It's that time again. I'm hoping I don't forget any parts this year. I took care of the car (flushed radiatior, refilled with new antifreeze). I know we need to check all caulking around the house (next weekend). Also drag out the space heaters for the garage and sunroom.
Well, here in these parts of the UK, the central heating has not been used for many months and tend to sieze up over the summer. Need to check mine and probably have to manually "give it a kick" to get it going.
Hmmm, I need parka and snow boots, LOL! My AC is all cleaned and covered up. Furnace is tuned, humidifier is cleaned and turned on, air cleaner element is cleaned and checked, Stored and covered outdoor furnitures, blew out the sprinkler, turned off all out door taps, time to wash our dog and bring him inside during night time........ Time to set up 'mas deco. B4 it gets too cold. Of course checked car cooling and charging system and battery. Swap out summer tires with winter tires.(easy, we have two sets of mounted tires)
The car is three years old so I may do the antifreeze, but then again, I may not. I've often gone five+ years with the newer stuff, unlike the 50's and
60's.
The heat has already been on this year so I know it is working, put new batteries in one of the thermostats.
Soon though, I'll be washing windows and putting the screens up and storm window down, kitchen and bathroom are last for that.
The snowblower gets pulled to the front of the garage, the lawnmower to the back.
My Hyundai manual says 60k miles, but I've done that in less than 3 years. For most people it is 5 or so. My LeSabre has the original at 9 years and
125k. The car is deteriorating in other areas, but not the cooling system. It is also the last Buick I'll ever own.
I've got 3 more windows to replace , boiler to get cleaned , leaves to take care of(just started to drop) , planters and other garden stuff to put away and I'll be pretty much ready except for putting the plow in the garage and putting the studded snowtires on my wife's '06 Elantra which I won't do till after Thanksgiving....They are mounted on different rims so the switch is easy....That's near the end of Nov. for those across the pond and north of the border...LOL..My 4X4 truck is ready......Oops , got a little more caulking to do as well...Burned my massive brush pile from trimming my trees and clearing brush out back today...A nice wet day for it...Boy did it still burn FAST...Glad I waited for a wet day.....
I'm not normally the kind of guy that makes blanket statements telling people to disregard the manual... but when a manual tells you that a fluid never needs to be changed, it's wrong.
That said, 5 years on a closed system with modern OAT antifreeze is probably OK.
Heh. The water pump on my previous company car - an '05 Impala - failed before I ever even thought it might be time to have the antifreeze changed. I guess that was the antifreeze maintenance reminder. Kinda sucked; it started spewing coolant while dropping the girl off at the airport, had to stop and buy some bottled water just to make it home.
Hopefully the water pumps on the new 3.5 engines are more reliable than the ones on the old POS 3.4... I actually kinda like the new one, was thinking of buying it out when the lease is up if it's still in good shape.
I don't have an original article. But a DAGS link.
Check for electrolysis
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Try this:
Take a digital volt meter and connect the negative lead to battery ground and place the positive lead in the coolant in the radiator (do not touch any metal), you should not show voltage over 0.01V, if you do then change the coolant and try again.
Now run the motor with no accessories on and the engine runnign at
2000rpm, if you show voltage above 0.03v then you have a system leaking electricity into the coolant. Run the engine with all accessories on and watch the voltmeter as an assistant turns off the accessories one at a time, when the voltage drops below 0.01v you have found the circuit with a poor ground. Do the same test while cranking the starter, a poorly grounded starter can destroy the radiator and or heater core in a matter of weeks.
Here is a bit from an industry newsletter about coolant:
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