Keeping It Cool

September 17th, 2024

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As most of us are still driving a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE), and since the cost of motoring has gone up over the last few years, it is good to think about what things we can do as preventative measures to ensure that our ICE vehicles continue to run smoothly, efficiently, and reliably without any major repairs.  An essential part of service maintenance on any ICE vehicle is the need to regularly change the engine’s coolant. 

One of the things I love about ICE vehicles is that they always come standard with a heater that usually works really well to keep you nice and warm inside the vehicle when the temperatures outside are low and cold.  This warm air coming through the heater vents is from the ICE block (not to be confused with an iceblock!), fundamentally from the friction that comes as the mechanical components inside the ICE are whizzing around like clockwork.  Inside the engine block are small tubes and cavities where the water coolant (the stuff you put into the radiator) circulates through in order to take heat from the metal surfaces inside the engine to cool the ICE block down to a sufficient operating temperature.  The added bonus of this is that the warm coolant passes through your cabin heating system, which fans the warm air inside the cabin of the vehicle as much as you want it to, to keep you nice and toasty. 

Now, if you ran your ICE without the coolant (or the correct level of coolant), then the ICE would overheat, and the internal mechanical components inside the engine block would implode with the extremely hot temperatures occurring from all of the friction of the working parts, rendering your vehicle inoperable.  You’d either have to get a whole new vehicle or replace the broken ICE with a new or used one.

Thankfully, maintaining and servicing the coolant system on an ICE vehicle is not hard and easy to do.  Just don’t forget to get it done regularly.  Usually, standard coolant mixes should be changed every 2 years anyway.  But if the coolant is a long-lasting type (one that lasts up to 5–7 years), then the coolant service can be pushed out to 5 years.  Obviously, if you are doing Star Trek mileages every year (75,000 km), then the long-lasting coolant should be changed every 2 years as a matter of course. 

Why do we need to change the ICE coolant if the level in the system is all ok?  The simple answer is because the coolant (the antifreeze concentrate that is mixed with distilled water) degrades over time and with use.  The antifreeze is very important, not only to stop your engine block cracking in sub-zero temperatures, but also to lubricate the water pump and protect the internal coolant tubing and cavities from corrosion.

Coolant is usually green or red, but can also be blue or yellow.  If it looks rusty, or has bits floating around in it, you should drain out the old coolant from the ICE block and then flush out the coolant system before putting new engine coolant back in. 

As part of the engine coolant service, make sure you check all of the rubber hoses associated with the coolant’s circuit.  If the rubber hoses look cracked, are leaking coolant, or appear bulgy or squishy when squeezed, then they also should be replaced.  Because if you don’t, then Murphey’s law will come back to bite you on the bum and a rubber hose will burst under the pressure of hot coolant circulating around next time you’re out on a road trip.

There you have it – a simple system on your ICE vehicle that helps to keep the engine running all tickety-boo, while also benefiting you and the level of your comfort as you travel about out on the road.