car maintenance

[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.

[Koronin]

Congrats!

[tangentgirl]

Nice!

[Catrin]

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

[smilingcat]

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.

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?

[jessmarimba]

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

[jessmarimba]

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).