Your Car's Health is Important Too!
Coolants
There is
quite a bit of confusion about anti-freeze, coolant and freon. Service
personnel have been asked, "Would you put some coolant in my air
conditioner, please?" And, "My car is overheating, do I need some freon
in my radiator?"
It's not as crazy as it sounds. Coolant is the new word for anti-freeze.
It's the same old product (Well, maybe improved), but they discovered
that it not only kept water from freezing, it also kept the water in the
radiator cooler. This made it necessary for summer as well as winter.
Freon is a gas that is put into the air conditioning system that causes
it to cool. Forget about freon -until next July.
But don't forget about coolant, or antifreeze - let's call it
antifreeze. Having it checked, and then adding more, year in and year
out, is not proper maintenance. Due to a phenomenon called 'silicate
fallout', failing to change the antifreeze every 12 months may cause you
big-time radiator repairs.
Silicates
protect aluminum engine parts, heads, and radiators from corrosion.
These chemicals coat the inner surfaces of the cooling system with a
protective silicate film. As the film wears down, the silicate is
intended to break out and re-treat exposed areas.
However, over time, the "soup" of chemicals, impurities and corrosion
byproducts in the car's cooling system can start to break down the
controlled rate at which the silicate is to drop out. As it drops
faster, it forms a `goo' that hardens to clog delicate radiator core
openings, causing the car to overheat.
Nothing short
of pulling the radiator and placing it in a vat, to be boiled out, will
remove the hardened silicate.
Here are some
guidelines to follow that will save you the big radiator repair bill.
- Use only
reputable brands of antifreeze.
- Do not
use a higher concentration than 50% antifreeze to water.
- Do not
use cooling system additives that raise silicate levels
unnecessarily.
- Drain
and flush the cooling system annually.
- Use
distilled or filtered water in areas where the water is hard (High %
mineral). But, do not use distilled water unless it is necessary, as
distilled water absorbs oxygen and carbon dioxide, which promotes
corrosion.
To be on the
safe side, check the antifreeze in the spring, and replace it in the
fall. If you do your own, make certain that you never have more than 50%
antifreeze to water mixture.
Remember,
when your car overheats, turn the engine off at once. Only about 10
minutes separate a $30 hose or belt replacement job and, a $5,000 engine
replacement. |
