How do I drain the coolant?

Coolant your car does not have an unlimited lifespan: you must replace it regularly. To do this, you need to clear coolant your car. If you travel a lot, you need to pump it every 30 kilometers.

🗓️ When to drain the coolant?

There are many warning signs of a problem with your cooling system. Fortunately, in most cases, bleeding off the coolant is sufficient. Here are some symptoms that should alert you:

• Your coolant sight glass lit on your panel;
• Your liquid level weak ;
• Your liquid salt.

🔧 How to drain the coolant?

For the coolant to be effective, you must avoid air bubbles in your system at all costs. To correct this, it is necessary to regularly bleed air from the coolant.

Material:

• gloves
• Coolant
• Pool
• funnel

Step 1: find the expansion tank

Before you start, make sure your vehicle is on a level surface and the engine has not been running for at least 15 minutes.

Wear gloves for easy alignment to avoid burns or contact with coolant.

For a complete cleaning, you will need a container large enough to hold all the drained dirty liquid, about 10 liters, and a few rags.

Then you can find an expansion tank. The refrigerant is pink, orange or green. Therefore, it is clearly visible through the white plastic reservoir.

Step 2: Empty the dirty fluid circuit

If you only need to refresh the coolant, go directly to step 3. To purge air from the circuit, you must:

• Remove the cover at the top of the radiator.
• Place a basin under the radiator drain plug to collect the dirty liquid. This screw is located at the bottom of the heatsink.
• Unscrew the drain plug on the radiator and let the dirty coolant drain into the pool.
• As soon as the liquid stops flowing, screw the drain plug back on.

Step 3: Fill in clean coolant.

Start by checking the coolant level. If it is near or below the minimum level, it must be filled to the maximum level indicated on the tank.

Of course, if you followed step 2, there is no need to check, since you have already drained all the liquid. You only need to fill it up to the maximum level marked on the expansion tank.

Step 4: remove air bubbles

There are small taps on the hoses in your cooling circuit. They must be opened to remove air bubbles. At the same time, open the radiator cap and leave the expansion tank open so that the liquid can escape by gravity: the air must compensate for the removal of water.

Then run the engine for about 10 minutes to spin fluid in the system and purge it.

Step 5: check the fluid level one last time

Stop the engine, let it stand for a few minutes, then check the coolant level again. If it is still too low, add clean liquid. Note that sometimes it is necessary to repeat this step two or three times.

Before closing the tank lids, be sure to clean their threads to make sure they are waterproof.

⏱️ How long does it take to pump the coolant?

You should change the coolant regularly. It depends on your vehicle, but also on your driving style:

• If you don't drive a lot, about 10 km a year, do it. every xnumx years average ;
• If you travel a lot, do this every 30 km average.

As you can see, it is not that difficult to cleanse yourself! But if you do not feel like a mechanic, entrust the bleeding of the coolant to one of the our proven mechanics. Use our comparator to clean your circuit at the best price!