car maintenance

I'm just posting b/c I'm very proud of myself! After moron backed into me the other day, my car almost overheated on the way home. I ended up having to squirt water out of my camelbak into the radiator reservoir on the side of the highway to ensure I'd make it over the mountains. Added more water to the radiator when I got home to see if the radiator was actually leaking or was just coincidentally remarkably low.

Well, after adding all kinds of icky water and finding out that it wasn't leaking, I determined that I probably ought to drain the fluid and replace - especially since I had no idea what the coolant to water ratio was at this point. The car repair place charges a fortune to do this (they flush the system, but I didn't think that was really necessary) so I wanted to see if I could do it instead.

Today I bike commuted to ensure that the car would be cool when I got home, and I drained and refilled the coolant all by myself :) As a kid, my dad did all of the car maintenance, but he was such a perfectionist that I couldn't even manage to hold the tools right, much less learn anything. So this is the first real thing I've ever "fixed" on my car! (I can't change the oil b/c my car sits too low - we used ramps when I was still near home).

:D :D :D Time for ice cream!!

I'm impressed, Jess! I have to admit that I am really intimidated by most mechanical things, so I think it's incredibly cool that you did this yourself.

of course in the summer the coolant ratio isn't very important, but I am very impressed with your ingenuity!
I hope you changed the radiator cap too.

Congrats!

Nice!

Great accomplishment! I would be SO terrified of doing this - I have enough problems getting my rear wheel back on my bike :o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

of course in the summer the coolant ratio isn't very important, but I am very impressed with your ingenuity!
I hope you changed the radiator cap too.

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I'm not mechanical about cars so I would like to understand why you would discard the old cap and install a new one? Is it because its like canning jar lids where once used it can't be used again because the seal is crushed?

It doesn't ruin a seal by opening it, but the seal can wear out over time. Most of the time you flush the coolant after a pretty long time (I think 120K miles is recommended for my car) and it's just a good idea to do it then.

I haven't yet though. Got the rest of the supplies at Wal-mart, they didn't have radiator caps :)

btw, funny thing about me and cars - I was a mechanical engineering student for years, I know perfectly well how engines work in theory. Looking at one and actually fixing things is a whole nother story!!

Thank goodness for the internet (and an owners manual that includes explicit directions on such things. I think they took out instructions on coolant change, etc, after they realized how much money they were losing by telling people like me how to do it).