of draining a little coolant and adding anti-freeze until you get the required level. Not forgeting to run the engine in-between adding fluid.

Answer 4

No it's not necessary.  You can flush it WAY less often than that.  Check your owners manual for the proper schedule of maintenance for your exact make and model.  Also keep in mind that even the owners manual will be on the safe side, you can safely do it even less frequently than it suggests.  However it's smartest to follow the schedule laid out, better safe than sorry.

Everyone should read their owners manuals

Answer 5

Don't know for sure. My owner's manual says the coolant should be flushed out once a year.

Obviously, your owner's manual gives you the baseline of what services need be regularly done, and when.  

Answer 6

Thats way to high is should be have that or about 42.00 dollars, coolant is about 8 buck a gallon, and they just add water and drain out the old, not hard to do.

Answer 7

It is a good idea for the purpose of keeping the radiator clean,however you can do this every other year without causing any damage to the radiator or engine. Some people never do this, but it catches up with them later down the road.

Answer 8

that all depends on the condition of the coolant,generally every two to three years is sufficient.trans flushes every 30.000-50,000 miles,rotate the tires every other oil change or every third oil change depending on the wear of the front tires.change the wipers in the spring.also check the serpentine belt and tensioner.generally the belt will be changed about every  three to four years.tune it up at 50,000 miles and you will be good to go.

Answer 9

Yearly is a bit much. Every three years will be fine.

You should have a service schedule in your owners manual. There is some good reading in there!

Answer 10

2 years you should change out the antifreeze...but flushing it seems rather extreme.  Shop around for better prices seeing you have a whole year to do it.