Coolant is an important fluid in keeping your engine running. Coolant helps the cooling system of your car regulate your engine's running temperature. Some drivers ignore the coolant in their cars to focus on replacing their fuel and engine oil. How long does coolant last in a car? Does it really need to be replaced often like engine oil?
Changing your coolant, or flushing your coolant, is an important part of servicing your car. This is because coolant goes bad after a while and needs to be replaced. Keeping the coolant in your car clean is important in preventing damage or catastrophic engine failure from overheating. It also helps prevent the reduced performance caused by a cold engine.
In this article, we'll explore the reasons why you need to change the coolant in your car, and how often it needs to be done. We'll also look at what happens when your coolant isn't changed on time.
What is Engine Coolant?
Before we can talk about how long coolant lasts in a car, and why it needs to be changed, we need to understand the importance of coolant in the engine. Coolant is a crucial component of the engine. It regulates the temperature of the engine and protects it from running cold or overheating.
Using clean coolant will prevent the fluids in the engine from freezing in cold weather and will protect the engine from overheating in hot weather or under extreme performance stress.
Good coolant will also protect the metal surfaces in the cooling system, such as the radiator and the thermostat, from clogging and corrosion.
Why Does Coolant Need to Be Changed?
Coolant is much like engine oil in that it needs to be changed regularly to ensure proper performance. But why does the coolant need to be changed? Mainly, your car likes to have clean fluids to operate properly. Just like your car needs clean engine oil and prefers clean fuel, you also need to have clean coolant to enjoy a healthy cooling system.
Here are the reasons why the engine coolant in your car needs to be changed:
1) Residue and Sediment Build Up
Hopefully, you're adding clean coolant to your engine. However, no matter how clean your coolant is at first, it's going to get dirty over time. This is because the coolant in your engine will become contaminated with dirt, rust, and metal from the surfaces of the cooling system components it passes through.
When the coolant becomes dirty, it can take on a brown appearance, almost like coffee. If the coolant is extremely dirty, it might start to become a dark sludge.
2) Coolant has Degraded
Dirt and contaminants aren't the only things that reduce the quality of your engine coolant. The quality of your coolant will degrade over time with exposure to high levels of heat and oxidation. This causes the boiling point of the coolant to drop. If the boiling point of the coolant drops too low, it could start to boil in the cooling system, causing serious damage to your car.
The coolant can also become acidic over time as it oxidizes. This can damage the seals and the components in the cooling system.
3) To Clean the Cooling System
The cooling system in your engine can also gather deposits of corrosion and sediment. These deposits can eventually develop into blockages that can stop the flow of coolant and cause serious damage to the engine. While changing your coolant will usually get rid of the debris in the system, in more serious cases you will need to perform a coolant flush.
A coolant flush will remove dirt, rust, and sludge from the cooling system that has been deposited by dirty coolant.
How Often Does Coolant Need to Be Changed
So, we understand how important it is to have clean coolant in your car, but how often does it need to be changed? The lifespan of the coolant in your engine depends on several different factors, so there isn't a single answer to this question. How often you will need to change your coolant depends on the type of coolant you use, the make and model of your car, as well as the driving conditions you submit your car to.
The best way to know how often to change your coolant is to consult the owner's manual of your car. The manufacturer will usually have determined how long coolant will last in your car based on the operation of your engine and the recommended type of coolant for your car.
Generally, it is recommended that you change your coolant once every 30,000 to 50,000 miles. It is also recommended that you don't leave the coolant in your car unchanged for longer than two to five years.
Some manufacturers sell cars with "lifetime coolant", which is coolant that is meant to last a very long time. Some lifetime coolants claim to last up to 15 years. However, many mechanics still recommend changing your lifetime coolant every 30,000 to 50,000 miles as well.
Your coolant could last longer if the car is driven in mild conditions where the engine never reaches very high temperatures. On the other hand, frequent driving in extreme temperatures, frequent short trips, and leaks in the coolant system can reduce the lifespan of the coolant, making it necessary to change the coolant more often.
Symptoms of Failing Coolant
It's important to keep an eye out for signs of bad or failing coolant in your car. This will help you replace your coolant and prevent the complications and damage that can result from the sudden failure of your cooling system.
Here are some signs of failing coolant that you should keep a lookout for.
- Overheating engine: If the coolant is no longer doing its job of regulating the temperature of the engine, you might receive an overheating engine warning, or you could even see steam start to rise from the hood. This could mean that the coolant has failed and the engine is overheating and in danger of getting damaged.
- Low coolant levels: Keep an eye on the coolant levels in your car and if you notice that they're running low, it could be a sign of a leak somewhere in the system. Alternatively, it might just be time for a coolant change.
- Milky or rusty-colored coolant: If you notice that the coolant has turned a milky or rusty color, it's a definite sign that something's not right. This is usually due to oil mixing with the coolant and could indicate a head gasket failure.
- Brown or coffee-colored coolant: If the coolant has taken on a brown color, or has an appearance like coffee, then it's no longer suitable for your car. The coolant has become dirty and contaminated and needs to be changed.
- Strange engine noises: Bad coolant can cause your engine to start producing odd sounds. If the coolant is failing and no longer removing heat from the engine, then you might hear a hissing sound from the engine as it starts to overheat. You could also hear a gurgling or growling sound from the engine compartment. This could be caused by air bubbles in the coolant. It could also be a result of degraded coolant that is starting to boil inside the radiator.
- Cold air from the heater: If you're getting cold air coming from the heater instead of warm, it could also be a sign of a failing coolant system. In many cars, the climate control system uses the heat of the coolant to warm the air from the cooling vents. If your heater only blows cold air, then that is a sign that the coolant is bad and no longer removes heat from the engine.
Many of these symptoms could point to a problem with another part of the cooling system or another system in the car. Checking the coolant is always a quick and easy way to start diagnosing a problem with your car's cooling system, so it should always be the first place you check.
Conclusion
Coolant is a critical component of a car engine, regulating its temperature and protecting it from overheating or running too cold. It needs to be changed regularly, just like engine oil, to ensure proper performance and prevent contaminants like dirt, rust, and corrosion from building up and causing damage.
The lifespan of coolant depends on various factors such as the type of coolant, the make and model of the car, and driving conditions. The best way to know when to change the coolant is to consult the owner's manual, but a general rule of thumb is to change it every 30,000 to 50,000 miles, or every 2 to 5 years.
It's important to keep an eye out for symptoms of failing coolant and have it changed promptly. Keeping an eye on the color and consistency of your coolant, as well as how quickly your engine heats up, will let you know if your coolant needs to be changed early.
